First edition title page

Mardi, and a Voyage Thither is the third book by American author Herman Melville, first published in 1849.

Overview[link]

Mardi is Melville's first pure fiction work (while featuring fictional narrators, his previous novels were heavily autobiographical). It details (much like Typee and Omoo) the travelings of an American sailor who abandons his whaling vessel to explore the South Pacific. Unlike the first two, however, Mardi is highly philosophical and said to be the first work to show Melville's true potential. The tale begins as a simple narrative, but quickly focuses upon discourse between the main characters and their interactions with the different symbolic countries they encounter. While not as cohesive or lengthy as Moby-Dick, it shares a similar writing style as well as many of the same themes.

As a preface to Mardi, Melville wrote somewhat ironically that his first two books were nonfiction but disbelieved; by the same pattern he hoped the fiction book would be accepted as fact.

Critical response[link]

Mardi was a critical failure. One reviewer said the book contained "ideas in so thick a haze that we are unable to perceive distinctly which is which".^[1] Nevertheless, Nathaniel Parker Willis found the work "exquisite".^[1]

Nathaniel Hawthorne found Mardi a rich book "with depths here and there that compel a man to swim for his life... so good that one scarcely pardons the writer for not having brooded long over it, so as to make it a great deal better."^[2]

The widespread disappointment of the critics hurt Melville yet he chose to view the book's reception philosophically, as the requisite growing pains of any author with high literary ambitions. "These attacks are matters of course, and are essential to the building up of any permanent reputation—if such would ever prove to be mine... But Time, which is the solver of all riddles, will solve "Mardi."

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Mardi

Online versions

• Mardi (1864 reprint, vol. 1 of 2) at Project Gutenberg
• Mardi (1864 reprint, vol. 2 of 2) at Project Gutenberg

Rachel Brice
Background information
Born	(1972-06-15) June 15, 1972 (age 40) San Francisco, California, USA
Associated acts	The Indigo Belly Dance Company Bellydance Superstars
Website	RachelBrice.com

Rachel Brice is a contemporary performer in Tribal Fusion Style Belly Dance based in Portland, Oregon. She is the artistic director and choreographer for The Indigo Belly Dance Company and a frequent performer with the Bellydance Superstars.

She has performed and toured nationally and internationally since 1992. As a member of the Bellydance Superstars Brice made numerous appearances on Bellydance Superstars DVDs, as well as a multitude of television and radio appearances worldwide, most notably Live with Regis and Kelly in the US and Blue Peter in England.

As a teacher and movement arts pedagogue, Brice has released instructional videos focusing on Yoga and Belly Dance, and has given workshops throughout the United States and Europe. Brice also teaches Yoga and Belly Dance for Pixar Animation Studios and gives workshops annually at Elevation "belly dance extravaganza" in Golden, Colorado.

From Brice's website:

"Rachel Brice first fell in love with Belly Dance after watching the famous Hahbi'Ru at the Northern California Renaissance Faire in 1988 and began taking classes right away. In 1999, she decided to study full time, and relocated for the University program in Dance Ethnology at San Francisco State University. In 2003 she was discovered by rock mogul Miles Copeland and began touring internationally with his company, Bellydance Superstars. Also in 2003 she founded The Indigo Belly Dance Company. 2007 marks The Indigo's first full-length touring show, Le Serpent Rouge, presented by Miles Copeland. When home, Rachel studies Belly Dance with her teachers Suhaila Salimpour, and creator of American Tribal Style, Carolena Nericcio, and Yoga with Gary Kraftsow."

Filmography[link]

Performance[link]

• "Bellydance Superstars Live in Paris: Folies Bergeres"
• "Bellydance Superstars Solos in Monte Carlo"
• "Bellydance Superstars"

Instructional[link]

• "Tribal Fusion: Yoga, Isolations and Drills a Practice Companion with Rachel Brice"
• "Rachel Brice: Belly Dance Arms and Posture"
• "SERPENTINE: With World Dance New York"

Musical collaborations[link]

• "Sa'iyr - A Tribal Metamorphosis" (2005) - Pentaphobe (also known as "A Tribal Metamorphosis")
• "Bellydance Superstars volume 1" - Musical Selection
• "Bellydance Superstars volume 2" - Musical Selection
• "Bellydance Superstars volume 3" - Musical Selection
• "Le Serpent Rouge: Musical Selections from the Knockdown Revue" - Compilation

External links[link]

• Rachel Brice website
• The Indigo Belly Dance Company website
• BDSS on "Live with Regis & Kelly video clip (with Amar Gamal, Rachel Brice and Ansuya) Friday 9-10am E/T April 8, 2005
• Bellydance Superstars website
• "Snakecharmer" video
• Rachel Brice interview in Japan Times, August 3, 2005 by Giovanni Fazio '"Tribal Power: Bellydance superstar Rachel Brice"'
• London Sunday Times Magazine review of Rachel Brice and the Bellydance Superstars, October 10, 2004 "Shake, Ripple, and Roll"
• Elevation website