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Melville: Moby-Dick, Billy Budd, and Other Writings
Herman Melville's brilliant works remain vital and provocative for their dark ebullience and visionary power. The sweep of his writings- encompassing ferocious social satire, agonized reflection, and formal experimentation-is represented in this comprehensive edition. Here are Melville's masterpieces: Moby-Dick in its entirety; Billy Budd; "Bartleby, The Scrivener"; "The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles"; the essay "Hawthorne and His Mosses"; and 21 poems, including "The House-top", an anguished response to the New York draft riots.
996 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1924
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About the author
Herman Melville
2,232 books4,449 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
March 6, 2023
The word Richard Poirier used for this vein of American writing is "extravagant". Sums it up. Brilliant in so many ways. A study of monomania. Very biblical. I loved so many passages and over-the-top lines eg "ponderous planets of unmwaning woe", "There is some unsuffusing thing beyond thee", "even the highest early felicities ever have a certain unsignifying pettiness lurking in them". But but but: for one thing Melville insists the whale is a "fish". For another the relentless description of whale deconstruction reminds me of Barthes' line to the effect that all language is fascist. And finally I couldn't help thinking - LEAVE THE WHALES ALONE, YOU BASTARDS! This line is transcendentally stupid: "we account the whale immortal in his species however perishable in his individuality." I always admire obsession - but an obsession with killing?
April 12, 2024
Whale slay - Melville creates a wonderful and in-depth exploration of what it means to fully the profession of whaling and allows us to catch a glimpse of the strategies employed in their hunt for this Leviathan of the sea. This narrative is formed in Melville's best style, especially since he has managed to omit some of this monumental writer's less favourable literary habits. Melville balances this adventurous tale with musings about rope and other normally mundane subject matters. At the end we are left with our sea-fairing friend Ishmael, at the end I was so glad that the whale didn't eat our good buddy, we are in dept to this fabulous story. This is probably the best tale that has come from the mind of this talented mind so far, and in spite of it's many tangents, which have come to much criticism, Melville's originality shines through and even rivals his first work of art, the everlasting Typee.
August 7, 2008
This series of books (Library of America College Editions) are well worth the money. They always seem to bind works of varying fame from a given author, thereby ensuring a wide sampling of that author's efforts.
Melville is amazing. I love Moby Dick, from the cryptic chapter devoted to the color white, to the debate about whalesteak, to the ever-present spout on the horizon and the haunting close of the narrative, the rescue of "another orphan". I won't gush and ramble about Melville's religious imagery, or his transcendentalism, or the enigma of the whale; I am only a fan, and have little critical experience with such a profound and complex novel. But the tale is powerful, and gripping, and even after several rereads I find myself getting anxious when Ahab baptizes the three heathens, when the St. Elmo's fire burns, and when the crazed captain screams "From the depths of Hell I stab at thee!" The power in the novel is in the riddle of its focus, in the various meanings and unmeanings of the whale, of the primal force of the world that man flails against in futility; its poetry is in its execution. This is a tale well worth a yearly read.
Melville is amazing. I love Moby Dick, from the cryptic chapter devoted to the color white, to the debate about whalesteak, to the ever-present spout on the horizon and the haunting close of the narrative, the rescue of "another orphan". I won't gush and ramble about Melville's religious imagery, or his transcendentalism, or the enigma of the whale; I am only a fan, and have little critical experience with such a profound and complex novel. But the tale is powerful, and gripping, and even after several rereads I find myself getting anxious when Ahab baptizes the three heathens, when the St. Elmo's fire burns, and when the crazed captain screams "From the depths of Hell I stab at thee!" The power in the novel is in the riddle of its focus, in the various meanings and unmeanings of the whale, of the primal force of the world that man flails against in futility; its poetry is in its execution. This is a tale well worth a yearly read.
August 11, 2008
Woohoo! I finished it! One of the harder books I've read. I felt like Melville needed a strong-fisted editor at times, to keep him focused. Though Ishmael is the 'narrator', the piece is often not in his voice. The lectures on whales and whaling, if we believe Ishmael is self-taught, could be considered in his voice; but the internal monologues of Ahab, Starbuck and the other mates can't be. There's no way another character would be privy to that. And then there are several scenes that Ishmael could not have witnessed...So, point of view really bothered me.
In many ways this is one of the earliest examples of multi-genre I've read. There may be others I just don't know about. But, 1st person narrative, lectures, nonfiction essays, interior monologues, and even scenes from plays...What a monumental undertaking this was.
And Moby Dick? Doesn't even appear until the last 30 or so pages...How interesting is that! Would this statement be considered a spoiler??
Glad I read it; gladder that I've finished it.
In many ways this is one of the earliest examples of multi-genre I've read. There may be others I just don't know about. But, 1st person narrative, lectures, nonfiction essays, interior monologues, and even scenes from plays...What a monumental undertaking this was.
And Moby Dick? Doesn't even appear until the last 30 or so pages...How interesting is that! Would this statement be considered a spoiler??
Glad I read it; gladder that I've finished it.
August 19, 2010
So I've never written a review on Goodreads before, but I feel compelled to after finishing Moby Dick.
It's just that good.
What impressed me most was the style. As long as Ishmael is on land, it's straightforward, clear, and heading toward a goal, like walking down a path. Once he and Queequeg board the Pequod, everything is up for grabs. Sometimes the fog rolls in, sometimes the waves churn, and sometimes we're becalmed for chapters at a time. When there's a particularly dramatic moment coming, it turns Shakespearean; even to the extent of having stage directions and dialogue.
I was afraid it would be dense and ponderous, but particularly in the action scenes, it really moves quickly. I was also expecting Ahab to be a bit of a caricature, but maybe I've been reading too much Dickens. He's a really interesting character, especially when we see him in a quiet moment and can tell what he's feeling.
A great read. I'm glad I did it.
It's just that good.
What impressed me most was the style. As long as Ishmael is on land, it's straightforward, clear, and heading toward a goal, like walking down a path. Once he and Queequeg board the Pequod, everything is up for grabs. Sometimes the fog rolls in, sometimes the waves churn, and sometimes we're becalmed for chapters at a time. When there's a particularly dramatic moment coming, it turns Shakespearean; even to the extent of having stage directions and dialogue.
I was afraid it would be dense and ponderous, but particularly in the action scenes, it really moves quickly. I was also expecting Ahab to be a bit of a caricature, but maybe I've been reading too much Dickens. He's a really interesting character, especially when we see him in a quiet moment and can tell what he's feeling.
A great read. I'm glad I did it.
July 15, 2008
I read every page of Moby Dick. The author loves to write pages and pages about things that do not seem interesting, for example the placement of the eyes on the whale, which direction the tail is pointing, etc. The book could have been recuced to a quarter of the book. Yet, I think if you understood all of the imagery that he is trying to get acorss it would be an aamzing book and although I viewed the majority of it boring(I didn't understand all of the symbolism that should be in it) because of all of the unnecessary chapter, the story line is very interesting.
Billy Budd is much shorter than Moby Dick and an interesting story line. I love all of the symbolism of Christ that is in there but some of it is just too sad for my taste.
Billy Budd is much shorter than Moby Dick and an interesting story line. I love all of the symbolism of Christ that is in there but some of it is just too sad for my taste.
July 5, 2013
While reading this classic, I often thought of the men on the Pequod and how they might not see land for months at a time. And I felt a kinship with them as I followed Melville on his tangential ramblings about the color white, the parts of a whale, and such. When our good narrator would finally return to the actual storyline, it was a relief, perhaps akin to spotting land after months at sea. That being said, this is a great story, albeit a rather strange one, which gives a lot of insight into the minds of whalers and their ethnocentric views at that time. For more than two decades I swore I would never read this book, after enduring Billy Budd in high school. But I am glad I soldiered through it, and I am really glad the White Whale won.
June 3, 2008
While parts of this were a slog--does anyone love the Cetology chapter?--I found Melville's construct fascinating. He seems to try on various writing styles throughout the book--from research and reportage to free-form stream of consciousness. It's amazing to me that even today, this novel still feels experimental and daring.
I was also amazed by Melville's descriptions of the cultural diversity of the sea ports and whaling crews at that time... whatever sense of openness and diversity we have now seems pitiful compared to the Melville's eastern seaports.
(more on both of these points, w/ quotes to come)
I was also amazed by Melville's descriptions of the cultural diversity of the sea ports and whaling crews at that time... whatever sense of openness and diversity we have now seems pitiful compared to the Melville's eastern seaports.
(more on both of these points, w/ quotes to come)
March 17, 2009
How can one rate Moby Dick less than five stars? What greater quest is there than following Ishmael, a year out at sea with the monomaniac Ahab, after that omnipotent white whale? This novel is so rich in detail, drawing on ancient history, the Bible and modern-day (19th century) social issues, to create a work that truly stands on its own.
This novel portrays a simple quest, yet on a deeper, philosophical level looks at issues such as the role of the individual within his social (racial) class and fate vs. free will. While Melville goes into elaborate detail on the specifics of whaling (making for some slow reading in the middle chapters), the journey is worth while.
This novel portrays a simple quest, yet on a deeper, philosophical level looks at issues such as the role of the individual within his social (racial) class and fate vs. free will. While Melville goes into elaborate detail on the specifics of whaling (making for some slow reading in the middle chapters), the journey is worth while.
July 2, 2008
Melville, is like "comfort food" for me, and even viewed through modern lenses, his work seems experimental and beyond its time, picking up, in some ways, where Poe left off after his untimely and bizarre demise in 1849. "Whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me that it requires a strong moreal principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off-- then I account it is high time to get" my hands on this book as soon as I can.
And so should you. End your prejudice and read these classics.
And so should you. End your prejudice and read these classics.
July 26, 2010
This is clearly an American classic. The writing is incredible but I am finding it tough going. Ishmael's relationship with Queequeg is different than what I remember. But then I don't remember if I have ever read the entire book. I will this time.
Still plodding away. Boy, can Melville write. I will finish this.
Still reading and I am liking it more and more. Of course, I have not gotten to the sperm whale chapter yet. Melville is determined to make me like whaling.
Still plodding away. Boy, can Melville write. I will finish this.
Still reading and I am liking it more and more. Of course, I have not gotten to the sperm whale chapter yet. Melville is determined to make me like whaling.
April 15, 2010
John Huston created a phenomenal and worthwhile film of this symbolic allegory, BUT there is SO MUCH MORE in the literary text missing from the cinema version. -- Melville's narrative encompases brilliant wit and the constant eruption of humor, as well as extensive and fascinating maritime and whaling document and theory. Melville was a pioneer of psychoanalytic insight and symbolism. He is a master of irony, and visual panorama. Audio book read by Paul Boehmer.
January 1, 2016
This is about the 5th time that I picked up this book. The time must be right, because I'm amazed at how much I'm finding in it. I love the perspective and the multi-ethnic/-cultural mix of characters. The narrator's voice is quite distinct and the style is of the time...but I think it enhances rather than detracts...but it was one of the reasons that I kept putting it down all those times as well. I now have fresh eyes for it.
January 31, 2016
4.25/5
It is a grand and eloquently written tale, but suffers from shortcomings which might put off less patient readers - it is at times overly florid and unnecessarily convoluted, the digressions are huge and sometimes uninteresting, making the reader feel he is reading a mid 19th century whaling manual rather than literary work.
If you can see past these, it is an enjoying read.
It is a grand and eloquently written tale, but suffers from shortcomings which might put off less patient readers - it is at times overly florid and unnecessarily convoluted, the digressions are huge and sometimes uninteresting, making the reader feel he is reading a mid 19th century whaling manual rather than literary work.
If you can see past these, it is an enjoying read.
December 30, 2008
I really enjoyed reading this classic. There is a reason it is used in every English class in America. Melville was incredibly talented and the book is so layered with metaphor it would take a lifetime of study to uncover them all. It is very difficult to get through however. I didn't finish all of the chapters.
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July 13, 2021I finally finished Moby Dick. For me, it had a whole lot of whale detail sandwiched in between some really interesting character development and tragic action scenes. I guess I was mostly frustrated by all the detail. Just when I was getting into the characters and story, it would get interrupted with yet more information about whales.
August 3, 2008
Literally become immersed in Captain Queeg's obsession with the white whale. This is my all time favorite book as Melville develops the characters and story and spellbinding conclusion. This collection also includes Billy Budd, a tale of innocence lost on the high seas. If you liked the movie Master and Commander with Russell Crowe you will enjoy these stirring tales of the sea.
July 28, 2008
Had to do it. Parts of Moby Dick were good and engaging, but, hey, I am a modern reader. Move on with it. I need to digest it a bit more before I say anything useful, but the character names are superb.
August 24, 2008
There is a reason that this book is long. Whaling takes a long time to do and it is not always exciting. Melville shows you through the mundane life of the sailor what it was like to be on the ship. The story up to him getting on the ship is some of the best fiction writing in English history.
November 17, 2008
I know that I'm "supposed" to find this book filled with symbolism and whatnot but...it just reminds me of the books I was force fed during freshman english. Books that I "read" but could not allow myself to comprehend their deeper meaning.
May 10, 2010
There is a problem with attempts to reconcile natural and supernatural claims in the human soul; that is, although we tend to be at odds with nature, we are ultimately subsumed by it, and barred from reasoning back to first causes.
November 16, 2007
I plan to reread this one because I am sure that I will like it more the second time where I can take my time instead of rushing through it in a class that I simply didn't enjoy.
December 17, 2007
I didn't get to Melville until a few years ago. My mind is blown.
March 31, 2008
One of my favorite gay sailor books.
May 8, 2008
Moby Dick the classic of Melville's books.
May 14, 2008
I read Billy Budd and some of the other stories in this book in High School, and really enjoyed them. I never got around to reading Moby Dick, though.
June 3, 2008
Seemed like it took forever to get through this, but well worth it. I wish he would have condensed it a little. Not so many chapters on a topic.
July 16, 2008
Still breaking my mind, 23 years after I first read it!
July 20, 2008
Truly great book. What else can I say?
August 23, 2008
read this in high school. timeless classic. enough said.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews