Complex sentence: The encounter with the wide ocean, seemingly abandoned by God, led Melville to experience a "metaphysical estrangement," Milder believes, and his social thought was influenced in two ways by his specific adventures in the Pacific.
Split into simpler sentences: The encounter with the wide ocean, seemingly abandoned by God, led Melville to experience a "metaphysical estrangement," Milder believes. His social thought was influenced in two ways by his specific adventures in the Pacific.