Hershel Parker, Melville Scholar of Ahab-Like Obsessiveness, Dies at 90

The author of an exhaustive two-volume biography, he was “fanatical about his approach to scholarship and infatuated with Melville,” a colleague said.

​The author of an exhaustive two-volume biography, he was “fanatical about his approach to scholarship and infatuated with Melville,” a colleague said.