Moby-Dick

Herman Melville

Ishmael joins a whaling voyage consumed by Ahab's pursuit of the white whale.

AdventurePhilosophical fictionObsessionSeaKnowledge

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English reading edition

Full Project Gutenberg text, newly typeset—not a publisher scan. Public-domain status varies by country; check local laws. The source license is included.

Edition and source

How to read it

Cetology, sermons and dramatic scenes break the boundaries of the adventure plot. The whale's resistance to a single meaning is the point of the interpretive struggle.

Chapter guide

A verified, edition-specific chapter guide has not yet been added. The overview above covers the work as a whole, not individual chapters.

Where to read & what to read about it

Read free — Project Gutenberg Internet Archive Study guide — SparkNotes Scholarship — JSTOR Context — Wikipedia