- Paperback: 592 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (5 Mar 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192833855
- ISBN-13: 978-0192833853
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 471,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
This classic story of high adventure, manic obsession, and metaphysical speculation was Melville's masterpiece. The tale of Captain Ahab's frantic pursuit of the cunning and notorious white whale Moby Dick, is packed with drama, and draws heavily on the author's own experiences on the high seas. This edition includes passages from Melville's correspondence with Nathaniel Hawthorne, in which the two discussed the philosophical depths of the novel's plot and imagery.
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CALL me Ishmael. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
CALL me Ishmael. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I had to give Moby Dick five stars because it is (although profoundly flawed) an epic. Whaling lore aside the writing is dramatic, powerful and moving. Melville has a way with words and this book is a must read for those into great literature.
Having said that, if you just want a good story watch the film or read something more lightweight. The pages of philosophy and whaling lore do not make easy reading and this book is more an essay in philosophy than a story. So, to sum up, excellent but don't read it unless you have a lot of energy or really like whales.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A remarkable American classic. Melville tells the story of Captain Ahab's obsessive hunt for the whale which maimed him. However, the multiple digressions which pepper the narrative help to broaden the scope of the novel.We are treated to in depth accounts of the techniques of whaling, a history of the whale's importance in literature, and, we learn about how to skin a whale! Whilst the novel's subject matter may be non-pc in the 21st century, it succeeds because the reader is made to feel a part of the overall quest to find the great white whale thanks to the intimacy of Ishmael's narrative.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The very idea that watching the movie of this book is preferable to actually reading it should be enough to have the reviewer escorted to the nearest lunatic asylum. This is the original 'novel as encyclopedia' and you are likely to learn as much about 'Whaling' as you are about Race Relations in 19th Century America, Philosophy, Ethics, Colonialism, Science and Homo-Eroticism. If learning about a wide range of subjects in conjunction with the sweep of a vast and compelling adventure story doesn't appeal why not just rent out Season 1 of 'Joey' instead, and listen to the gentle sound of your mind quietly atrophying through disuse.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This book took me forever to read!
This book is very hard work but it is worth it. It quite like dickens in that you have keep checking the footnotes to understand what on earth they are talking about. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2007 by T 1979
Slowby Dick
I picked this book up with high hopes and for the first hundred pages or so i was hooked(excuse the pun), the writing was some of the best i have ever read, if a little slow of... Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2005 by Ste to the J
Monstrously At Sea
I found this to be totally overrated and overblown. Although it starts very promisingly, it peters out into dull repetition after a hundred pages. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2002 by Mr. S. J. Wade
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