White-Jacket

Resumen del libro

White-Jacket (1850) is an adventure novel by American writer Herman Melville.
Based on the authors personal experience as a seaman in the United States Navy--Melville spent fourteen months aboard the USS United States--the novel was both commercially successful and influential for reforming US Naval policy.
Following its publication, and aided by advocacy from journalists and politicians, flogging was banned as a punishment in the navy.
The novel is seen as a precursor to Melvilles masterpiece, Moby-Dick (1851), and is often compared to his posthumous novella Billy Budd (1924).
White-Jacket is the name given to the novels protagonist, a young seaman who embarks on the USS Neversink hoping for brotherhood and adventure.
As he grows accustomed to the duties and indignities of naval life, he becomes the target of ire for most of the crew and officers.
His jacket, the only one of its kind on board, not only causes him to stand out, but is a source of constant danger--insufficient for the cold weather around Cape Horn, difficult to discern from the color of the Neve

Biografía del autor

Herman Melville nació en Nueva York en 1819. Acuciado por la temprana muerte de su padre y la situación de su familia, desempeñó diversos oficios, entre ellos el de maestro y el de marinero a bordo de varios barcos por el Atlántico, el Pacífico y los mares del Sur. Finalmente se estableció en tierra firme en 1847. Acabó sus días en 1891 sumido en el olvido y en la precariedad económica.