Books with title Moby-Dick

Herman Melville's thrilling nautical adventure—a timeless allegory and an epic saga of heroic determination and conflict. At the heart of Moby-Dick is the powerful, unknowable sea—and Captain Ahab, a brooding, one-legged fanatic who has sworn vengeance on the mammoth white whale that crippled him. Narrated by Ishmael, a wayfarer who joins the crew of Ahab’s whaling ship, this is the story of that hair-raising voyage, and of the men who embraced hardship and nameless horrors as they dared to challenge God’s most dreaded creation and death itself for a chance at immortality. A novel that delves with astonishing vigor into the complex souls of men, Moby-Dick is an impassioned drama of the ultimate human struggle that the Atlantic Monthly called “the greatest of American novels.” With an Introduction by Elizabeth Renker and an Afterword by Christopher Buckley

Chiltern creates the most beautiful editions of the World’s finest literature. Your favorite classic titles in a way you have never seen them before: the tactile layers, fine details and beautiful colors of these remarkable covers make these books feel extra special and look striking on any shelf. This hardcover book has a matching blank lined journal (sold separately). They make a great gift when paired together but are also just as beautiful on their own.Moby Dick tells the story of Ishmael, who announces his intent to ship aboard a whaling vessel. He has made several voyages as a sailor but none as a whaler. He travels to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he stays in a whalers’ inn. Since the inn is rather full, he has to share a bed with a harpooner from the South Pacific named Queequeg. At first repulsed by Queequeg’s strange habits and shocking appearance (Queequeg is covered with tattoos), Ishmael eventually comes to appreciate the man’s generosity and kind spirit, and the two decide to seek work on a whaling vessel together.

This premium quality large print edition contains the complete and unabridged original classic version of Moby Dick, printed on heavyweight, bright white paper in a large 7.44"x9.69" format, with a fully laminated full-color cover featuring an original design. Also included is an original introductory essay discussing the life and work of Herman Melville and the history and significance of Moby Dick, providing the modern reader with useful background information to enhance the enjoyment of this classic novel. Herman Melville is known today primarily for his iconic whaling novel, Moby Dick (1851), the story of the struggle between Captain Ahab and "the great white whale," which appears on many lists of "greatest books ever written" and is considered an essential part of the Western Canon. Ironically, when the novel was published it was a monumental flop and signaled the end of Melvilles's career as a novelist. One theory is that the omission of the epilogue from the first printing left the book open to ridicule as a first-person narrative in which the narrator did not survive to tell the tale. He published several more novels, all without success, and in 1866 he became a New York customs inspector, all but forgotten for the next fifty years. It was not until the rise of the modernist movement that Moby Dick was recognized as a great literary classic. What once were regarded as serious flaws came to be viewed as literary innovations. Moby Dick went from being criticized as undisciplined and poorly crafted to being hailed as "ahead of its time" and "visionary." For the modern reader, the complex analytical theories behind Moby Dick may get in the way of enjoying the novel for its own sake. Taking Moby Dick at face value, it is an interesting tale, rich with diverse characters and evocative themes like friendship, class and social status, good and evil, isolation and community, the existence of God, obsession and human perception. A vivid depiction of life aboard ship in the nineteenth century it is perhaps the most detailed and accessible existing picture of what was, for a time, the richest industry in the United States. If at times the text seems stilted or antiquated, as might be expected from any work from this era, it is equally true that at times the text attains a soaring, almost lyric tone. The most casual reader cannot fail to appreciate the unforgettable characters, compelling storyline and vivid depictions of whales, whalers and whaling, and the obsession-driven quest after the great white whale upon which Ahab leads, and the crew follows, to their doom. And this, without anything more, makes Moby Dick essential reading. Herman Melville (1819–1891) was an author of the American Renaissance, or Romantic, period. Born in New York City, he was the third child of a successful merchant. He worked as a schoolteacher before going to sea for the first time in 1839. Serving on a whaler in 1842, he jumped ship and spent a month living among South Pacific islanders. His first novel, "Typee" (1846), a bestseller, was based in part on his experiences in the South Pacific as was the successful sequel, "Omoo" (1847). The same year Melville, now a successful novelist, married Elizabeth Knapp Shaw. They would have four children between 1849 and 1855. "Mardi" and "Redburn", both published in 1849, met with limited success. "Mardi" in particular was criticized as so thematically dense as to be incomprehensible. "White-Jacket" (1850), based on Melville's brief service in the U.S. Navy, was his most influential work during his lifetime, with graphic descriptions of flogging that led directly to banning the practice on naval vessels. Moby Dick and several additional failed novels and poetry collections followed. Melville sank into obscurity and died in 1891, about 20 years before Moby Dick was recognized as a literary classic.

Moby-Dick is the story of Captain Ahab's quest to avenge the whale that 'reaped' his leg. The quest is an obsession and the novel is a diabolical study of how a man becomes a fanatic. But it is also a hymn to democracy. Bent as the crew is on Ahab s appalling crusade, it is equally the image of a co-operative community at work: all hands dependent on all hands, each individual responsible for the security of each. Among the crew is Ishmael, the novel's narrator, ordinary sailor, and extraordinary reader. Digressive, allusive, vulgar, transcendent, the story Ishmael tells is above all an education: in the practice of whaling, in the art of writing."Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee." To the final moment of his death beneath the waves, Captain Ahab pursues the enigmatic White Whale that took off his leg--Moby-Dick, a symbol of all that is deep and undecipherable. In this greatest of all American novels, Herman Melville spins a gripping tale of whales and whalers, but more than that, he examines the mysteries and paradoxes that lie at the very heart of existence itself.

Melville's tale of the whaling industry, and one captain's obsession with revenge against the Great White Whale that took his leg.Classics Illustrated tells this wonderful tale in colorful comic strip form, offering an excellent introduction for younger readers. This edition also includes a biography of Herman Melville and study questions, which can be used both in the classroom or at home to further engage the reader in the story.The Classics Illustrated comic book series began life in 1941 with its first issue, Alexandre Dumas’ "The Three Musketeers", and has since included over 200 classic tales released around the world. This new CCS Books edition is specifically tailored to engage and educate young readers with some of the greatest works ever written, while still thrilling older readers who have loving memories of this series of old. Each book contains dedicated theme discussions and study questions to further develop the reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the work at hand.

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851) is a novel by Herman Melville considered an outstanding work of Romanticism and the American Renaissance. Ishmael narrates the monomaniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaler Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, a white whale which on a previous voyage destroyed Ahab's ship and severed his leg at the knee. Although the novel was a commercial failure and out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891, its reputation as a Great American Novel grew during the twentieth century. William Faulkner confessed he wished he had written it 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". "Call me Ishmael" is one of world literature's most famous opening sentences.The product of a year and a half of writing, the book is dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne, "in token of my admiration for his genius", and draws on Melville's experience at sea, on his reading in whaling literature, and on literary inspirations such as 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.The work was first published as The Whale in London in October 1851 and then under its definitive title Moby-Dick in New York in November. There were hundreds of slight but important differences between the two editions. The London publisher censored or changed sensitive passages and Melville made revisions as well, including the last-minute change in the title for the New York edition. The whale, however, appears in both editions as "Moby Dick", with no hyphen. About 3,200 copies were sold during the author's life, earning him a little more than $1,200.

A masterpiece of storytelling, this epic saga pits Ahab, a brooding and fantastical sea captain, against the great white whale that crippled him. In telling the tale of Ahab's passion for revenge and the fateful voyage that ensued, Melville produced far more than the narrative of a hair-raising journey; Moby-Dick is a tale for the ages that sounds the deepest depths of the human soul. Interspersed with graphic sketches of life aboard a whaling vessel, and a wealth of information on whales and 19th-century whaling, Melville's greatest work presents an imaginative and thrilling picture of life at sea, as well as a portrait of heroic determination. The author's keen powers of observation and firsthand knowledge of shipboard life (he served aboard a whaler himself) were key ingredients in crafting a maritime story that dramatically examines the conflict between man and nature. "A valuable addition to the literature of the day," said American journalist Horace Greeley on the publication of Moby-Dick in 1851 — a classic piece of understatement about a literary classic now considered by many as "the great American novel." Read and pondered by generations, the novel remains an unsurpassed account of the ultimate human struggle against the indifference of nature and the awful power of fate. Much of Moby Dick was inspired by the 1821 work Narratives of the Wreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, which in turn inspired the 2015 movie In the Heart of the Sea, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth.

The classic novel, carefully edited for modern readers to allow for easier reading. When he joins the crew of the whaling ship Pequod, seafaring Ishmael disregards the prophetic warnings of a grizzled old sailor. Ahab, the Pequod’s captain, is on a mission of revenge. Maimed on a previous voyage by the White Whale known as Moby Dick, Captain Ahab will not rest until he exacts his vengeance – a dangerous obsession that will put ship and crew at the mercy of unforgiving nature.