Moby-Dick: or, The Whale (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Herman Melville’s masterpiece of obsession and the untamed sea, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history—a deluxe edition featuring a Foreword by Nathaniel Philbrick and cover art by Tony Millionaire.
This edition features the Northwestern-Newberry edition of Melville's text, approved by the Center for Scholarly Editions and the Center for Editions of American Authors of the MLA.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Moby-Dick still stands as an indisputable literary classic. It is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopedia of whaling lore and legend, Moby-Dick is a haunting, mesmerizing, and important social commentary populated with several of the most unforgettable and enduring characters in literature.
Written with wonderfully redemptive humor, Moby-Dick is a profound and timeless inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
This edition features the Northwestern-Newberry edition of Melville's text, approved by the Center for Scholarly Editions and the Center for Editions of American Authors of the MLA.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Moby-Dick still stands as an indisputable literary classic. It is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopedia of whaling lore and legend, Moby-Dick is a haunting, mesmerizing, and important social commentary populated with several of the most unforgettable and enduring characters in literature.
Written with wonderfully redemptive humor, Moby-Dick is a profound and timeless inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Community Reviews
An adventure tale as well as an allegory of man vs nature. I find it to be a spiritual journey of a man in search of his own true nature.
I have so many thoughts. One is that Moby Dick is an amazing work of literary fiction. It's also an amazing nonfiction book detailing nearly everything that was known at the time about sperm whales. I'm not sure it was a great idea to make these two amazing books into one. It certainly seems to throw a lot of people off- including me. This was my third attempt at reading Moby Dick and my first successful one. My first attempt was in high school, which I guess technically shouldn't count. It's probably useful to have some real grief or heartbreak in your life to understand some of the best sentences.
Another issue is that the foreshadowing is so out of control. Okay, I get it! This is a terrible idea!
The last three chapters pack an action-adventure punch and I was mystified by how Melville made the scenes come to life. There was a very cinematic feeling throughout.
Chapters 83, 93, and 110 were my favorite. They're so good that I don't need to justify 5 stars any further than those three chapters, but I'll add that my Kindle tells me I made 392 highlights.
Another issue is that the foreshadowing is so out of control. Okay, I get it! This is a terrible idea!
The last three chapters pack an action-adventure punch and I was mystified by how Melville made the scenes come to life. There was a very cinematic feeling throughout.
Chapters 83, 93, and 110 were my favorite. They're so good that I don't need to justify 5 stars any further than those three chapters, but I'll add that my Kindle tells me I made 392 highlights.
Such a good book. Melville's character development is fantastic, and while the story itself was likely partly inspired by Homer's Odyssey, it in turn laid the groundwork for such obvious modern stories as Jaws. Blah blah blah. I know...It's been said before, but you need to read the book to truly appreciate it.
The message about how even the smartest amongst us can fall prey to arrogant, obsessive thinking was well delivered. As it was with Benchley's Quint...
It took some rumination after reading the book to connect the dots on "Mankind is smart, but no match for Mother Nature / God". Despite the long narratives on all that was known about the technical aspects of whaling, it didn't matter in the end.
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