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Moby Dick (1851)

by Herman Melville

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
35,34453971 (3.81)8 / 1617
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

The itinerant sailor Ishmael begins a voyage on the whaling ship Pequod whose captain, Ahab, wishes to exact revenge upon the whale Moby-Dick, who destroyed his last ship and took his leg. As they search for the savage white whale, Ishmael questions all aspects of life. The story is woven in complex, lyrical language and uses many theatrical forms, such as stage direction and soliloquy. It is considered the exemplar of American Romanticism, and one of the greatest American novels of all time.

.… (more)
  1. 190
    The Sea Wolf by Jack London (wvlibrarydude)
  2. 170
    In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick (jseger9000)
    jseger9000: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex tells the true story that inspired Melville to write Moby Dick.
  3. 100
    Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (_eskarina)
  4. 80
    Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Jr. Dana (knownever)
    knownever: A more enjoyable, shorter, and less allegorical story of sailing life, although there aren't any whales. The author of this one kind of looks down on whalers. All together a more jaunty sea tale.
  5. 80
    The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (caflores)
  6. 50
    The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea by Philip Hoare (chrisharpe, John_Vaughan)
  7. 61
    The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (caflores)
  8. 62
    The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville (GaryPatella)
    GaryPatella: Compared to Moby Dick, The Confidence Man is a much lighter read. But after ploughing through Moby Dick, this may be a welcome change. It is not as profound, but you also don't have to struggle through any of it. This is worth reading.
  9. 40
    The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex by Owen Chase (meggyweg)
  10. 30
    Billy Budd, Bartleby, and Other Stories by Herman Melville (chwiggy)
  11. 41
    Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick (John_Vaughan)
  12. 53
    The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus (WilfGehlen)
    WilfGehlen: Camus was greatly influenced by Melville and in The Myth of Sisyphus mentions Moby-Dick as a truly absurd work. Reading Moby-Dick with Camus' absurd in mind gives a deeper, and very different insight than provided by the usual emphasis on Ahab's quest for revenge.… (more)
  13. 53
    Ahab's Wife or, The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund (ecleirs24, AriadneAranea)
    ecleirs24: Cause this novel is based upon a passage from Mobi Dick......
  14. 31
    Railsea by China Miéville (Longshanks)
    Longshanks: An imaginative, affectionate pastiche of the novel's themes, imagery, and characters.
  15. 64
    Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian (caflores)
    caflores: Para amantes del lenguaje náutico y de las descripciones detalladas.
  16. 31
    Genoa: A Telling of Wonders by Paul Metcalf (tootstorm)
    tootstorm: Melville's heir struggles to close his relationship to his preceding literary genius. Click the link above, read what you can, and get yourself hooked on one of the most critically-adored yet criminally-underread novels written in a century defined by self-analysis and experimentation.… (more)
  17. 10
    Qohelet by Piero Capelli (Oct326)
    Oct326: "Qohelet" e "Moby Dick" sono due grandi libri, molto diversi ma con un tema in comune: l'inconsistenza, l'insignificanza e l'inutilità dell'agire umano al cospetto della natura e dell'universo.
  18. 11
    The Last Fish Tale by Mark Kurlansky (John_Vaughan)
  19. 11
    The Nautical Chart by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Ronoc)
  20. 33
    Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner (ateolf)

(see all 26 recommendations)

AP Lit (123)
100 (5)
1850s (9)
Romans (14)
My List (28)
Read (14)
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English (479)  Spanish (10)  Dutch (10)  German (8)  Italian (7)  Catalan (4)  French (4)  Norwegian (2)  Finnish (1)  Swedish (1)  Hebrew (1)  Hungarian (1)  Portuguese (Portugal) (1)  Danish (1)  All languages (530)
Showing 1-5 of 479 (next | show all)
Like Ahab himself, this novel is not as fearsome as I had imagined. Its downside is easy to spot - dense language strange to the modern ear and a laggard's pace. It tested my patience somewhere abouts page 500, so it did. On the other hand, never have I wanted to highlight so many passages in a novel; the highlights section on my ebook edition is impressively long. It's a mental feast. And then Ishmael is a jovial, intelligent and likable companion carrying us through. Sure you wish he would shut up already about the minute details of harpoon line and whatnot sometimes and get on with his story, but you have to give him his allowances.

As for the central character of Ahab, what a rich and incredibly useful symbol he is. Most remarkable to me, at the moment, is that he is not the tyrannical autocrat ruling his domain by fear as I had previously believed. He rather bent men to his desire through charisma and force of will channeled through a position of authority, so that the majority of those under him believed in his mission themselves, as unwise as it might logically appear. He is obsessed, and dangerous, but sympathetic! Those few who resisted and remained unmoved, and felt moral objections to the enterprise, such as the first mate Starbuck, were ineffectual and limp in opposition.

How very American. Ahab is not Saddam Hussein, he is George W. Bush! Or insert your favorite murderous tyrant/wrongheaded American President contrast here... ( )
  lelandleslie | Feb 24, 2024 |
So.

Wow.

This is just a fantastic novel. And it fails so badly.

As I made my way through this, I began to get the drift of the novel when it took 23 chapters for Ishmael and Queequeg to even get out to sea. Then it was four chapters of info dump. I don't even think there was a mention of a white whale until the 32 chapter? And then, more info dumps.

I tried to get a handle on this novel and this is the best I can come up with...imagine the voice of Rod Serling as he says,

Imagine, if you will, a timeless place, where the strange and impossible can happen.

A place where Frank Herbert, still heady with the excitement of having finished his novel DUNE, looks to write a similar, yet opposite novel, a bigger, better version of both THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA and JAWS. He finds himself swapping sand for saltwater, sandworms for whales, Stilgar for Queequeg, and Baron Harkonnen for Captain Ahab.

When he finishes it, he hands it off to HOUSE OF LEAVES author Mark Z. Danielewski to add some completely unnecessary interjections that have nothing to do with the plot, as he knows Mark is very good at this.

Mark, then wishing to add some verisimilitude to the burgeoning novel, then hands it off to a writer for the Enclyclopidia Brittanica to add facts on whales, the whaling industry, the significance of "white", facts about rope, more facts about whales, and any other minutiae that may have been mentioned in the dwindling story.

Finally, once that's completed and the novel is now about 40% story, 40% facts, and 20% author's opinions, then Cormac McCarthy is brought in (under strict instructions to leave the damn apostrophes and quotation marks alone) to wordsmith the hell out of the entire thing with the aim of making it prettier, but far more dense.

They'll all agree to slap the name "Herman Melville" on as the author, dust their hands off, and congratulate each other on a job well done.

No one will ever accuse Stephen King of writing too much ever again.

Reader, you've just entered the White Whale Zone.


Okay, so maybe that's a little bit of a crazy scenario, but it's as close as I can come.

At its heart, the main storyline is a good one, and it's actually very gorgeously written. There's a part of me that wants to read the basic, 200-ish page story of Ahab stalking his white whale, without all the side stories, opinion pieces, and informative asides.

Still, the writing... Even the completely unnecessary side trips to get far too much information on some of the crew, eating whale steak, and the difference in crow's nests do come across as interesting, again because the writing is good.

But the points where Melville kills all wind and lets the sails hang limply, his plot dead in the water as he hammers the reader mercilessly with the cetology of various species of whale, etc...they were, while informative in the extreme, were as interesting for the most part as being offered a hearty mug of sea water to drink.

Overall, the combined effect of all of these various passages do serve to make the reader feel each day of the Pequod's long three-year journey, so the novel does sell the journey.

And Ahab? I have to say he's as unlikable a character as I've ever met in fiction.

Overall, while I'd never dive into this novel again, I must say, I'm glad I experienced it. I'm glad I got to revel in Melville's gorgeous prose, and I'm glad I met Ishmael and Queequeg and Starbuck and, yes, even Moby Dick himself. I am richer for having read this novel.

And for that reason, while it's deeply flawed, I have to give this book four solid stars. ( )
1 vote TobinElliott | Feb 7, 2024 |
We had some giggles over this one. There's great humor in the first several chapters. It's a bit of a drone with the listing of whale types and such. ( )
  cmpeters | Feb 2, 2024 |
I have listened to this book as an audiobook over and over again, and I can say that I am much prefer everything that happens to the narrator before he gets on the ship. The long chapters on whaling are really boring and offputting and most people just skip that. This book would’ve been a lot more successful with more drama less how to whale. For one thing it’s much too large to be carried around and I’m sure this was a problem back before digital books when it would cost more to publish so many Unwanted pages. ( )
  laurelzito | Jan 28, 2024 |
One of the greatest meditations on the meaning of life and a tale of the sea unparalleled. ( )
  MylesKesten | Jan 23, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 479 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (248 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Melville, Hermanprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Adler, Mortimer J.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Beaver, Harold LowtherEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Boehmer, PaulNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Buhlert, KlausDirectorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
D'Agostino, NemiTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Delbanco, AndrewIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Epstein, JonathanNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fadiman, CliftonIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Güttinger, FritzTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gibson, William M.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Herd, DavidIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hewgill, JodyCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hirsch, IreneTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jendis, MatthiasTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Judge, PhoebeNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kazin, AlfredIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kent, RockwellIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Meynell, ViolaEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Millionaire, TonyIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Moser, BarryIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Muller, FrankNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mummendey, RichardTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Palmer, GarrickIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pavese, CesareTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pechmann, AlexanderTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Philbrick, NathanielIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Quirk, TomEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Quirk, TomCommentarysecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rathjen, FriedhelmTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Robinson, BoardmanIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schaeffer, MeadIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schmischke, KurtIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Seiffert, AliceÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Seiffert, HansÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Souza, Alexandre Barbosa deTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sutcliffe, DenhamAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Trent, ThomasTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Walcutt, Charles ChildEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Belongs to Publisher Series

Amstelboeken (60-61)
Great Books of the Western World (Volume 48, 1952 ed.)
I.Waldman & Son, Inc. (Moby Books 4520)
Moby Books (4520)
Playmore, Inc. Publishers (Moby Books 4520)

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Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.
Quotations
I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy.
...so at nightfall, the Nantucketer, out of sight of land, furls his sails, and lays him to his rest, while under his very pillow rush herds of walruses and whales.
...Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians and Pagans alike—for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.
‘Whale-balls for breakfast—don’t forget.’ (Stubb, second mate)
And with what quill did the Secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Cruelty to Ganders formally indite his circulars? It is only within the last month or two that that society passed a resolution to patronize nothing but steel pens.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Please do not combine adaptations or abridged editions of Moby Dick with unabridged versions. Versions aimed at children are normally abridged editions and should not be combined here. Also, books ABOUT Moby Dick (such as study guides) should not be combined with the unabridged nor the abridged novel. Please keep such books as an independent work.
The ISBN 9025463312 is shared with a different work.
The Penguin Classics 150th Anniversary Ed (ISBN 0142000086) is not abridged, although that word has appeared in some user's data.
Norton Critical editions, Longman Critical editions and other scholarly editions should not be combined with the unabridged novel. The scholarly-type editions contain much additional material so they should be considered as separate works.
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Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

The itinerant sailor Ishmael begins a voyage on the whaling ship Pequod whose captain, Ahab, wishes to exact revenge upon the whale Moby-Dick, who destroyed his last ship and took his leg. As they search for the savage white whale, Ishmael questions all aspects of life. The story is woven in complex, lyrical language and uses many theatrical forms, such as stage direction and soliloquy. It is considered the exemplar of American Romanticism, and one of the greatest American novels of all time.

.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
"Il primo capitolo di Moby Dick comincia con una dichiarazione non umana, ma angelica. Call me Ishmael: chiamatemi Ismaele, non già mi chiamo Ismaele. Non ha importanza il nome del protagonista narratore, ma ciò che egli simboleggia. Ismaele è l'uomo che si sa dotato di una superiorità non riconosciuta dal mondo: il primogenito di Abramo è un bastardo cacciato nel deserto, fra altri reietti; là impara a sopravvivere a questa morte, in perfetta solitudine,indurito contro le avversità." (Elémire Zolla).
Haiku summary
Call me Ishmael.
Score: Whale 1, Ahab 0.
I alone returned.
(bertilak)
Nor been sparing of

Historical whale research

--Chapter one-o-one
Do ye love sperm, boys?
Poke my leg into the deck
And sail against God! (captainfez)

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