Part 1 of 5 · freeIntroduction
Published in 1851, Moby-Dick is far more than a sea adventure. Its full original title is Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. Herman Melville, who was born in 1819 and died in 1891, mixes epic, a treatise on whales, and metaphysical questions. Misunderstood when it came out, this monument of American literature has become a founding myth.
The novel explores the huge struggle between man, nature, and the divine, through the hunt for a legendary white whale. Its opening line, “Call me Ishmael,” is one of the most famous in all of literature.
The rest is in the Sophia app.The remaining parts, the open-book quiz and the full glossary. Free to start; Premium unlocks everything.
- 2Melville and the failure of a total book
- 3The Pequod, a social and industrial world in miniature
- 4The white whale as a mirror of the absolute
- 5The final wreck, and survival through storytelling
Open-book quiz10 questions whose answers are in the text.
Glossary20 terms explained in a tap.
30 languagesThe same course, from French to Japanese.
