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Moby Dick (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

~ Herman Melville (Author), Tony Tanner (Editor) "CALL me Ishmael..." (more)
Key Phrases: stricken whale, great sperm whale, ivory leg, Moby Dick, Captain Ahab, Captain Peleg (more...)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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  Kindle Edition, March 5, 1998 $7.16 -- --
  Hardcover, March 8, 2000 -- -- $36.17
  Paperback, May 14, 2008 $10.10 $6.84 $3.92
  Paperback, July 16, 1998 -- $2.00 $0.49
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Editorial Reviews

Review

'In his great whaling epic Melville roamed both the seas, and the secret places of men's minds. In the alternate playfulness and ferocity of the great white whale he found the perfect metaphor within which to develope his views on life, death and God.' The Sunday Times

'An attractive edition to a field rather overcrowded with inexpensive editions. However, the Hawthorne matyerial gives this one an edge.' Andrew Lyman, Leicester University. ' Much better annotations than any other available edition.' H. Merritt, CCAT Cambridge.


Product Description

This classic story of high adventure, manic obsession and metaphysical speculation was Melville's masterpiece. This editon includes passages from Melville's correspondence with Nathaniel Hawthorne, in which the two discuss the philosophical depths of the novel's plot and imagery.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 656 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 16, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0192833855
  • ISBN-13: 978-0192833853
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #980,991 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
CALL me Ishmael. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
stricken whale, great sperm whale, ivory leg, particular whale, spare boats, stranger captain, right whale, white whale, whaling voyage
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Moby Dick, Captain Ahab, Captain Peleg, New Bedford, Cape Horn, Captain Bildad, Father Mapple, Don Sebastian, Mohy Dick, New England, New Zealand, Cape of Good Hope, Captain Sleet, Heidelburgh Tun, Samuel Enderby, Huzza Porpoise, New York, Aunt Charity, Captain Mayhew, Don Pedro, Frederick Cuvier, Golden Inn, Lord Warden, Low Dutch, Sag Harbor
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Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100 books:
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Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
Moby-Dick by Nathaniel Philbrick
Moby-Dick by Stanley P. Baldwin
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
Herman Melville by G. Thomas Tanselle
 

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The best things in life come to those who wait, April 3, 1999
By A Customer
Patience is a virtue; and if patience is needed to truly appreciate Melville's Moby-Dick, then virtuous am I. I admit, there were many places in this novel where I "just wanted to get through it". However, when the reader takes a step back to truly examine this work, it soon becomes an obvious masterpiece. For myself, the most interesting aspect of Melville's writing is his tendency to use Biblical characters: Ishmael, Ahab, and even the ship "Rachel" searching for her children. There are literally hundreds of links to their Biblical counterparts. This was most fascinating for me to discover. I challenge readers to see this novel as more than just a story, but rather, a work which calls for in-depth examination.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The "Fight Club" of the 1850's, October 2, 2009
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This review is from: Moby Dick (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
Quite simply put, "Moby Dick" is the "Fight Club" of the 1850's, but better because it is more faithful to its concepts, ideas, and convictions than is Fincher's film. Melville was very critical of the way 19th-century American capitalism subsumed democratic impulses for its own chaotic agenda, but readers during his time didn't like that kind of lecturing. Melville saw his own family's wealth and stability destroyed by the dictates of American capitalism and wrote a book about how the system teeters onward. And in that system, according to Ishmael, "Who ain't a slave?"

"Moby Dick" is a truly dangerous book. Read it! Reading it is not simply about being able to brag to others about having gotten to the end of a thick book that is considered in "blinkered" circles a "classic." It's about the the pleasure of reading between the lines on nearly every page. Whitman said it best: "Wake up, slaves."

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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Pinnacle of American Literature in My Opinion, August 24, 2007
By Alyosha (MidCoast, Maine) - See all my reviews
Skimming some of these reviews I see a lot of descriptions of 'Moby Dick' as being "grueling," "confusing," and even downright "boring." I don't deny that Moby Dick is all of these things, at times. Conversely though Herman Melville's masterpiece also contains some of the most beautiful writing that one is ever likely to come across. This is no doubt at least a small part of why this novel is one of the most divisive in American literature and why there are still such widely diverging views as to its meaning. Either way you don't get to just cop out and write this one off simply because there are sections that are difficult to sift through.

The cast was, I believe, intended to be symbolic of the American idea, the American dream. The crew of the Pequod is sort of a rag-tag hodgepodge of folks from all corners of the globe. It's a ship where folks who had maybe gone bankrupt or previously experienced failures and hardship earlier in life can come to start over again. Ishmael perhaps representing the archetypical American "cowboy," joining the Pequod without any real purpose other than for the adventure, the freedom afforded by the open seas, and the excitement of venturing out into the unknown.

More than this was intended to be symbolic of the changes going on in American society the Pequod's expedition was, I believe, intended to be deeply representative of the issues that are at the heart of man's place in this world. While ostensibly the story is about whaling, it is more symbolically a story of each man's personal odyssey to give purpose to his own existence amidst sneaking suspicions (brought on by science and philosophy) that this life might ultimately be meaningless. The frequent encounters that the Pequod has with other ships reminds me of what Karl Barth called "sign posts" which are more or less symbolic events in our lives that point to something further, that beckon us to continue on our path. The captains of other vessels mention having heard of the "White Whale," so there are signs that the Pequod should continue though the general sense amongst all with the exception of Ahab is that they're chasing a phantom, a myth, nothingness. With God in exile and religion out of most peoples lives there has been a similar feeling by many that life might be pointless. That all of our daily toil and efforts might be for nothing all the while never falling quite so deep into despair as to give up on this world completely.

Ahab shows the most obvious manifestations of some people's growing mistrust of technology. Of how science can quantify our world without really telling us anything meaningful about it. His rage at having lost his leg is a reflection of the growing sense of despair over what seems to be the sheer randomness of events in our lives, at the way nature seems to act without reason, and how the most terrible tragedies can befall us without any provocation. Ahab's futile attempts to kill the White Whale are violent lashings out at the world, at nature; they are frustrated and misguided attempts to push back on the forces acting on him. This is an intrinsically human reaction, namely we seek to destroy whatever we can't bring under our thumb.

Obviously this book is just loaded with symbolism and allegory so there are many ways in which to interpret this book. One shouldn't forget this fact because Moby Dick is a book that was meant to be read more than once. I personally have only read it once but it is a book that begs to be gone over repeatedly in order to get the most out of it and I do sincerely hope to read this wonderful book again someday.
What probably prevents alot of folks from going over it again are the seemingly endless descriptions about whales and the 19th Century whaling industry. Like, about half this book is a treatise on whaling. It's difficult to understand exactly why this is done. I'm guessing one reason could be that this was written at a time when alot of folks didn't have things like "Free Willy" or the Discovery Channel that would allow them to truly appreciate the majesty of the whale or even what a whale was or looked like. Another reason could be that this whale chronical may have been another way to show how we can quantify nature, we can describe it, but we still end up powerless against it in the long run.

Whatever his reason's for adding this I don't think Melville made his novel any more compelling or meaningful with all the whale talk. To be perfectly honest it can be a real chore to get through some of those parts. Still, I'm giving this book a 5 because of it's exquisite imagery and because of its incredibly insightful look at humanity, at our contradictions, and how the intensity of our desires seems to blind us to how fragile and vulnerable we really are. Melville is able to express modern man's confusion and despair without leaving the reader in a state of hopelessness. Quite an incredible accomplishment really, something few philosophers seem capable of. Also, I would think the collective weight of the world academic community outweighs alot of these negative reviews.

Classic.
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 		 Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A Whale of A Bore
Many of the reviewers seem to enjoy this. I however, think its one of the longest, most boring works of art ever created. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Toe Cutter

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the effort to read
I somehow avoided having to read this in high school or college, and wanted to give it a shot. After struggling through the first chapter and growing accustomed to the style of... Read more
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4.0 out of 5 stars I'll have to do it again
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experience both uplifting and frustrating. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the effort
Yes this is not for the faint of heart...tough sledding at times but the reward of allowing Melville's poetry to seep into your soul makes it well worth it. Read more
Published on August 19, 2000 by R. J. Marsella

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