In New Bedford, Connecticut in the 1800s, a group of seamen board the Pequod, captained by Ahab. They know they're out to harpoon whales; what they don't realize is that Ahab once lost a leg to the magnificent white whale Moby Dick, and that he'll risk anything to get back at the animal that maimed him... including himself and every member of his crew.
Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the bulwarks of some condemned old craft. On one side hung a very large oilpainting so thoroughly besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the unequal crosslights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent study and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its purpose. Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at first you almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New England hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos bewitched. But by dint of much and earnest contemplation, and oft repeated ponderings, and especially by throwing open the little window towards the back of the entry, you at last come to the conclusion that such an idea, however wild, might not be altogether unwarranted.
Synopsis
In New Bedford, Connecticut in the 1800s, a group of seamen board the Pequod, captained by Ahab. They know they're out to harpoon whales; what they don't realize is that Ahab once lost a leg to the magnificent white whale Moby Dick, and that he'll risk anything to get back at the animal that maimed him... including himself and every member of his crew.
Table of Contents
ETYMOLOGY. 4
EXTRACTS (Supplied by a Sub-Sub-Librarian). 5
EXTRACTS. 5
1 Loomings. 13
2 The Carpet-Bag. 17
3 The Spouter-Inn. 20
4 The Counterpane. 30
5 Breakfast. 33
6 The Street. 35
7 The Chapel. 37
8 The Pulpit. 39
9 The Sermon. 40
10 A Bosom Friend. 46
11 Nightgown. 49
12 Biographical. 51
13 Wheelbarrow. 53
14 Nantucket. 56
15 Chowder. 58
16 The Ship. 60
17 The Ramadan. 70
18 His Mark. 74
19 The Prophet. 77
20 All Astir. 79
21 Going Aboard. 82
22 Merry Christmas. 84
23 The Lee Shore. 88
24 The Advocate. 89
25 Postscript. 92
26 Knights and Squires. 93
27 Knights and Squires. 95
28 Ahab. 98
29 Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb. 101
30 The Pipe. 103
31 Queen Mab. 104
32 Cetology. 106
33 The Specksynder. 115
34 The Cabin-Table. 117
35 -The Mast-Head. 121
36 The Quarter-Deck. 125
37 Sunset. 131
38 Dusk. 132
39 First Night Watch. 133
40 Midnight, Forecastle. 134
41 Moby Dick. 138
42 The Whiteness of The Whale. 143
43 Hark! 149
44 The Chart. 151
45 The Affidavit. 155
46 Surmises. 161
47 The Mat-Maker. 163
48 The First Lowering. 165
49 The Hyena. 172
50 Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah. 174
51 The Spirit-Spout. 176
52 The Albatross. 178
53 The Gam. 180
54 The Town-Ho's Story. 183
55 Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales. 197
56 Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes. 200
57 Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars. 202
58 Brit. 204
59 Squid. 206
60 The Line. 208
61 Stubb Kills a Whale. 211
62 The Dart. 215
63 The Crotch. 216
64 Stubb's Supper. 217
65 The Whale as a Dish. 222
66 The Shark Massacre. 224
67 Cutting In. 226
68 The Blanket. 228
69 The Funeral. 230
70 The Sphynx. 231
71 The Jeroboam's Story. 233
72 The Monkey-Rope. 236
73 Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale; and Then Have a Talk Over Him. 240
74 The Sperm Whale's Head-Contrasted View. 244
75 The Right Whale's Head-Contrasted View. 247
76 The Battering-Ram. 249
77 The Great Heidelburgh Tun. 251
78 Cistern and Buckets. 253
79 The Prairie. 256
80 The Nut. 257
81 The Pequod Meets The Virgin. 258
82 The Honour and Glory of Whaling. 266
83 Jonah Historically Regarded. 268
84 Pitchpoling. 270
85 The Fountain. 272
86 The Tail. 275
87 The Grand Armada. 278
88 Schools and Schoolmasters. 286
89 Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish. 288
90 Heads or Tails. 291
91 The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud. 294
92 Ambergris. 299
93 The Castaway. 301
94 A Squeeze of the Hand. 304
95 The Cassock. 307
96 The Try-Works. 308
97 The Lamp. 311
98 Stowing Down and Clearing Up. 312
99 The Doubloon. 314
100 Leg and Arm. 318
101 The Decanter. 323
102 A Bower in the Arsacides. 326
103 Measurement of The Whale's Skeleton. 329
104 The Fossil Whale. 331
105 Does the Whale's Magnitude Diminish?-Will He Perish? 334
106 Ahab's Leg. 337
107 The Carpenter. 339
108 Ahab and the Carpenter. 341
109 Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin. 345
110 Queequeg in His Coffin. 347
111 The Pacific. 351
112 The Blacksmith. 352
113 The Forge. 354
114 The Gilder. 357
115 The Pequod Meets The Bachelor. 359
116 The Dying Whale. 361
117 The Whale Watch. 362
118 The Quadrant. 363
119 The Candles. 364
120 The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch. 369
121 Midnight.-The Forecastle Bulwarks. 369
122 Midnight Aloft.-Thunder and Lightning. 371
123 The Musket. 372
124 The Needle. 374
125 The Log and Line. 377
126 The Life-Buoy. 380
127 The Deck. 383
128 The Pequod Meets The Rachel. 385
129 The Cabin. 388
130 The Hat. 390
131 The Pequod Meets The Delight. 393
132 The Symphony. 394
133 The Chase-First Day. 397
134 The Chase-Second Day. 403
135 The Chase.-Third Day. 409
Epilogue 417
About the Author
Herman Melville was born in New York City into an established merchant family. He was the third child of eight. His father, Allan Melvill, an importer of French dry goods, became bankrupt and insane, dying when Melville was 12. His mother, Maria Gansevoort Melvill, was left alone to raise eight children. Occasionally she received help from her wealthy relatives. A bout of scarlet fever in 1826 left Melville with permanently weakened eyesight. He attended Albany (N.Y.) Classical School in 1835. He left the school and was largely autodidact, devouring Shakespeare as well as historical, anthropological, and technical works. From the age of 12, he worked as a clerk, teacher, and farmhand. In search of adventures, he shipped out in 1839 as a cabin boy on the whaler Achushnet. He joined later the US Navy, and started his years long voyages on ships, sailing both the Atlantic and the South Seas. During these years he was a clerk and bookkeeper in general store in Honolulu and lived briefly among the Typee cannibals in the Marquesas Islands. Another ship rescued him and took him to Tahiti. In his mid-20's Melville returned to his mother's house to write about his adventures.
