| Title | Moby Dick |
| Author | Herman Melville |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel, adventure fiction |
| Publication date | October 18, 1851 (Britain)November 14, 1851 (US) |
| Rating | Click to rate this post! [Total: 1 Average: 5] |
Moby Dick by Herman Melville A literary classic that was not recognized for its merits until decades after its publication, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville tells the story of a whaling ship and its crew, which are taken progressively further to the sea by the fiery Captain Ahab. Obsessed with killing the huge whale, which had previously bit Ahab’s leg, the experienced sailor steers his ship to face the creature, while the rest of the companions, including the young narrator, Ishmael, and the harpoon expert, Queequeg, must deal with your increasingly terrible journey. The book invariably lands on any short list of the best American novels.
Summary
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by the American writer Herman Melville, published in 1851 during the period of the American Renaissance. Sailor Ishmael tells the story of the obsessive search of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for taking revenge on Moby Dick, the white whale who in the previous whaling trip bit Ahab’s leg in the knee. The novel was a commercial failure and was exhausted at the time of the author’s death in 1891, but during the 20th century, it established its reputation as a great American novel. William Faulkner confessed that he wished he had written it himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it “one of the strangest and most marvelous books in the world” and “the best book of the sea ever written”. “Call me Ishmael” is one of the most famous opening prayers in world literature.
Melville began writing Moby-Dick in February 1850, and in May he thought he was “halfway”. In June, he proposed the book to his English publisher, thinking it would be ready in “next fall.” Finally, it would take him eighteen months to write the book, one more year than he had anticipated. The writing was interrupted by meeting Nathaniel Hathorne in August 1850 and by creating the essay “Moss from an Old Manse” as the first result of that friendship. The dedication of the book is also for Hawthorne, “as a sign of my admiration for his genius.”
The basis of the work is the hunting trip of 1841 to Melville aboard the Acushnet. In addition, the novel is based on the literature of whaling and literary inspirations such as Shakespeare and the Bible. The white whale is inspired by the notoriously difficult capture of the real albino whale Mocha Dick, and the end is based on the sinking of the whaler Essex by a whale. Detailed and realistic descriptions of whaling and whale oil extraction, as well as life aboard a culturally diverse crew, are mixed with an exploration of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God. In addition to narrative prose, Melville uses literary styles and devices ranging from songs, poetry, and catalogs to stage directions of Shakespeare, soliloquies, and asides.
Review
The work was first published as The Whale in London in October 1851, and under its definitive title in New York in November. Hundreds of differences, mostly minor and some important, are seen between the two editions. The London publisher censored or modified confidential passages and Melville also made revisions, including the last-minute change in title for the New York edition. The whale, however, appears in both editions as “Moby Dick”, without a script. One factor that led British critics to despise the book was that it seemed narrated by a narrator who died with the ship; the British edition lacked the Epilogue, which explains the survival of Ishmael. Around 3,200 copies were sold during the author’s life.
Moby Dick PDF
