How to Read Herman Melville's Moby Dick 
a reference for first time readers of Moby                  

 

Crew of the Pequod!...
Captain Ahab speaking!...
 "...This is what ye have shipped for, men!  
To chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all sides of earth....
What say ye, men, will ye splice hands on it now? I think ye do look brave!" 1
 

Have you known only the safety, the comfort, the predictability of  land life and now long to experience whatever it is that came before, endures, and will come after?  Do you feel an Ominous Truth hovering behind you? Are you ready to turn, tear away the veil and face it, eye to eye? 

Then steel yourself with Perseverance and a Questing Spirit, for this Journey into the Sea of Paradox will surely test you.

Advice to First Time Readers

Reading Sections 1-7

"The Origin of the Name Moby Dick"

 History of the Name Pequod

Quotations from Moby-Dick

Allusions in Moby-Dick

Moby Art
professional     student

Moby, Whaling, and the Sea in music, movies, and print

The Life and Works of Herman Melville

Works Cited and Acknowledgments

  

Search the novel by word or phrase



a symbol  for water and sea;  also, a symbol for an active intellect.


Could this be the same Starbuck, first mate of the Pequod?

Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Penquin Classics
recommended

After reading Moby Dick, you may wonder about Ahab's wife. Read the recently published
Ahab's Wife, or Stargazer 
 by Sena Jeter Naslund
..."Ahab's wife is sustenance for mind and soul."
Wally Lamb

If you enjoy wrestling with solutions for contemporary world problems and Socratic questioning,  read
Ishmael
by
Daniel Quinn

Website by Patricia Thompson      copyright 1998 by Patricia Thompson      Last update 12/2008