Soon after his death there was a short revival of interest in Melvilles work, Many of his works were published again and so were many appreciative scholarly evaluations. A second Melville revival took place about 1919 coinciding with the centennial of Melvilles birth. Still unpublished was Melvilles last work(Billy Budd, 1924) considered by many to be as important as Moby dick. By 1930s Melville scholarship became prominent(Hugh Hetherington completed the first doctoral dissertation on melville at the Univ, of Michigan in 1933),and, soon after the second world war, a Melville society was organized Through the next two decades melville and his writing attracted more research and scholarship than any other American author.◼ Soon after his death, there was a short revival of interest in Melville's work. Many of his works were published again and so were many appreciative scholarly evaluations. A second Melville revival took place about 1919 coinciding with the centennial of Melville's birth. Still unpublished was Melville's last work (Billy Budd, 1924) considered by many to be as important as Moby Dick. By 1930s Melville scholarship became prominent (Hugh Hetherington completed the first doctoral dissertation on Melville at the Univ. of Michigan in 1933), and, soon after the second world war, a Melville society was organized. Through the next two decades Melville and his writing attracted more research and scholarship than any other American author