Moby-Dick (Norton Critical Editions)
by Herman Melville, Hershel Parker, Harrison Hayford | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0393972836 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0393972836 Global Overview for this book
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 8/4/2006
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 8/4/2006 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I found this somewhat battered paperback ('67 edition, different cover than shown) in Nashua's Four Hills recycle center swap shop. It's got some cross-hatching in ink on the cover (someone idling away some time during literature class?), but the interior's in quite good shape, so I figured I'd tag it for release. However, after comparing all its supplementary material to the paperback edition that I had on my keeper shelves, I think I'm going to keep this copy instead and release my other one. (The bonus material includes some of Melville's letters, a glossary of whaling terms with illustrations, and exerpts from some of the works that inspired Melville, including Owen Chase's account of the real-life sinking of the Essex by a sperm whale - useful stuff!)
I'd enjoyed Moby Dick when I first read it in school, though at the time I preferred the action sequences; later on I re-read it and found that I liked the various digressions into the history and techniques of whaling and the culture of the islands even more. It's a book that repays multiple readings very handsomely indeed. Memorable bits include the unlikely friendship of Queequeg and Ishmael, the terrifying ordeal of little Pip the cabin boy, and of course Ahab's confrontation with Moby Dick, not to mention the heartwrenching encounter with another ship, the Rachel, whose captain is also seeking something - his son, lost during a recent encounter with the white whale...
The book has inspired a number of screen adaptations, of which my favorite is the classic 1956 film. [There's a TV Tropes page on the book with some entertaining tidbits.]
I'd enjoyed Moby Dick when I first read it in school, though at the time I preferred the action sequences; later on I re-read it and found that I liked the various digressions into the history and techniques of whaling and the culture of the islands even more. It's a book that repays multiple readings very handsomely indeed. Memorable bits include the unlikely friendship of Queequeg and Ishmael, the terrifying ordeal of little Pip the cabin boy, and of course Ahab's confrontation with Moby Dick, not to mention the heartwrenching encounter with another ship, the Rachel, whose captain is also seeking something - his son, lost during a recent encounter with the white whale...
The book has inspired a number of screen adaptations, of which my favorite is the classic 1956 film. [There's a TV Tropes page on the book with some entertaining tidbits.]
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts USA on Sunday, July 31, 2022
GoryDetails at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts USA on Sunday, July 31, 2022
Released 1 yr ago (7/31/2022 UTC) at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Decided it's time for this book to move along. I can always find another copy if I want to re-read it. I plan to leave this book on a bench or ledge somewhere in the park, near the New Bedford Whaling Museum; hope someone enjoys it! ** Update: released as planned; left the book on an information board outside the iconic Seamen's Bethel chapel, which is referenced in the novel. **
[See other recent releases in MA here.]
** Released for the 52 Towns in 52 Weeks challenge. **
** Released for the Movie challenge. **
