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Moby d**k or the Whale

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Moby-d**k; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on Moby d**k, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, Moby-d**k was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a "Great American Novel" was established only in the 20th century, after the centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous. Melville began writing Moby-d**k in February 1850, and finished 18 months later, a year longer than he had anticipated. Melville drew on his experience as a common sailor from 1841 to 1844, including several years on whalers, and on wide reading in whaling literature. The white whale is modeled on the notoriously hard-to-catch albino whale Mocha d**k, and the book's ending is based on the sinking of the whaleship Essex in 1820. His literary influences include Shakespeare and the Bible. The detailed and realistic descriptions of whale hunting and of extracting whale oil, as well as life aboard ship among a culturally diverse crew, are mixed with exploration of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God. In addition to narrative prose, Melville uses styles and literary devices ranging from songs, poetry, and catalogs to Shakespearean stage directions, soliloquies, and asides. In August 1850, with the manuscript perhaps half finished, he met Nathaniel Hawthorne and was deeply moved by his Mosses from an Old Manse, which he compared to Shakespeare in its cosmic ambitions. This encounter may have inspired him to revise and expand Moby-d**k, which is dedicated to Hawthorne, "in token of my admiration for his genius". The book was first published (in three volumes) as The Whale in London in October 1851, and under its definitive title in a single-volume edition in New York in November. The London publisher, Richard Bentley, censored or changed sensitive passages; Melville made revisions as well, including a last-minute change to the title for the New York edition. The whale, however, appears in the text of both editions as "Moby d**k", without the hyphen. Reviewers in Britain were largely favorable, though some objected that the tale seemed to be told by a narrator who perished with the ship, as the British edition lacked the Epilogue recounting Ishmael's survival. American reviewers were more hostile. About 3,200 copies of the book were sold during the author's life. From Wipikedia.

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Table of contents
Table of contents Table of contents Preface By Giancarlo Rossini Chapter 1 - Loomings Chapter 2 - The Carpet-Bag Chapter 3 - The Spouter Inn Chapter 4 - The Counterpane Chapter 5 - Breakfast Chapter 6 - The Street Chapter 7 - The Chapel Chapter 8 - The Pulpit Chapter 9 - The Sermon Chapter 10 - A Bosom Friend Chapter 11 - Nightgown Chapter 12 - Biographical Chapter 13 - Wheelbarrow Chapter 14 - Nantucket Chapter 15 - Chowder Chapter 16 - The Ship Chapter 17 - The Ramadan Chapter 18 - His Mark Chapter 19 - The Prophet Chapter 20 - All Astir Chapter 21 - Going Aboard Chapter 22 - Merry Christmas Chapter 23 - The Lee Shore Chapter 24 - The Advocate Chapter 25 - Postscript Chapter 26 - Knights and Squires Chapter 27 - Knights and Squires Chapter 28 - Ahab Chapter 29 - Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb Chapter 30 - The Pipe Chapter 31 - Queen Mab Chapter 32 - Cetology Chapter 33 - The Specksynder Chapter 34 - The Cabin-Table Chapter 35 - The Mast-Head Chapter 36 - The Quarter-Deck Chapter 37 - Sunset Chapter 38 - Dusk Chapter 39 - First Night-Watch Chapter 40 - Midnight, Forecastle Chapter 41 - Moby Dick Chapter 42 - The Whiteness of The Whale Chapter 43 - Hark! Chapter 44 - The Chart Chapter 45 - The Affidavit Chapter 46 - Surmises Chapter 47 - The Mat-Maker Chapter 48 - The First Lowering Chapter 49 - The Hyena Chapter 50 - Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah Chapter 51 - The Spirit-Spout Chapter 52 - The Albatross Chapter 53 - The Gam Chapter 54 - The Town-Ho's Story Chapter 55 - Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales Chapter 56 - Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes Chapter 57 - Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars Chapter 58 - Brit Chapter 59 - Squid Chapter 60 - The Line Chapter 61 - Stubb Kills a Whale Chapter 62 - The Dart Chapter 63 - The Crotch Chapter 64 - Stubb's Supper Chapter 65 - The Whale as a Dish Chapter 66 - The Shark Massacre Chapter 67 - Cutting In Chapter 68 - The Blanket Chapter 69 - The Funeral Chapter 70 - The Sphynx Chapter 71 - The Jeroboam's Story Chapter 72 - The Monkey-Rope Chapter 73 - Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale and Then Have a Talk Over Him Chapter 74 - The Sperm Whale's Head - Contrasted View Chapter 75 - The Right Whale's Head - Contrasted View Chapter 76 - The Battering-Ram Chapter 77 - The Great Heidelburgh Tun Chapter 78 - Cistern and Buckets Chapter 79 - The Prairie Chapter 80 - The Nut Chapter 81 - The Pequod Meets The Virgin Chapter 82 - The Honor and Glory of Whaling Chapter 83 - Jonah Historically Regarded Chapter 84 - Pitchpoling Chapter 85 - The Fountain Chapter 86 - The Tail Chapter 87 - The Grand Armada Chapter 88 - Schools and Schoolmasters Chapter 89 - Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish Chapter 90 - Heads or Tails Chapter 91 - The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud Chapter 92 - Ambergris Chapter 93 - The Castaway Chapter 94 - A Squeeze of the Hand Chapter 95 - The Cassock Chapter 96 - The Try-Works Chapter 97 - The Lamp Chapter 98 - Stowing Down and Clearing Up Chapter 99 - The Doubloon Chapter 100 - Leg and Arm. - The Pequod of Nantucket, Meets the Samuel Enderby, of London Chapter 101 - The Decanter Chapter 102 - A Bower in the Arsacides Chapter 103 - Measurement of The Whale's Skeleton Chapter 104 - The Fossil Whale Chapter 105 - Does the Whale's Magnitude Diminish? Will He Perish? Chapter 106 - Ahab's Leg Chapter 107 - The Carpenter Chapter 108 - Ahab and the Carpenter Chapter 109 - Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin Chapter 110 - Queequeg in His Coffin Chapter 111 - The Pacific Chapter 112 - The Blacksmith Chapter 113 - The Forge Chapter 114 - The Gilder Chapter 115 - The Pequod Meets The Bachelor Chapter 116 - The Dying Whale Chapter 117 - The Whale Watch Chapter 118 - The Quadrant Chapter 119 - The Candles Chapter 120 - The Deck Toward the End of the First Night Watch Chapter 121 - Midnight - The Forecastle Bulwarks Chapter 122 - Midnight Aloft.- Thunder and Lightning Chapter 123 - The Musket Chapter 124 - The Needle Chapter 125 - The Log and Line Chapter 126 - The Life-Buoy Chapter 127 - The Deck Chapter 128 - The Pequod Meets The Rachel Chapter 129 - The Cabin Chapter 130 - The Hat Chapter 131 - The Pequod Meets The Delight Chapter 132 - The Symphony Chapter 133 - The Chase - First Day Chapter 134 - The Chase - Second Day Chapter 135 - The Chase - Third Day Epilogue

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