Contributor
Moby-Dick
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick follows Ishmael, a restless young New Englander who signs aboard the whaleship Pequod, and the ship's captain, Ahab, who has bound the crew to a private campaign of revenge against one white sperm whale. What begins as a sea story widens into an inquiry into obsession, authority, faith, race, labor and the limits of human knowledge. Melville interrupts the voyage with chapters on whale anatomy, whaling practice, art and scripture, so the hunt is also a book about how people try to describe something too large to master. Often counted among the classic novels to read, it is demanding, strange and funny. This Penguin Classics edition adds a scholarly introduction and explanatory commentary for modern readers.