Authors: Herman Melville, Eric Freeberg (Illustrator), Kathleen Olmstead (Abridged by), Arthur Pober
ISBN-13: 9781402766442, ISBN-10: 1402766440
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Sterling Publishing
Date Published: February 2010
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Herman Melville's legend is as mammoth and elusive as the whale that established it. The author's Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale stands as one of literature's greatest epics, a story of mythological proportions that was grounded in real life and a new way of storytelling. Melville's work, underappreciated in its time, remains as much subject to debate and interpretation as it was when he first caught the public eye with his South Seas adventure, Typee, in 1846.
One of the most widely-read and respected books in all American literature, Moby Dick is the saga of Captain Ahab and his unrelenting pursuit of Moby Dick, the great white whale who maimed him during their last encounter. A novel blending high-seas romantic adventure, symbolic allegory, and the conflicting ideals of heroic determination and undying hatred, Moby Dick is also revered for its historical accounts of the whaling industry of the 1800's.
Can an abridged version of one of literature's great masterpieces do the original justice? Can such an attempt make a dense and sometimes rambling original more accessible to today's technology-inspired readers? The editor himself asks questions along these lines in his author's notes and it is this reviewer's humble opinion that he has quite successfully succeeded. Taking the best of Melville's original text, Needle injects historical references and invaluable observations on the life and times of the day to tell the story of Ahab, Ishmael, and the infamous whale. In doing so, Needle provides today's reader with a greater understanding of the shades of meaning inherent in Melville's lyrical original. A glossary and meticulously detailed drawing of a typical whaling ship provide the reader with even greater context. Raising the bar are Patrick Benson's amazing full-color illustrations and black-and-white sketches, managing quite magnificently to bring Melville's words and Needle's interjections to life. Somewhere between the pleasure (and pain) of the original and the ease of the movie lies this masterful abridged version.
Introduction | xvi | |
Etymology | xxvi | |
Extracts | 1 | |
Chapter 1 | Loomings | 17 |
Chapter 2 | The Carpet-Bag | 22 |
Chapter 3 | The Spouter-Inn | 26 |
Chapter 4 | The Counterpane | 41 |
Chapter 5 | Breakfast | 45 |
Chapter 6 | The Street | 47 |
Chapter 7 | The Chapel | 50 |
Chapter 8 | The Pulpit | 53 |
Chapter 9 | The Sermon | 56 |
Chapter 10 | A Bosom Friend | 65 |
Chapter 11 | Nightgown | 69 |
Chapter 12 | Biographical | 71 |
Chapter 13 | Wheelbarrow | 73 |
Chapter 14 | Nantucket | 78 |
Chapter 15 | Chowder | 80 |
Chapter 16 | The Ship | 83 |
Chapter 17 | The Ramadan | 97 |
Chapter 18 | His Mark | 103 |
Chapter 19 | The Prophet | 107 |
Chapter 20 | All Astir | 111 |
Chapter 21 | Going Aboard | 113 |
Chapter 22 | Merry Christmas | 117 |
Chapter 23 | The Lee Shore | 121 |
Chapter 24 | The Advocate | 122 |
Chapter 25 | Postscript | 127 |
Chapter 26 | Knights and Squires | 128 |
Chapter 27 | Knights and Squires | 131 |
Chapter 28 | Ahab | 136 |
Chapter 29 | Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb | 139 |
Chapter 30 | The Pipe | 142 |
Chapter 31 | Queen Mab | 143 |
Chapter 32 | Cetology | 146 |
Chapter 33 | The Specksynder | 159 |
Chapter 34 | The Cabin-Table | 162 |
Chapter 35 | The Mast-Head | 168 |
Chapter 36 | The Quarter-Deck, Ahab and All | 174 |
Chapter 37 | Sunset | 182 |
Chapter 38 | Dusk | 184 |
Chapter 39 | First Night-Watch | 185 |
Chapter 40 | Midnight, Forecastle | 186 |
Chapter 41 | Moby-Dick | 193 |
Chapter 42 | The Whiteness of the Whale | 203 |
Chapter 43 | Hark! | 212 |
Chapter 44 | The Chart | 213 |
Chapter 45 | The Affidavit | 218 |
Chapter 46 | Surmises | 227 |
Chapter 47 | The Mat-Maker | 230 |
Chapter 48 | The First Lowering | 233 |
Chapter 49 | The Hyena | 243 |
Chapter 50 | Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah | 245 |
Chapter 51 | The Spirit-Spout | 248 |
Chapter 52 | The Albatross | 252 |
Chapter 53 | The Gam | 254 |
Chapter 54 | The Town-Ho's Story | 259 |
Chapter 55 | Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales | 279 |
Chapter 56 | Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, etc. | 284 |
Chapter 57 | Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; etc. | 288 |
Chapter 58 | Brit | 290 |
Chapter 59 | Squid | 293 |
Chapter 60 | The Line | 296 |
Chapter 61 | Stubb Kills a Whale | 300 |
Chapter 62 | The Dart | 305 |
Chapter 63 | The Crotch | 306 |
Chapter 64 | Stubb's Supper | 308 |
Chapter 65 | The Whale As a Dish | 316 |
Chapter 66 | The Shark Massacre | 318 |
Chapter 67 | Cutting In | 320 |
Chapter 68 | The Blanket | 322 |
Chapter 69 | The Funeral | 325 |
Chapter 70 | The Sphynx | 327 |
Chapter 71 | The Jeroboam's Story | 329 |
Chapter 72 | The Monkey-Rope | 335 |
Chapter 73 | Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale, etc. | 340 |
Chapter 74 | The Sperm Whale's Head-Contrasted View | 345 |
Chapter 75 | The Right Whale's Head-Contrasted View | 350 |
Chapter 76 | The Battering-Ram | 353 |
Chapter 77 | The Great Heidelburgh Tun | 355 |
Chapter 78 | Cistern and Buckets | 357 |
Chapter 79 | The Praire | 361 |
Chapter 80 | The Nut | 364 |
Chapter 81 | The Pequod Meets the Virgin | 366 |
Chapter 82 | The Honor and Glory of Whaling | 378 |
Chapter 83 | Jonah Historically Regarded | 381 |
Chapter 84 | Pitchpoling | 383 |
Chapter 85 | The Fountain | 385 |
Chapter 86 | The Tail | 391 |
Chapter 87 | The Grand Armada | 395 |
Chapter 88 | Schools and Schoolmasters | 408 |
Chapter 89 | Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish | 411 |
Chapter 90 | Heads or Tails | 415 |
Chapter 91 | The Pequod Meets the Rose-Bud | 418 |
Chapter 92 | Ambergris | 425 |
Chapter 93 | The Castaway | 428 |
Chapter 94 | A Squeeze of the Hand | 432 |
Chapter 95 | The Cassock | 436 |
Chapter 96 | The Try-Works | 437 |
Chapter 97 | The Lamp | 442 |
Chapter 98 | Stowing Down and Clearing Up | 443 |
Chapter 99 | The Doubloon | 446 |
Chapter 100 | The Pequod Meets the Samuel Enderby of London | 452 |
Chapter 101 | The Decanter | 459 |
Chapter 102 | A Bower in the Arsacides | 464 |
Chapter 103 | Measurement of the Whale's Skeleton | 468 |
Chapter 104 | The Fossil Whale | 471 |
Chapter 105 | Does the Whale's Magnitude Diminish? | 475 |
Chapter 106 | Ahab's Leg | 479 |
Chapter 107 | The Carpenter | 482 |
Chapter 108 | Ahab and the Carpenter | 485 |
Chapter 109 | Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin | 489 |
Chapter 110 | Queequeg in His Coffin | 492 |
Chapter 111 | The Pacific | 498 |
Chapter 112 | The Blacksmith | 499 |
Chapter 113 | The Forge | 502 |
Chapter 114 | The Gilder | 505 |
Chapter 115 | The Pequod Meets the Bachelor | 507 |
Chapter 116 | The Dying Whale | 510 |
Chapter 117 | The Whale Watch | 512 |
Chapter 118 | The Quadrant | 513 |
Chapter 119 | The Candles | 516 |
Chapter 120 | The Deck | 523 |
Chapter 121 | Midnight-The Forecastle Bulwarks | 524 |
Chapter 122 | Midnight Aloft | 526 |
Chapter 123 | The Musket | 526 |
Chapter 124 | The Needle | 530 |
Chapter 125 | The Log and Line | 533 |
Chapter 126 | The Life-Buoy | 536 |
Chapter 127 | The Deck | 540 |
Chapter 128 | The Pequod Meets the Rachel | 542 |
Chapter 129 | The Cabin | 546 |
Chapter 130 | The Hat | 548 |
Chapter 131 | The Pequod Meets the Delight | 552 |
Chapter 132 | The Symphony | 554 |
Chapter 133 | The Chase-First Day | 558 |
Chapter 134 | The Chase-Second Day | 567 |
Chapter 135 | The Chase-Third Day | 576 |
Epilogue | 588 | |
Criticism and Context | ||
Herman Melville: A Biographical Note | 590 | |
Letters | 597 | |
Moby-Dick and Its Contemporary Reviews | 607 | |
Moby-Dick and Its Modern Critics | 619 | |
from Herman Melville | 619 | |
"Seven Moby-Dicks" | 629 | |
"The Tragic Meaning of Moby-Dick" | 645 | |
"Ishmael" | 649 | |
from "Herman Melville's Moby-Dick" | 654 | |
"The Fire Symbolism in Moby-Dick" | 662 | |
Recommended Reading | 668 |