“A high degree of refinement, however, does not seem to subdue our wicked propensities so much after all; and were civilization itself to be estimated by some of its results, it would seem perhaps better for what we call the barbarous part of the world to remain unchanged.”
Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life follows Herman Melville’s stay in Polynesia during the early 1840s. Aside from being a gripping fast-paced account, contained throughout the text is an examination of the natives and customs he encounters.
Typee was Herman Melville’s most popular work during his lifetime and has since established itself as a classic of American literature.
