Mardi For the Central Coast suburb see , Mardi , New South Wales Mardi , and a Voyage Thither was Herman Melville 's third book ( 1849 ) , and his 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 is 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 different symbolic countries they encounter . While not as cohesive or lengthy as Moby Dick , it shares many of the same themes and writing style . Herman Melville , as a preface to Mardi , 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 . Free typeset PDF ebook of Mardi and other Melville novels optimized for printing , plus extensive Melville reading list Categories : 1849 novels 