{"id":"01KG8AJPECA2F4MJZVWM8FVQFR","cid":"bafkreiebbr3khp6vf4gy2xa3estqw456rnv6mwzqns4jczyrpp6qxk42lm","type":"frontmatter","properties":{"description":"# Preface\n## Overview\nThis document is the preface to the novel *Typee*. It was extracted from the file `typee.txt` and is part of the larger collection \"[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)\". The preface is dated 1846 and provides context for the events and narrative within the novel.\n\n## Context\nThe author explains that over three years have passed since the events of the book, much of which was spent at sea. He notes that sailors often encounter extraordinary events that become commonplace to them, but he believes the incidents in his narrative will still be of interest to those less familiar with a life of adventure. He also addresses potential omissions in his account, such as detailed explanations of customs or precise dates, attributing these to the peculiar circumstances under which he wrote and his loss of track of time. He mentions that he has used an orthography for Polynesian words that aims to convey their sound to a stranger, and that some passages may seem critical of religious figures, but asserts these are based on verifiable facts. The author hopes that his commitment to \"unvarnished truth\" will earn the reader's confidence.\n\n## Contents\nThe preface discusses the author's experiences and writing process for the novel *Typee*. It touches upon the nature of adventure, the author's observations of the people and customs encountered, and his approach to dating and language. It also preemptively addresses potentially controversial passages concerning religious figures, assuring readers of their factual basis. The preface concludes by stating that the narrative's events, though perhaps strange to the reader, were equally so to the author at the time of their occurrence.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:18.441Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Preface","end_line":83,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:39.797Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"PREFACE","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":15,"text":"PREFACE\r\n\r\nMore than three years have elapsed since the occurrence of the events\r\nrecorded in this volume. The interval, with the exception of the last\r\nfew months, has been chiefly spent by the author tossing about on\r\nthe wide ocean. Sailors are the only class of men who now-a-days see\r\nanything like stirring adventure; and many things which to fire-side\r\npeople appear strange and romantic, to them seem as common-place as a\r\njacket out at elbows. Yet, notwithstanding the familiarity of sailors\r\nwith all sorts of curious adventure, the incidents recorded in the\r\nfollowing pages have often served, when ‘spun as a yarn,’ not only to\r\nrelieve the weariness of many a night-watch at sea, but to excite the\r\nwarmest sympathies of the author’s shipmates. He has been, therefore,\r\nled to think that his story could scarcely fail to interest those who\r\nare less familiar than the sailor with a life of adventure.\r\n\r\nIn his account of the singular and interesting people among whom he was\r\nthrown, it will be observed that he chiefly treats of their more obvious\r\npeculiarities; and, in describing their customs, refrains in most cases\r\nfrom entering into explanations concerning their origin and purposes.\r\nAs writers of travels among barbarous communities are generally very\r\ndiffuse on these subjects, he deems it right to advert to what may be\r\nconsidered a culpable omission. No one can be more sensible than the\r\nauthor of his deficiencies in this and many other respects; but when the\r\nvery peculiar circumstances in which he was placed are understood, he\r\nfeels assured that all these omissions will be excused.\r\n\r\nIn very many published narratives no little degree of attention is\r\nbestowed upon dates; but as the author lost all knowledge of the days of\r\nthe week, during the occurrence of the scenes herein related, he hopes\r\nthat the reader will charitably pass over his shortcomings in this\r\nparticular.\r\n\r\nIn the Polynesian words used in this volume,--except in those cases\r\nwhere the spelling has been previously determined by others,--that form\r\nof orthography has been employed, which might be supposed most easily\r\nto convey their sound to a stranger. In several works descriptive of the\r\nislands in the Pacific, many of the most beautiful combinations of\r\nvocal sounds have been altogether lost to the ear of the reader by an\r\nover-attention to the ordinary rules of spelling.\r\n\r\nThere are a few passages in the ensuing chapters which may be thought\r\nto bear rather hard upon a reverend order of men, the account of whose\r\nproceedings in different quarters of the globe--transmitted to us\r\nthrough their own hands--very generally, and often very deservedly,\r\nreceives high commendation. Such passages will be found, however, to\r\nbe based upon facts admitting of no contradiction, and which have come\r\nimmediately under the writer’s cognizance. The conclusions deduced from\r\nthese facts are unavoidable, and in stating them the author has been\r\ninfluenced by no feeling of animosity, either to the individuals\r\nthemselves, or to that glorious cause which has not always been served\r\nby the proceedings of some of its advocates.\r\n\r\nThe great interest with which the important events lately occurring\r\nat the Sandwich, Marquesas, and Society Islands, have been regarded in\r\nAmerica and England, and indeed throughout the world, will, he trusts,\r\njustify a few otherwise unwarrantable digressions.\r\n\r\nThere are some things related in the narrative which will be sure to\r\nappear strange, or perhaps entirely incomprehensible, to the reader;\r\nbut they cannot appear more so to him than they did to the author at the\r\ntime. He has stated such matters just as they occurred, and leaves every\r\none to form his own opinion concerning them; trusting that his anxious\r\ndesire to speak the unvarnished truth will gain for him the confidence\r\nof his readers. 1846.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"PREFACE"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ7JY0RWHFPSHT34SW2RY","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJPE9ER847SP0SAZQC05A","peer_type":"intro","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJPEC98TTS3YB9XGWRJ1C","peer_type":"frontmatter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:39.980Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:19.423Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}