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Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile

Robert S. Levine

3.6/5 ( ratings)

The authoritative edition of Melville's only historical novel

Based on the life of an actual soldier who claimed to have fought at Bunker Hill, Israel Potter is unique among Herman Melville's books: It is a novel in the guise of a biography. In telling the story of Israel Potter's fall from Revolutionary War hero to peddler on the streets of London, where he obtained a livelihood by crying "Old Chairs to Mend," Melville alternated between invented scenes and historical episodes, granting cameos to such famous men of the era as Benjamin Franklin and John Paul Jones, and providing a portrait of the American Revolution as the rollicking adventure and violent series of events that it really was.

This edition of Israel Potter, which reproduces the definitive text, includes selections from Potter's autobiography, Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel Potter, the basis for Melville's novel.

Language: English

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Release: March 25, 2008

ISBN: 014310523X

ISBN 13: 9780143105237

Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile

Robert S. Levine

3.6/5 ( ratings)

The authoritative edition of Melville's only historical novel

Based on the life of an actual soldier who claimed to have fought at Bunker Hill, Israel Potter is unique among Herman Melville's books: It is a novel in the guise of a biography. In telling the story of Israel Potter's fall from Revolutionary War hero to peddler on the streets of London, where he obtained a livelihood by crying "Old Chairs to Mend," Melville alternated between invented scenes and historical episodes, granting cameos to such famous men of the era as Benjamin Franklin and John Paul Jones, and providing a portrait of the American Revolution as the rollicking adventure and violent series of events that it really was.

This edition of Israel Potter, which reproduces the definitive text, includes selections from Potter's autobiography, Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel Potter, the basis for Melville's novel.

Language: English

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Release: March 25, 2008

ISBN: 014310523X

ISBN 13: 9780143105237

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