Moby-Dick, Or The Whale: Volume 6, Scholarly Edition

Herman Melville

Northwestern University Press, Sep 9, 1988 - Fiction - 1043 pages

In Moby Dick Melville set out to write a "mighty book" on "a mighty theme." The editors of this critical text affirm that he succeeded. Nevertheless, their prolonged examination of the novel reveals textual flaws and anomalies that help to explain Melville's fears that his great work was in some ways a hash or a botch. A lengthy historical note also gives a fresh account of Melville's earlier literary career and his working conditions as he wrote; it also analyzes the book's contemporary reception and outlines how it finally achieved fame. Other sections review theories of the book's genesis, detail the circumstances of its publication, and present documents closely relating to the story.

This scholarly edition is based on collations of both editions published during Melville's lifetime, it adopts 185 revisions and corrections from the English edition and incorporates 237 emendations by the series editors. This is an Approved Text of the Center for Editions of American Authors (Modern Language Association of America).

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The writings

User Review  - Not Available - Book Verdict

In a sense, this work is the piece de resistance of the textual revolution in American scholarship of the past generation. The first half is the final MLA "Approved Text'' of the classic novel ...

Contents

• Loomings: 3
• The Carpet Bag: 8
• The SpouterInn: 12
• The Counterpane: 25
• Breakfast: 29
• The Street: 31
• The Chapel: 34
• The Pulpit: 38
• The Sermon: 41
• A Bosom Friend: 49
• Nightgown: 53
• Biographical: 55
• Wheelbarrow: 58
• Nantucket: 63
• Chowder: 65
• The Ship: 68
• The Ramadan: 81
• His Mark: 87
• The Prophet: 91
• All Astir: 95
• Going Aboard: 98
• Merry Christmas: 102
• The Lee Shore: 106
• The Advocate: 108
• Postscript: 113
• Knights and Squires: 115
• Knights and Squires: 118
• Ahab: 122
• Enter Ahab to him Stubb: 126
• The Pipe: 129
• Queen Mab Ui Chapter 32 Cetology: 134
• The Specksynder: 146
• The Cabin Table: 149
• 5 The MastHead: 154
• The QuarterDeck Ahab and all: 160
• Sunset: 167
• Dusk: 169
• First NightWatch: 171
• ForecastleMidnight: 173
• Moby Dick: 179
• The Whiteness of the Whale: 188
• Hark: 196
• The Chart: 198
• The Affidavit: 203
• Surmises: 211
• The MatMaker: 214
• The First Lowering: 217
• The Hyena 22fj: 226
• Ahabs Boat and CrewFedallah: 229
• The SpiritSpout: 232
• The Pequod meets the Albatross: 236
• The Gam: 238
• The Town Hos Story: 242
• Monstrous Pictures of Whales: 260
• Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales: 265
• Of Whales in Paint in Teeth c: 269
• Brit: 272
• Squid: 275
• The Line: 278
• Stubh kills a Whale: 282
• The Dart: 287
• The Crotch: 289
• Stubhs Supper: 291
• The Whale as a Dish: 298
• The Shark Massacre: 301
• Cutting In: 303
• The Blanket: 305
• The Funeral: 308
• The Sphynx: 310
• The Pequod meets the Jeroboam Her Story 3i3 Chapter 72 The Monkeyrope: 319
• Stubb Flask kill a Right Whale: 323
• The Sperm Whales Head: 329
• The Right Whales Head: 333
• The Batteritig Ram: 339
• Cistern and Buckets: 341
• The Prairie: 345
• The Nut: 348
• The Pequod meets the Virgin: 351
• The Honor and Glory of Whaling: 361
• Jonah Historically Regarded: 364
• Pitchpoling: 367
• The Fountain: 370
• The Tail: 375
• The Grand Armada: 380
• Schools Schoolmasters: 391
• Fast Fish and Loose Fish: 395
• Heads or Tails: 399
• The Pequod meets the Rose Bud: 402
• Ambergris: 408
• The Castaway: 411
• A Squeeze of the Hand: 415
• The Cassock: 419
• The Try Works: 421
• The Lamp: 426
• Stowing Down Clearing Up: 427
• The Doubloon: 430
• The Pequod meets the Samuel Enderby of London: 436
• The Decanter: 443
• A Bower in the Arsacldes: 448
• Measurement of the Whales Skeleton: 452
• The Fossil Whale: 455
• Does the Whale Diminish?: 459
• Ahabs Leg: 463
• The Carpenter: 466
• The Deck Ahab and the Carpenter: 469
• The Cabin Ahab and Starbuck: 473
• Queequeg in his Coffin: 476
• The Pacific: 482
• The Blacksmith: 484
• Chapter 113 The Forge: 487
• The Gilder: 491
• Chapter 115 The Pequod meets the Bachelor: 493
• r 6 The Dying Whale: 496
• The WhaleWatch: 498
• The Quadrant: 500
• The Candles: 503
• The Deck: 510
• The Needle j: 516
• The LifeBuoy: 523
• The Pequod meets the Rachel: 530
• The Cabin Ahab and Pip: 536
• The Symphony: 542
• The Chase Second Day: 555
• The Chase Third Day: 563
• Epilogue: 573
• Historical Note: 581
• Textual Record: 763
• Related Documents: 955

About the author

Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Melville toiled at various times as a sailor, banker, teacher and finally as a customs inspector. His novels include Typee, Omoo, and White Jacket, all published in authoritative editions by Northwestern University Press. He died in relative obscurity at the age of 72.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Moby-Dick, Or The Whale: Volume 6, Scholarly Edition; Volume 6 of Melville Series; Volume 6 of Melville, Herman: [The writings]; Volume 6 of The Northwestern-Newberry Edition of the Writings of Herman Melville; Volume 6 of Works, Herman Melville; Volume 6 of Writings of Herman Melville : the Northwestern-Newberry edition / eds. Harrison Hayford, general ed; Volume 6 of Writings of Herman Melville, Herman Melville
• Author: Herman Melville
• Editors: Harrison Hayford, G. Thomas Tanselle, Hershel Parker
• Contributor: Harrison Hayford
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 1988
• ISBN: 0810102692, 9780810102699
• Length: 1043 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Action & Adventure; Fiction / Classics; Fiction / General