Narrated by the sailor Ishmael,
Moby-Dick is the tale of the maniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship
Pequod, as he seeks vengeance against Moby-Dick, the giant white sperm whale that bit off his leg on the ship’s previous voyage. More than an epic sea-story, the detailed and realistic descriptions of whale hunting and the process 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.
About the author
Herman Melville (1819–1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His first two books gained much attention, though they were not bestsellers, and his popularity declined precipitously only a few years later. By the time of his death, he had been almost completely forgotten, but his longest novel,
Moby-Dick—largely considered a failure during his lifetime, and most responsible for Melville’s fall from favor with the reading public—was rediscovered in the 20th century as one of the chief literary masterpieces of both American and world literature.
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