Moby-Dick

by Herman Melville

Overview

INCLUDES THE TRUE STORY THAT INSPIRED MOBY-DICK

When Ishmael sets sail on the whaling ship Pequod one cold Christmas Day, he has no idea of the horrors awaiting him out on the vast and merciless ocean. The ship's strange captain, Ahab, is in the grip of an obsession to hunt down the famous white whale, Moby Dick, and will stop at nothing on his quest to annihilate his nemesis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781407066189
Publisher:	Random House
Publication date:	04/27/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	672
File size:	957 KB

About the Author

Herman Melville was born in New York on 1 August 1819. He first went to sea at the age of nineteen on the St Lawrence which sailed from New York to Liverpool. He later worked as a teacher before taking to the seas again in 1841 on the whaleship Achushnet. After six months of sailing in the Pacific, Melville abandoned ship and lived among the natives of the Marquesas Islands for several weeks. This experience inspired his first book Typee (1846) which was published to great success. The sequel, Omoo, was published in 1847 and later that year Melville married Elizabeth Shaw. He published several other novels and poems, including his most famous work, Moby-Dick (1851), but his later works were not widely appreciated until long after his death. Moby-Dick is now considered one of the most important American novels of all time. Melville died on 28 September 1891.

Date of Birth:

August 1, 1819

Date of Death:

September 28, 1891

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Place of Death:

New York, New York

Education:

Attended the Albany Academy in Albany, New York, until age 15

Read an Excerpt

Call me Ishmael. This resonant opening of Moby-Dick, the greatest novel in American literature, announces the narrator, Herman Melville, as he with a measure of slyness thought of himself. In the Scriptures Ishmael, a wild man sired by the overwhelming patriarch Abraham, was nevertheless the bastard son of a serving girl Hagar. The author himself was the offspring of two distinguished American families, the Melvilles of Boston and the Gansevoorts of Albany.

Melville's father cast something of a blight on the family escutcheon by his tendency to bankruptcy which passed down to his son. Dollars damn me, the son was to say over and over. When he sat down in the green landscape of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to compose Moby-Dick he was in debt, the father of one son, and another to be born a few days after the publication of the novel in England.

Melville had published five novels previous to Moby-Dick; the first two did well, and then with the capriciousness of the public the subsequent novels failed to please. He was a known literary figure with a fading reputation. How he came upon the courage to undertake the challenging creation of the epical battle between a sea creature, a white whale called Moby Dick, and an old captain from Nantucket by the name of Ahab is one of literature's triumphant mysteries. Add to that, as one reads, that he was only thirty-two years old.

Ten years before, in 1841, he had signed up as a common seaman on the whaling vessel Acushnet bound for the South Seas. Young Ishmael was drawn by the lure of the sea and by the wonder of the whale itself, the Leviathan, the monarch of the deep, "one grand hooded phantom, like asnow hill in the air." Until the discovery of petroleum oil in 1859 and Thomas Edison's invention of the incandescent lamp in 1879, whaling was a major commercial occupation in New England. Fortunes were made, grand houses were built, often with a "widow's walk" on the roof that testified to the great dangers of the enterprise. For the crew, service on a whaler was a drastic life of unremitting labor; foul, crowded quarters; bad food in scanty servings; contractual terms for years at miserable wages; brutalized companions picked up from all the ports of the world; tyrannical captains practicing a "sultanism" which Melville abhorred. A ship afloat is after all a prison. Melville was on three whalers in his four years at sea and from each, as we read in Typee and Omoo, the struggle is to escape, as he did when the boats anchored near exotic islands. He wrote about the misery of the whaling life, but not about whaling itself until he came to Moby-Dick. His imaginary whaler, the Pequod, death bound as it is, would be called, for an ordinary seaman, an agreeable berth. Ahab has no interest left beyond his internal struggle with one whale.

Still, there is whaling, the presumption of it. When a whale is sighted small boats are detached from the main vessel and the men engage in a deadly battle to try to match, with flying harpoons, the whale's immense strength and desperation. If the great thing is captured, the deck of the main ship becomes an abattoir of blood and guts. The thick blubber is to be stripped, the huge head to be drained of its oils for soothing ambergris, for candles; the bones of the carcass make their way into corsets and umbrellas and scrimshaw trinkets. Moby-Dick is a history of cetology, an encylopedic telling of the qualities of the fin-back, the right whale, the hyena whale, the sperm whale, the killer whale, classified by size in mock academic form as folio, octavo, and so on.

Information about a vanished world is one thing, but, above all else, this astonishing book is a human tragedy of almost supernatural suspensiveness, written in a rushing flow of imaginative language, poetical intensity, metaphor and adjective of consuming beauty. It begins on the cobbled streets of New Bedford, where Ishmael is to spend a few days before boarding the Pequod in Nantucket. The opening pages have a boyish charm as he is brought to share a bed with a fellow sailor, the harpooner Queequeg, an outrageously tattoed "primitive" who will be his companion throughout the narrative. Great ships under sail gave the old ports a rich heritage of myth, gossip, exaggeration, and rhetorical flights. Ishmael, on a Sunday, visits a whaleman's chapel to hear the incomparable sermon by Father Mapple on Jonah and the whale, a majestic interlude, one of many in this torrential outburst of fictional genius.

As Ishmael and Queequeg proceed to Nantucket, the shadows of the plot begin to fall upon the pages. The recruits are interviewed by two retired sailors who will struggle to express the complicated nature of Captain Ahab. We learn that he has lost a leg, chewed off by a whale, and thus the fated voyage of the Pequod begins. Ahab has lost his leg to a white whale Moby Dick and is consumed with a passion for retribution. He will hunt the singular whale as a private destiny in the manner of ancient kings in a legendary world. However, Ahab is real and in command. The chief mate, Starbuck, understands the folly of the quest, the danger of it, and, as a thoughtful man longing to return to his wife and children, he will speak again and again the language of reason. "Vengeance on a dumb beast that simply smote thee from the blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous."

The necessity of Starbuck's human distance from the implacable imperative of Ahab's quest illustrates the brilliant formation of this harrowing tale. But it is Ahab's story, his destiny, and, if on the one hand, he is a shabby, sea-worn sailor long mesmerized by mercurial oceans, he too has a wife at home and a child of his old age. We learn, as the story proceeds, that on a time ashore after his terrible wounding, he had fallen and by way of his whalebone leg been unmanned. He has suffered an incapacity not to be peacefully borne by one who in forty years had spent only three on land. Ahab knows the wild unsuitability of his nature, his remove from the common life.

Table of Contents

Introduction

xvi

Etymology

xxvi

Extracts

1

Chapter 1

Loomings

17

Chapter 2

The Carpet-Bag

22

Chapter 3

The Spouter-Inn

26

Chapter 4

The Counterpane

41

Chapter 5

Breakfast

45

Chapter 6

The Street

47

Chapter 7

The Chapel

50

Chapter 8

The Pulpit

53

Chapter 9

The Sermon

56

Chapter 10

A Bosom Friend

65

Chapter 11

Nightgown

69

Chapter 12

Biographical

71

Chapter 13

Wheelbarrow

73

Chapter 14

Nantucket

78

Chapter 15

Chowder

80

Chapter 16

The Ship

83

Chapter 17

The Ramadan

97

Chapter 18

His Mark

103

Chapter 19

The Prophet

107

Chapter 20

All Astir

111

Chapter 21

Going Aboard

113

Chapter 22

Merry Christmas

117

Chapter 23

The Lee Shore

121

Chapter 24

The Advocate

122

Chapter 25

Postscript

127

Chapter 26

Knights and Squires

128

Chapter 27

Knights and Squires

131

Chapter 28

Ahab

136

Chapter 29

Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb

139

Chapter 30

The Pipe

142

Chapter 31

Queen Mab

143

Chapter 32

Cetology

146

Chapter 33

The Specksynder

159

Chapter 34

The Cabin-Table

162

Chapter 35

The Mast-Head

168

Chapter 36

The Quarter-Deck, Ahab and All

174

Chapter 37

Sunset

182

Chapter 38

Dusk

184

Chapter 39

First Night-Watch

185

Chapter 40

Midnight, Forecastle

186

Chapter 41

Moby-Dick

193

Chapter 42

The Whiteness of the Whale

203

Chapter 43

Hark!

212

Chapter 44

The Chart

213

Chapter 45

The Affidavit

218

Chapter 46

Surmises

227

Chapter 47

The Mat-Maker

230

Chapter 48

The First Lowering

233

Chapter 49

The Hyena

243

Chapter 50

Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah

245

Chapter 51

The Spirit-Spout

248

Chapter 52

The Albatross

252

Chapter 53

The Gam

254

Chapter 54

The Town-Ho's Story

259

Chapter 55

Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales

279

Chapter 56

Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, etc.

284

Chapter 57

Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; etc.

288

Chapter 58

Brit

290

Chapter 59

Squid

293

Chapter 60

The Line

296

Chapter 61

Stubb Kills a Whale

300

Chapter 62

The Dart

305

Chapter 63

The Crotch

306

Chapter 64

Stubb's Supper

308

Chapter 65

The Whale As a Dish

316

Chapter 66

The Shark Massacre

318

Chapter 67

Cutting In

320

Chapter 68

The Blanket

322

Chapter 69

The Funeral

325

Chapter 70

The Sphynx

327

Chapter 71

The Jeroboam's Story

329

Chapter 72

The Monkey-Rope

335

Chapter 73

Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale, etc.

340

Chapter 74

The Sperm Whale's Head-Contrasted View

345

Chapter 75

The Right Whale's Head-Contrasted View

350

Chapter 76

The Battering-Ram

353

Chapter 77

The Great Heidelburgh Tun

355

Chapter 78

Cistern and Buckets

357

Chapter 79

The Praire

361

Chapter 80

The Nut

364

Chapter 81

The Pequod Meets the Virgin

366

Chapter 82

The Honor and Glory of Whaling

378

Chapter 83

Jonah Historically Regarded

381

Chapter 84

Pitchpoling

383

Chapter 85

The Fountain

385

Chapter 86

The Tail

391

Chapter 87

The Grand Armada

395

Chapter 88

Schools and Schoolmasters

408

Chapter 89

Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish

411

Chapter 90

Heads or Tails

415

Chapter 91

The Pequod Meets the Rose-Bud

418

Chapter 92

Ambergris

425

Chapter 93

The Castaway

428

Chapter 94

A Squeeze of the Hand

432

Chapter 95

The Cassock

436

Chapter 96

The Try-Works

437

Chapter 97

The Lamp

442

Chapter 98

Stowing Down and Clearing Up

443

Chapter 99

The Doubloon

446

Chapter 100

The Pequod Meets the Samuel Enderby of London

452

Chapter 101

The Decanter

459

Chapter 102

A Bower in the Arsacides

464

Chapter 103

Measurement of the Whale's Skeleton

468

Chapter 104

The Fossil Whale

471

Chapter 105

Does the Whale's Magnitude Diminish?

475

Chapter 106

Ahab's Leg

479

Chapter 107

The Carpenter

482

Chapter 108

Ahab and the Carpenter

485

Chapter 109

Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin

489

Chapter 110

Queequeg in His Coffin

492

Chapter 111

The Pacific

498

Chapter 112

The Blacksmith

499

Chapter 113

The Forge

502

Chapter 114

The Gilder

505

Chapter 115

The Pequod Meets the Bachelor

507

Chapter 116

The Dying Whale

510

Chapter 117

The Whale Watch

512

Chapter 118

The Quadrant

513

Chapter 119

The Candles

516

Chapter 120

The Deck

523

Chapter 121

Midnight-The Forecastle Bulwarks

524

Chapter 122

Midnight Aloft

526

Chapter 123

The Musket

526

Chapter 124

The Needle

530

Chapter 125

The Log and Line

533

Chapter 126

The Life-Buoy

536

Chapter 127

The Deck

540

Chapter 128

The Pequod Meets the Rachel

542

Chapter 129

The Cabin

546

Chapter 130

The Hat

548

Chapter 131

The Pequod Meets the Delight

552

Chapter 132

The Symphony

554

Chapter 133

The Chase-First Day

558

Chapter 134

The Chase-Second Day

567

Chapter 135

The Chase-Third Day

576

Epilogue

588

Criticism and Context

Herman Melville: A Biographical Note

590

Letters

597

Moby-Dick and Its Contemporary Reviews

607

Moby-Dick and Its Modern Critics

619

from Herman Melville

619

"Seven Moby-Dicks"

629

"The Tragic Meaning of Moby-Dick"

645

"Ishmael"

649

from "Herman Melville's Moby-Dick"

654

"The Fire Symbolism in Moby-Dick"

662

Recommended Reading

668

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Winner of the 2012 Fifty Books/Fifty Covers show, organized by Design Observer in association with AIGA and Designers & Books

Praise for Penguin Drop Caps:

“Vibrant, minimalist new typographic covers…. Bonus points for the heartening gender balance of the initial selections.”
—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

"The Penguin Drop Caps series is a great example of the power of design. Why buy these particular classics when there are less expensive, even free editions of Great Expectations? Because they’re beautiful objects. Paul Buckley and Jessica Hische’s fresh approach to the literary classics reduces the design down to typography and color. Each cover is foil-stamped with a cleverly illustrated letterform that reveals an element of the story. Jane Austen’s A (Pride and Prejudice) is formed by opulent peacock feathers and Charlotte Bronte’s B (Jane Eyre) is surrounded by flames. The complete set forms a rainbow spectrum prettier than anything else on your bookshelf."
—Rex Bonomelli, The New York Times

"Drool-inducing."
—Flavorwire

"Classic reads in stunning covers—your book club will be dying."
—Redbook

S. Mattheson

Responsible to misshapen forces of his age as only men of passionate imagination are, even Melville hardly be aware of how symbolic an American hero he'd fashioned in Captain Ahab...he is the embodiment of his author's most profound response to the problem of the free individual will in extremis.

EBOOK COMMENTARY

Responsible to misshapen forces of his age as only men of passionate imagination are, even Melville hardly be aware of how symbolic an American hero he'd fashioned in Captain Ahab...he is the embodiment of his author's most profound response to the problem of the free individual will in extremis.

Reading Group Guide

1. What is the significance of the whale? What do you think Melville intends in developing such a vicious antagonism between Ahab and the whale?

2. How does the presence of Queequeg, particularly his status as a "savage, " inform the novel? How does Melville depict this cultural clash?

3. How does whaling as an industry function metaphorically throughout the novel? Where does man fit in in this scenario?

4. Melville explores the divide between evil and virtue, justice and vengeance throughout the novel. What, ultimately, is his conclusion? What is Ahab's?

5. What do you think of the role, if any, played by religion in the novel? Do you think religious conventions are replaced or subverted in some way? Discuss.

6. Discuss the novel's philosophical subtext. How does this contribute to the basic plot involving Ahab's search for the whale? Is this Ishmael's purpose in the novel?

7. Discuss the role of women in the novel. What does their conspicuous absence mean in the overall context of the novel?

Editorial Reviews

"Moby Dick is my favourite novel, bar none. It works on so many levels. It taught me that you can have a top layer of narrative - like the seafaring story - and then below that all those wonderful, rich, symbolic things going on"

EBOOK COMMENTARY

Gr 3-6

Rod Espinosa's creative graphic depiction (Magic Wagon, 2007) of Herman Melville's Moby Dick is a great way to introduce elementary age children to the classic as well as a terrific learning tool for middle school ESL students and exceptional children who struggle with reading. This interactive program allows students to read and listen to the book at their own pace. Narration can be turned on or off. When the text is read, dialogue panels are highlighted and enlarged. Sound effects and music enhance the text, and the graphics are excellent. Well organized with a table of contents, glossary, and brief multiple-choice quiz, this graphic novel ibook can be navigated easily by the youngest students.-Beverly S. Almond, Moore Square Museums Magnet Middle School, Raleigh, NC

School Library Journal

Historically, the two great typographical edifices of West Coast printing are the grabhorn Leaves of Grass and the Nash Divine Comedy. Now the Arion Press Moby—Dick takes its place beside them…It is the textural West of hand composition that forms the chief glory of this work. Hoyem seems to have found the perfect measure to accommodate text to type. We turn page after page of matchless composition…as the magical result. I would venture the opinion that this constitutes a feat of craftsmanship unexcelled in modern printing.
—William Everson, Fine Print

William Everson

A great American addition with features more diverse than those in any previous editions of Melville's classic.
—Stuart C. Sherman, Fine Print

Stuart C. Sherman

From the team behind the adaptation of The Odyssey (1995), an audacious retelling that follows the main story line of Melville's monumental work—of Ishmael's tale of Captain Ahab's mad quest for revenge against the giant white whale that took his leg on a previous voyage. While rewrites for children of classic adult literature remain controversial, this one is stunning. The language, through which McCaughrean subtly brings out many of the metaphors of the original text, is unusually ornate for the format, making it—despite its storybook-look—more appropriate for readers beyond picture books. Although sometimes humorless, the lush prose rockets the story along like a square rigger under full sail, with all the beauty and complexity that entails. Ambrus's ample illustrations are full of character.

McCaughrean largely succeeds in conveying to young readers the mood, language, story, and power of the original. For those disposed to retellings of the classics, this is a prime example of the way to do it.

Kirkus Reviews

D.H. Lawrence Moby-Dick commands a stillness in the soul, an awe...[it is] one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world.

From the Publisher

In this production of Herman Melville's tale of a tragic whale hunt, narrator Anthony Heald not only creates vivid characterizations—Captain Ahab's gruff mania, Starbuck's doubtful sensitivity, the prophet Elijah's visionary shakiness—he also dramatizes the many moods of the PEQUOD crew and the mercurial ocean itself. Heald's voice has the range of a piano, and he uses it like a virtuoso. In one minute his reading can move from slow and languid, reflecting a dreamy day at sea, to alert and brisk, evoking the suspense of a whale sighting. Heald's voice bristles dryly with humor or sinks with dread—a range necessary to tell this complex story of a man's obsession with conquering an enigmatic white whale. R.L.G.

© AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

MAY 2009 - AudioFile