Moby-Dick

Herman Melville (1819-91) became in his late twenties a highly successful author of exotic novels based on his experiences as a sailor - writing in quick succession Typee, Omoo, Redburn and White-Jacket. However, his masterpiece Moby-Dick was met with incomprehension and the other later works which are now the basis of his reputation, such as Bartleby, the Scrivener and The Confidence-Man, were failures. Melville stopped writing fiction and the rest of his long life was spent first as a lecturer and then, for nineteen years, as a customs official in New York City. He was also the author of the immensely long poem Clarel, which was similarly dismissed. At the end of his life he wrote Billy Budd, Sailor which was published posthumously in 1924.

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• IntroductionSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TextEtymologyExtractsMoby DickLoomingsThe Carpet BagThe Spouter-InnThe CounterpaneBreakfastThe StreetThe ChapelThe PulpitThe SermonA Bosom FriendNightgownBiographicalWheelbarrowNantucketChowderThe ShipThe RamadanHis MarkThe ProphetAll AstirGoing AboardMerry ChristmasThe Lee ShoreThe AdvocatePostscriptKnights and SquiresKnights and SquiresAhabEnter Ahab; to him, StubbThe PipeQueen MabCetologyThe SpecksynderThe Cabin TableThe Mast-HeadThe Quarter-Deck • Ahab and allSunsetDuskFirst Night-WatchForecastle---MidnightMoby DickThe Whiteness of the WhaleHark!The ChartThe AffidavitSurmisesThe Mat-MakerThe First LoweringThe HyenaAhab's Boat and Crew---FedallahThe Spirit-SpoutThe Pequod meets the AlbatrossThe GamThe Town Ho's StoryMonstrous Pictures of WhalesLess Erroneous Pictures of WhalesOf Whales in Paint, in Teeth, &c.BritSquidThe LineStubb kills a WhaleThe DartThe CrotchStubb's SupperThe Whale as a DishThe Shark MassacreCutting InThe BlanketThe FuneralThe SphynxThe Pequod meets the Jeroboam • Her StoryThe Monkey-ropeStubb & Flask kill a Right WhaleThe Sperm Whale's HeadThe Right Whale's HeadThe Battering-RamThe Great Heidelburgh TunCistern and BucketsThe PrairieThe NutThe Pequod meets the VirginThe Honor and Glory of WhalingJonah Historically RegardedPitchpolingThe FountainThe TailThe Grand ArmadaSchools & SchoolmastersFast Fish and Loose FishHeads or TailsThe Pequod meets the Rose BudAmbergrisThe CastawayA Squeeze of the HandThe CassockThe Try-WorksThe LampStowing Down & Clearing UpThe DoubloonThe Pequod meets the Samuel Enderby of LondonThe DecanterA Bower in the ArsacidesMeasurement of the Whale's SkeletonThe Fossil WhaleDoes the Whale Diminish?Ahab's LegThe CarpenterThe Deck • Ahab and the CarpenterThe Cabin • Ahab and StarbuckQueequeg in his CoffinThe PacificThe BlacksmithThe ForgeThe GilderThe Pequod meets the BachelorThe Dying WhaleThe Whale-WatchThe QuadrantThe CandlesThe DeckMidnight, on the ForecastleMidnight, AloftThe MusketThe NeedleThe Log and LineThe Life-BuoyAhab and the CarpenterThe Pequod meets the RachelThe Cabin •Ahab and PipThe HatThe Pequod meets the DelightThe SymphonyThe Chase • First DayThe Chase • Second DayThe Chase • Third DayEpilogueList of Textual EmendationsExplanatory NotesGlossary of Nautical TermsMaps and Illustrations