Hobart and William Smith Colleges

17 July 2003 Quinby Presents on Melville in Tahiti

Lee Quinby, professor of English and the Donald R. Harter 39 Professor in the Humanities, served as panel moderator during a 10-day conference on Herman Melville held in Tahiti and the Marquesas in July. Participants gave formal presentations on Melville's work and took expeditions around Nuka Hiva, the island in the Marquesas where Melville jumped ship and then wrote about his experiences in his first novel Typee. Typee included observations about tribal life, descriptions of rituals and tattoo practices, and encounters with cannibalism.

The conference was featured in an article in the Tahitian newspaper La Depche, July 10. The article is available for those who read French.