Moby Dick: By Herman Melville Stories Book
- ISBN-10
- 2382261463
- ISBN-13
- 9782382261460
- Series
- Moby Dick
- Category
- Fiction
- Pages
- 608
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2020-08-26
- Author
- Herman Melville
Description
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a "Great American Novel" was established only in the 20th century, after the centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous. Melville began writing Moby-Dick in February 1850, and finished 18 months later, a year longer than he had anticipated. Melville drew on his experience as a common sailor from 1841 to 1844, including several years on whalers, and on wide reading in whaling literature. The white whale is modeled on the notoriously hard-to-catch albino whale Mocha Dick, and the book's ending is based on the sinking of the whaleship Essex in 1820. His literary influences include Shakespeare and the Bible. The detailed and realistic descriptions of whale hunting and of extracting whale oil, as well as life aboard ship among a culturally diverse crew, are mixed with exploration of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God. In addition to narrative prose, Melville uses styles and literary devices ranging from songs, poetry, and catalogs to Shakespearean stage directions, soliloquies, and asides. In August 1850, with the manuscript perhaps half finished, he met Nathaniel Hawthorne and was deeply moved by his Mosses from an Old Manse, which he compared to Shakespeare in its cosmic ambitions. This encounter may have inspired him to revise and expand Moby-Dick, which is dedicated to Hawthorne, "in token of my admiration for his genius".
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Moby-Dick
By Herman MelvilleLooking for adventure and a new life, Ishmael, the story's narrator, decides to find work on a whaling boat.
-
Moby Dick
By Herman MelvilleIn Herman Melville's classic tale of revenge, Ishmael tells his story of becoming a whaler on the Pequod. When Ishmael and his unexpected friend Queequeg join Captain Ahab's hunt for Moby Dick, the voyage of a lifetime turns into tragedy.
-
Moby-Dick: A Pop-Up Book from the Novel by Herman Melville
With striking typography presented in an authentic broadsheet style, here is an adventure in book craft and storytelling.
-
Why Read Moby-Dick?
By Nathaniel PhilbrickAn ideal match between author and subject, Why Read Moby-Dick? will start conversations, inspire arguments, and make a powerful case that this classic tale waits to be discovered anew. “Gracefully written [with an] infectious ...
-
The Condensed Moby Dick: Abridged for the Modern Reader
By Herman MelvilleThis book is annotated. Moby Dick is one of the greatest American novels ever wrote. If you've always wanted to read the classic, but just don't have the time, this abridged version can help.
-
Moby Dick
By Herman MelvilleThe work first appeared as The Whale in London in October 1851, and then under its definitive title Moby-Dick in New York in November. The whale, however, appears in both the London and New York editions as "Moby Dick," with no hyphen.
-
Moby Dick in Plain and Simple English (Includes Study Guide, Complete Unabridged Book, Historical Context, and Character Index)(
By Herman MelvilleAlong with chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis, this book features the full text of Melville’s classic novel is also included. BookCap Study Guides are not meant to be purchased as alternatives to reading the book.
-
Moby Dick (Collins Classics)
By Herman MelvilleFew literary masterpieces cast quite as awesome a shadow as Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.
-
Moby-Dick (A Reader's Library Classic Hardcover)
By Herman MelvilleThe 500+ page book of the American classic, this beautiful Reader's Library Classic Hardcover edition of Moby-Dick takes you on a legendary voyage aboard the Pequod, where Captain Ahab's obsession with the whale named "Moby Dick" drives the ...
-
Moby-Dick or, The Whale - Herman Melville
By Herman MelvilleThe book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee.