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

Herman Melville, G. Thomas Tanselle

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).

Contents

• Loomings: 3
• Chapter 5: 29
• Chapter 9: 41
• Chapter: 52
• Biographical: 55
• Nantucket: 63
• Chapter: 86
• Chapter: 92
• Chapter 20: 95
• Chapter 22: 102
• The Advocate: 108
• Chapter 26: 115
• Chapter: 120
• Chapter 28: 122
• Chapter 30: 129
• Chapter 33: 146
• Chapter 35: 154
• The QuarterDeck Ahab and: 160
• Chapter 37: 167
• Chapter 40: 173
• Chapter 42: 188
• Chapter 43: 196
• The Affidavit: 203
• Chapter 46: 211
• Chapter 48: 217
• Chapter 49: 226
• ix: 260
• Brit: 272
• The Line: 278
• Chapter 62: 287
• Chapter 65: 298
• The Blanket: 305
• The Pequod meets the Jeroboam Her Story: 319
• Chapter 74: 329
• Chapter 76: 336
• The Prairie: 345
• Chapter 81: 351
• Chapter 82: 361
• Chapter 84: 367
• Chapter 93: 411
• The Cassock: 419
• Chapter 97: 426
• The Decanter: 443
• Chapter 103: 452
• Chapter 105: 459
• Chapter 107: 466
• The Cabin: 473
• Chapter 111: 482
• The Gilder: 491
• The WhaleWatch: 498
• Midnight Aloft: 512
• Chapter 125: 520
• Chapter 127: 527
• Chapter 129: 534
• Chapter 131: 540
• The Chase First: 546
• Chapter 134: 555
• Chapter 135: 563
• Epilogue: 573
• Discussions of Adopted Readings: 772
• Report of LineEnd Hyphenation: 921
• List of Substantive Variants: 929
• RELATED DOCUMENTS: 955
• The Hubbard Copy of The Whale: 1005
• The Jones Copy of MobyDick and the Harper Whale Title Page: 1021

About the author

HERMAN MELVILLE (1819–1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick. His first three books gained much contemporary attention (the first, Typee, becoming a bestseller), and after a fast-blooming literary success in the late 1840s, his popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime. When he died in 1891, he was almost completely forgotten. It was not until the "Melville Revival" in the early 20th century that his work won recognition, especially Moby-Dick, which was hailed as one of the literary masterpieces of both American and world literature. He was the first writer to have his works collected and published by the Library of America.

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 The writings of Herman Melville, Herman Melville; Volume 6 of Works, Herman Melville; Volume 6 of Writings of Herman Melville : the Northwestern-Newberry edition / eds. Harrison Hayford, general ed
• Authors: Herman Melville, G. Thomas Tanselle
• Editors: Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker, G. Thomas Tanselle
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 1988
• ISBN: 0810102692, 9780810102699
• Length: 1043 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Action & Adventure; Fiction / Classics; Fiction / General; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Psychological; Literary Criticism / General