Herman Melville

Moby Dick Herman Melville Canon Classics Worldview edition

"Extraordinary. Who would have looked for philosophy in whales, or for poetry in blubber?" London John Bull, 1851




"Intriguing, haunting, suggestive, ambiguous-the narrator does not say that his name is Ishmael. He summons the reader to call him by that name. And in so doing, the narrator invites the reader not merely into a story but an epic, a tale that encompasses life, death, the universe, God, angels, demons, and man caught in the eye of that cosmic hurricane. If you consent to call him Ishmael, you consent to this voyage." -From Toby Sumpter's Introduction




Ishmael has always been a wanderer, but as soon as he meets the mysterious harpooner Queequeg, he is drawn aboard the Pequod and under the sway of the one-legged Captain Ahab. Ahab killed a whale and took its jawbone as his new leg-but the jaw wasn't from the monstrous white whale that crippled him. Some of the Pequod's whaling crew are there for the money, some for adventure, and some because they don't know any other life, but as the voyage progresses Ishmael realizes that Captain Ahab is using them all to find and butcher Moby Dick.




This wide-ranging Canon Classic is part adventure story, part nature documentary, and part discourse on the nature of Man and his enmity with God. The Canon Classics series presents the most definitive works of Western literature in a colorful, well-crafted, and affordable way. Unlike many other thrift editions, our classics are printed on thicker text stock and feature individualized designs that prioritize readability by means of proper margins, leading, characters per line, font, trim size, etc. Each book's materials and layout combine to make the classics a simple and striking addition to classrooms and homes, ideal for introducing the best of literary culture and human experience to the next generation.




This Worldview Edition features an introduction divided into sections on The World Around, About the Author, What Other Notables Said, Setting, Characters, & Plot Summary, Worldview Analysis, and 21 Discussion Questions & Answers.