Veni - vidi - vici :) I have read Melville´s semi-autobiographical masterpiece ´Redburn´ and decided to include it in my researches around organizational values in corporate environments. My intention was to take an interdisciplinary approach by excavating from literature to amplify the meaning of my findings and to harness the power of literature as a vehicle to discover social dynamics in an organization. Now my actual review of this Bildungsroman: Melville´s book was first published in London in 1849. The Bildungsroman deals with the 15-years old Wellingborough Redburn who signs on the Highlander, a merchant ship out of New York City bound for Liverpool, England. Redburn is eager to follow his deceased father´s footsteps to become an importer traveling around world collecting stories and experiences on exotic countries and cultures. However, Redburn soon gets to realize that the voyage is far from what he had envisioned in the first place. He presents himself as a ´gentleman´s son´ to Captain Riga. Though Redburn´s family is no longer rich and is rather bankrupt in the meantime, he insists on presenting himself as an aristocrat’s´ son clinging on his family’s virtues and image when they used to be rich. Captain Riga reveals to be a duplicitous man who cares only about his image to the world outside his merchant ship, displaying no empathy nor care for his crew on the Highlander. Trapped on the ship with a crew of seamen of various characters, backgrounds and values, Redburn tries to make sense of the social dynamics and malfunctions embedded in a hierarchical structure. The complexity of social relations and collaboration is augmented by Jackson, the best seaman and a tyrant on the Highlander who manages his crew by fear. Barely educated, Jackson got the hang of the business on the merchant ship by experience and is constantly worried about defending his position by bullying his crew. Redburn´s voyage starts off with seasickness, sleepless nights, lack of food and no support from his crew mates or leaders. A conservative Christian holding onto the values and beliefs of his religion, he soon makes compromises on them to survive on the Highlander. In all situations including passing through ferocious storms or accidents, Redburn learned the key to his survival is the strict adherence to the rules imposed by Jackson. Only handling his chores and tasks as expected will bring him respect from his crew mates. Neither the landscapes, the whales, nor the cities in his fantasies live up to the reality. Even the ´prosy old guide-book´ titled ´The Picture of Liverpool´ designed by his father led to a huge disappointment when he set foot in Liverpool to track down some of the places his father had visited there. Misery, famine and human actions resulting from despair make Liverpool no longer attractive to Redburn as once again the city was not what he had imagined, so he is left to experience disappointments at all levels. On top, may it be for his own survival or helping others survive, Redburn is constantly compromising on his core values that were once solidified by his religion and family. Emigrants who are smuggled on the Highlander on the way back to New York increase the feuds as everyone suffers from parsimony and dysfunctional relations. Redburn is exposed to people of various nations such as from Ireland and Italy, which leads him to challenge his initial assumptions and prejudices on different nationalities by overserving everyone whilst engaging in reflexive processes to make sense of their behavior and actions, though he is not always able to draw logical conclusions from his analyses. He meets with Harry Bolton, a damaged soul that introduces Redburn to the decadent places of Liverpool and subsequently embarks the voyage from Liverpool to New York. In denial to see who Bolton really is or does, Redburn stays in their friendship with a portion of distrust. His friendship to Bolton is rooted in their common inexperience of sailing and abruptly ends once Redburn disembarks the Highlander in New York. Yet, he will hold himself accountable of Bolton´s tragical death when he finds out only years later. At the end of the book, a narration by an older and mature Redburn sheds light on his very first journey filled with reflections on his experience. IG: @nilguen_reads