Moby Dick and Its Afterlives

Herman Melville described his 1851 novel Moby-Dick as “broiled” in “hell-fire,” as a “strange sort of book” in which “the poetry runs as hard as sap from a frozen maple tree.” Many of Melville’s contemporaries did not know what to make of this strange tale about a sea captain’s maniacal quest to kill a white whale. Since then, though, Moby-Dick has become an American classic. Over the course of the term, we will read Moby-Dick in its entirety. This novel is challenging and rewarding; it incorporates multiple genres and voices in its explorations of obsession and revenge. As we make our way through the novel, we will consider the historical context of Melville’s work and seek to discover what the book might teach us about nineteenth-century American literature and culture. In addition to reading the novel together, we will look at its critical and artistic legacy through a selection of essays and poems.

Samuel Walker is a visiting instructor from the University of Virginia.

Required text: Please purchase the most recent (2017) Norton Critical Edition of Moby-Dick (edited by Hershel Parker).