Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

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A mysterious white whale had ripped off the leg of a sea captain named Ahab on a previous voyage.Now the crew of the Pequod must follow the crazy Ahab into the abyss to satiate his unquenchable thirst for vengeance.Narrated by the cunningly observant crew member Ishmael, Moby-Dick is the story of the quest for the elusive, omnipotent white whale.

On the surface, Moby-Dick is a vivid chronicle of life aboard a nineteenth-century whaler, a virtual library of whales and whaling, packed with facts, tales, and trivia that Melville had acquired from personal experience and scores of sources. But, as the chase for the whale grows increasingly deadly, the story operates on allegorical levels, likening the whale to human greed, moral consequences, and so on. The great white whale, like Nature, simply wants to be left alone. Or there's Ahab, who, like scientists, explorers, and philosophers, delves courageously into the universe's mysteries. Who is the bad guy? The terrifying, man-eating sea monster Or the vengeful lunatic who disregards his own better nature in his effort to slay the beast.

First mocked by reviewers, Moby-Dick was openly mocked during its author's lifetime.Yet Melville's masterpiece has outlived its early misunderstanding to become an undoubtedly epic American classic.

A comprehensive Dictionary of Sea Words (37 pages) is included.