Classic
Moby Dick
by Herman Melville
Summary
Ishmael joins the whaling ship Pequod and falls under the command of Captain Ahab, who has sworn revenge on the white whale that took his leg. Melville mixes adventure, philosophy, and encyclopedic detail about the whaling trade into a vast meditation on obsession and fate. The novel builds toward one of the most famous endings in American fiction.
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Historical Context & Significance
The book sold poorly in 1851 and Melville died in near obscurity. Critics rediscovered it in the 1920s, and it now stands at the center of the American literary canon.