Books : Moby-Dick: or, The Whale (Modern Library Classics)
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by: Herman Melville
List Price: $12.95Amazon.com's Price: $10.36 You Save: $2.59 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.3
EAN: 9780679783275
ISBN: 067978327X
Label: Modern Library
Manufacturer: Modern Library
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 896
Publication Date: October 10, 2000
Publisher: Modern Library
Release Date: October 10, 2000
Sales Rank: 68338
Studio: Modern Library
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
First published in 1851, Melville's masterpiece is, in Elizabeth Hardwick's words, 'the greatest novel in American literature.' The saga of Captain Ahab and his monomaniacal pursuit of the white whale remains a peerless adventure story but one full of mythic grandeur, poetic majesty, and symbolic power. Filtered through the consciousness of the novel's narrator, Ishmael, Moby-Dick draws us into a universe full of fascinating characters and stories, from the noble cannibal Queequeg to the natural history of whales, while reaching existential depths that excite debate and contemplation to this day.
This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition contains original illustrations by Rockwell Kent and commentary that includes excerpts from one of Melville's letters to Hawthorne.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Melville's wicked modern masterpiece
True classic in breadth and depth, its impact attested by contemporary reviews that were as awestruck standing beside it as we remain from a distance.
Memorable quotes as Ahab descends into madness and death impelled by a whale of all things:
"So far gone am I in the dark side of the earth, that its other side, the theoretic bright one, seems but uncertain twilight to me."
"This whole act's immutably decreed. 'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before ... Read More
Rating: - Melville goes to the depths
Moby Dick is a fascinating and imaginative tale and it is my favorite American novel. I must admit that some of the descriptions of whales had me cursing maledictions, but in the end I was enthralled by Melville's philosophy and metaphysics. Also, I was thrilled with the amount of symbolism that Melville used because it forced me to continually look below the surface. Believe it or not, there was also a great deal of humor in this robust book, esp. in the beginning when Ishmael meets Queequeg for the first ... Read More
Rating: - Confusing, sometimes pedantic, always wonderful
This is tough novel: big, confusing, it leaves you wanting to re-read it.
If you wanted to know the difference in structure (as opposed to scale) between a short story and a novel, Moby-Dick (or, The Whale) is probably the as good an exemplar one would find of the novel form. Where a short story focuses on a single event, action, or mood, a novel tends to take the air a bit more -- perambulate, follow its own muse, wander. And wander Moby Dick does. It goes and goes and goes. Melville wrote that ... Read More
Rating: - This is not the book for you if you're looking for a thriller.
Overall, Moby Dick was a wonderful piece of literature filled with all sorts of symbolism and artful imagery. It gave a very realistic take on things since the narrator was not really bias. Also, it is an anti-transcendentalist piece so it focuses more on reality and it examines the darker side of the human condition, so if you're looking for a story with a hero and a perfect ending then I suggest you find another book. It is difficult to describe how I really felt about Moby Dick because on one hand it was ... Read More
Rating:  - A whale of a book
Moby Dick is one of those classic books that is actually several simultaneous books rolled up into one; each a level below the other. At the most superficial level, Moby Dick is an adventure - drama about a male albino sperm while of the same name that roams the open oceans while being chased by a crew of whalers on a sailing ship named the Pequod. The ship is captained by Ahab, a man who has lost one leg in a previous encounter with the great whale. The book progresses thru various chapters. The initial and ... Read More
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