Moby-Dick

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For the song by Led Zeppelin, see Moby Dick (song).

</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">Modern edition of Moby-Dick</td></tr> <tr><th>Original title (if not in English)</th><td>The Whale</td></tr><tr><th>Country</th><td>United States</td></tr><tr><th>Language</th><td>English</td></tr><tr><th>Genre(s)</th><td>Adventure novel</td></tr> <tr><th>Media Type</th><td>Print (Hardback & Paperback)</td></tr><tr><th>ISBN</th><td>NA</td></tr>

**Moby Dick**
Author	Herman Melville
Publisher	Richard Bentley
Released	18 October 1851

Moby-Dick<ref>the hyphen in the title is present in the original edition</ref> is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville. The novel describes the voyage of the whaling ship Pequod, led by Captain Ahab, who leads his crew on a hunt for the whale Moby-Dick. The language is highly symbolic and many themes run throughout the work. The narrator's reflections, along with complex descriptions of the grueling work of whaling and personalities of his shipmates, are woven into a profound meditation on hubris, providence, nature, society, and the human struggle for meaning, happiness, and salvation. Moby-Dick is often considered the epitome of American Romanticism. The novel frequently employs Shakespearean devices, including formal stage directions and extended soliloquies and asides.

The novel was first published by Richard Bentley in London on 18 October 1851 as an expurgated three-volume edition entitled The Whale, then as a single volume by Harper and Brothers, as Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, in New York on 14 November 1851. Although the book initially received mostly negative reviews, Moby-Dick is now considered to be one of the greatest novels in the English language, and has secured Melville's reputation in the first rank of American writers. The first line of the book ("Call me Ishmael") is one of the most famous in American literature.

1 Historical background
2 Major Themes
- 2.1 Symbolism
- 2.2 Whale Biology and Ecology
3 Plot summary
4 Characters in Moby Dick
5 Selected adaptations and references
- 5.1 Adaptations
- 5.2 Allusions to Moby-Dick
6 Notes
7 References
8 Editions
9 External links

[edit] Historical background

There were two factual occurrences that almost certainly inspired Melville's tale. One was the sinking of the Nantucket whaling ship Essex, which foundered in 1820 after it was attacked by an 80-ton sperm whale 2,000 miles (3,700 km) from the western coast of South America. First mate Owen Chase, one of eight survivors, recorded the events as the Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. There was also a real-life albino sperm whale, known as Mocha Dick, that lived near the island of Mocha off Chile's southern coast, several decades before Melville wrote his book. Jeremiah N. Reynolds had written an account of Mocha Dick's battle with a ship. Mocha Dick, like Moby Dick in Melville's story, escaped countless times from the attacks of whalers, whom he would often attack with premeditated ferocity, and consequently had dozens of harpoons in his back. Mocha Dick was eventually killed in the 1830s. Thus, it seems highly probable that Melville used Mocha Dick as the basis for his book. It's been suggested that Melville changed the name "Mocha" to "Moby" in 1846, four years before the novel was published, after meeting an old South Seas shipmate, Richard Tobias Green. A familiar version of Green's first names was probably Dick Toby, where Melville may have gotten Moby-Dick.

The third and perhaps most important element was Melville's experiences as a sailor, and in particular on his voyage on the whaler Acushnet in 1841–1842. His whaling experiences were chronichled in his popular novel "Typee" and its sequel "Omoo", and many historians believed it served as a basis for much of Moby-Dick.

The novel contains large portions that have nothing to do with the plot but are descriptive chapters on aspects of the whaling business. Melville believed that no book up to that time had portrayed the whaling business as he had first-handedly experienced it, or had done so in dry and uninspired encyclopedic prose. Melville had been greatly influenced from an early age by Romantic writers such as Sir Walter Scott, Washington Irving, Lord Byron and others. His intention was to write a book that was compelling, emotionally and poetically vivid in the style of Romanticism, but also educational and "true of the thing"—indeed it was believed among Romanticists of this period that fiction was the ultimate vehicle for describing and recording history, such as many see film or photos today. However, Melville struggled to make his novel about the whaling industry interesting, as he wrote to Richard Henry Dana halfway through the work on May 1, 1850:

	I am half way in the work ... It will be a strange sort of book, tho', I fear; blubber is blubber you know; tho' you might get oil out of it, the poetry runs as hard as sap from a frozen maple tree; — and to cool the thing up, one must needs throw in a little fancy, which from the nature of the thing, must be ungainly as the gambols of the whales themselves. Yet I mean to give the truth of the thing, spite of this.
	— Herman Melville, from Norton Critical Edition (2002), page 532

[edit] Major Themes

Moby-Dick is a highly symbolic work, and is interesting in that it also addresses issues such as natural history. Other themes include racism, relationship of superiority and inferiority, and politics. It also shows how deep love can save a life if the life wants to be saved.

[edit] Symbolism

All of the members of the Pequod's crew have biblical-sounding, improbable or descriptive names, and the narrator deliberately avoids specifying the exact time of the events and some other similar details. These together suggest that perhaps we should understand the narrator — and not just Melville — to be deliberately casting his tale in an epic and allegorical mode.

Ahab's desire to pursue Moby Dick is contrasted with Starbuck's desire to run a normal commercial whaling ship. It can be seen as the clash of idealism and pragmatism.

The white whale itself, for example, has been read as symbolically representative of good and evil, as has Ahab. The white whale has also been seen as a metaphor for the elements of life that are out of our control, or God.

The Pequod's quest to hunt down Moby Dick itself is also widely viewed as allegorical. To Ahab, killing the whale becomes the ultimate goal in his life, and this observation can also be expanded allegorically so that the whale represents everyone's goals. Furthermore, his vengeance against the whale is analogous to man's struggle against fate. The only escape from Ahab's vision is seen through the Pequod's occasional encounters with other ships, called gams. Readers could consider what exactly Ahab will do if he, in fact, succeeds in his quest: having accomplished his ultimate goal, what else is there left for him to do? Thus, the outcome of the quest is irrelevant, and actually completing the journey is not the goal; the "thrill of the chase" is what is important to Ahab. Similarly, Melville may be implying that people in general need something to reach for in life, or contrariwise that such a goal can destroy one if allowed to overtake all other concerns.

Ahab's pipe is widely looked upon as the riddance of happiness in Ahab's life. By throwing the pipe overboard, Ahab signifies that he no longer can enjoy simple pleasures in life; instead, he dedicates his entire life to the pursuit of his obsession, the killing of the white whale, Moby Dick.

[edit] Whale Biology and Ecology

Sections of the novel depart from the progression of the plot entirely and discuss at great length the biology and ecology of whales and related species. Many of the claims are inaccurate – for example, Ishmael insists that the whale is a fish, although they had been classified as mammals for almost a century (a fact he is dismissive of).

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The novel begins with a set of ‘Extracts’ which bear the label ‘(supplied by a sub-sub-librarian).’ These are quotations and references on the subject of whales. Subsequent to that, we are presented with the narrator, Ishmael.

Ishmael has set his mind to join a whaling vessel, and he arrives in the town of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He seeks lodging at an inn called the Spouter, where he is lodged with a mysterious harpooner. This harpooner, a tattooed cannibal named Queequeg, quickly becomes a friend to Ishmael.

The two decide to enlist together in the crew of the Pequod, a ship held jointly by three men, known as Captain Peleg, Captain Bildad and Captain Ahab. As Ishmael and Queequeg sign their names (Queequeg copies down a peculiar mark that’s tattooed on his arm), they have yet to meet Captain Ahab who will be commanding the ship. Captains Peleg and Bildad are left behind on shore with a purely financial interest in the voyage.

As the ship sets sail, we are introduced to the other main characters. The three mates, Starbuck, Flask and Stubb, and the two remaining harpooners, Dagoo and Tashtego. Ahab, however, remains unseen. We are told that he is below decks and is not feeling well. After several days, Ishmael finally spots the one-legged Ahab standing on the quarter-deck.

Ahab broods and behaves erratically. He paces the deck, the ivory heel of his false leg making a thudding noise. When Stubb suggests to Ahab that something be done to dampen the sound, Ahab flies into a rage and calls Stubb a dog. When Stubb objects to this insult, he says “Then be called ten times a donkey, and a mule, and an ass, and begone, or I’ll clear the world of thee!”

The peculiar attitude of Ahab continues. He throws his pipe off the ship. He asks his crew to yell more loudly if they should spot a white whale. At length, Ahab draws the crew together and announces that a gold coin will be awarded to the crewman who first spots a ‘white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw.’ He then hammers a nail through the coin and into the ships mast.

Tashtego, it turns out, has heard of this white whale before. He gives the creature a name, saying that some call him “Moby-Dick.” Starbuck reveals that Moby-Dick is the whale who took Captain Ahab’s leg. The Captain is finally pressed to reveal that in his mind there is no purpose to this voyage other than Ahab’s own vengeance against Moby-Dick.

Over the main part of the story, we are presented with many scenes of the everyday whaling life. The Pequod lowers its boats, which then chase after and harpoon whales. In a series of dramatic adventures with various whales, and (often humorous) encounters with other whaling vessels, Melville paints a scene of life on board a whaling ship in the mid 19th century.

The journey comes to its dramatic and tragic end when the Pequod sailing despite dark portents, catches sight of Moby-Dick. For three days, the Pequod does battle with the white whale. Moby-Dick shatters the Pequod’s boats, and finally charges the ship itself. The Pequod is sunk, and Ahab and all the crew disappear under the waves. Ishmael is the only survivor of the tragedy, and is left floating on the surface of the ocean, rescued briefly afterwards by a passing whaler.

[edit] Characters in Moby Dick

The crew-members of the Pequod are carefully drawn stylizations of human types and habits; critics have often described the crew as a "self-enclosed universe".

[edit] Ishmael

Main article: Ishmael (Moby-Dick)

In the novel's first sentence, the narrator famously declares, "Call me Ishmael." It is unclear whether this is his actual name or an alias. His role as a narrator varies widely. Initially, his is the only narrative, but after the Pequod leaves port, he repeatedly fades and comes back to full prominence.

The name 'Ishmael' stems from that of the first son of Abraham in the Old Testament. The biblical Ishmael was born to Abraham's and his wife Sarah's maidservant Hagar (Bible), because Abraham and Sarah believed Sarah to be infertile. Hagar gave birth to son Ishmael, then 14 years later a 90 year old Sarah was granted a son (Isaac) by God. Sarah observed 17 year old Ishmael teasing Isaac and urged Abraham to expel Hagar (Bible) and her son Ishmael. This proposal upset Abraham; but God commanded him to comply with Sarah's request and so Abram made Hagar and Ishmael to leave.

The name has come to symbolize orphans, exiles, and social outcasts—in the opening paragraph of Moby-Dick, Ishmael tells the reader that he has turned to the sea out of a feeling of alienation from human society. Ishmael has a rich literary background (he has previously been a schoolteacher), which he brings to bear on his shipmates and events that occur while at sea.

Ishmael resembles Melville in several ways (as well as the narrator of Melville's White-Jacket). They are well-educated and reflective; Ishmael sees his shipmates as avatars of human nature and society, and tells his story by couching it in a wealth of philosophical observation, (largely occurring during sections in which Ishmael takes an almost-omniscient viewpoint, conflating himself with his author).

A seasoned sailor but a newcomer to whaling, Ishmael is, at the end of the novel, the only survivor of the destruction of the Pequod.

[edit] Ahab

Ahab is the tyrannical captain of the Pequod who is driven by a monomaniacal desire to kill Moby Dick, the whale to whom he lost his leg. Ahab believes he is fated to kill Moby Dick and lives for this purpose alone. Ahab's name may be inspired by the biblical King Ahab, who was tempted by his wealthy wife Jezebel to stray from worshipping God alone, just as Ahab was lured by the material world into a quest which ultimately deprived him of his humanity.

[edit] Moby Dick

Moby Dick is a mottled (with a white hump) sperm whale of extraordinary ferocity, but is also possessed of ineffable strength, mystery, and power. The color white is explored in the chapter "The Whiteness of the Whale". It calls into question the meaning of the chapters on cetology. The symbology of the whale is not clear; many things, including nature, providence, fate, and God himself, have been suggested.

Melville spelled the whale's name without a hyphen, but used a hyphen in the title of the book.

[edit] Mates

Starbuck, the young first mate of the Pequod, is a thoughtful and intellectual Quaker.

Uncommonly conscientious for a seaman, and endued with a deep natural reverence, the wild watery loneliness of his life did therefore strongly incline him to superstition; but to that sort of superstition, which in some organization seems rather to spring, somehow, from intelligence than from ignorance... [H]is far-away domestic memories of his young Cape wife and child, tend[ed] to bend him ... from the original ruggedness of his nature, and open him still further to those latent influences which, in some honest-hearted men, restrain the gush of dare-devil daring, so often evinced by others in the more perilous vicissitudes of the fishery. "I will have no man in my boat," said Starbuck, "who is not afraid of a whale." By this, he seemed to mean, not only that the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward.
— Moby-Dick, Ch. 26

Starbuck is alone among the crew in objecting to Ahab's quest, declaring it madness to want revenge on an animal that lacks the capacity to understand such human concepts. Starbuck advocates continuing the more mundane pursuit of whales for their oil. He lacks the support of the crew in his opposition to Ahab, and is unable to persuade them to turn back. Despite his misgivings, he feels himself bound by his obligations to obey the captain.

Stubb is the second mate of the Pequod, who always seems to have a pipe in his mouth and a smile on his face. "Good-humored, easy, and careless, he presided over his whaleboat as if the most deadly encounter were but a dinner, and his crew all invited guests." (Moby-Dick, Ch. 27)

Flask is the third mate of the Pequod.

A short, stout, ruddy young fellow, very pugnacious concerning whales, who somehow seemed to think that the great Leviathans had personally and hereditarily affronted him; and therefore it was a sort of point of honor with him, to destroy them whenever encountered.
— Moby-Dick, Ch. 27

[edit] Harpooners

Queequeg is a savage cannibal from a fictional island in the South Seas. The son of the chief of his tribe, he befriends Ishmael in New Bedford, Massachusetts before they leave port. Queequeg is a skilled harpooner on Starbuck's boat. He exhibits both civilized and savage behaviour.

Tashtego is described as a savage, a Native American harpooner. The personification of the hunter, he has turned from hunting land animals to hunting whales. Tashtego is the harpooner on Stubb's harpoon boat.

Daggoo is a gigantic savage African harpooner with a noble bearing and grace, on Flask's harpoon boat.

Fedallah is the harpooner on Ahab's own boat. He is of Indian Zoroastrian ("Parsi") descent. Due to descriptions of him having lived in China, he probably might be among the great wave of Parsi traders that made their way to Hong Kong and the far east during the mid 19th century. At the time when the Pequod sets sail, Fedallah is hidden on board, and he emerges with the boat's crew later on, to the surprise of the crew. Fedallah is often referred to in the text as Ahab's 'Dark Shadow.'

[T]all and swart, with one white tooth evilly protruding from its steel-like lips. A rumpled Chinese jacket of black cotton funereally invested him, with wide black trowsers of the same dark stuff. But strangely crowning this ebonness was a glistening white plaited turban, the living hair braided and coiled round and round upon his head.
— Moby-Dick, Ch.48

Image:Moby Dick comics.jpg Image:Mobyd Dick radio.jpg

[edit] Selected adaptations and references

[edit] Adaptations

A 1926 silent movie, The Sea Beast, starring John Barrymore as a heroic Ahab with a fiancée and an evil brother, loosely based on the novel (IMDb link). Remade as Moby Dick in 1930 (IMDb link), a version in which Ahab kills the whale and returns home to the woman he loves (played by Joan Bennett).
Moby Dick Rehearsed, a "play within a play" directed by Orson Welles. A performance of the play was filmed in 1955, but is now considered lost. (IMDb link)
A 1956 film directed by John Huston and starring Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab, with screenplay by Ray Bradbury (see Moby Dick)
A 1965 film, The Bedford Incident, based on a novel by Mark Rascovich, retells the story with a Soviet submarine cast as Moby Dick. The book's ending, in which only the reporter survives, draws directly from Melville: "It was the devious-cruising Novosibirsk, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan." (The ending of the movie version is different.)
The Wind Whales of Ishmael, a 1971 science fiction sequel by Philip José Farmer, transports Ishmael to the far future.
Moby Dick, featuring Jack Aranson as Captain Ahab, was filmed in 1978 and released in November 2005 on DVD. The director was Paul Stanley (IMDb link).
Berserker Blue Death, a 1985 science fiction novel by Fred Saberhagen, is basically Captain Ahab in the 25th century, with the white whale replaced by the Blue Berserker ship, and with the facially scarred captain's peg leg made from a captured android leg, instead of a bone from a whale.
Moby Dick, a 1998 television movie starring Patrick Stewart as Ahab and Gregory Peck as Father Mapple (a Golden Globe-winning performance) (IMDb link)
Capitaine Achab a 2004 French movie directed by Philippe Ramos, with Valérie Crunchant and Frédéric Bonpart (IMDb link)
Francis Macbeth composed a five-movement suite for wind band named Of Sailors and Whales which is based on scenes from the book Moby-Dick. The bombastic suite begins with the quiet "Ishmael", which builds to a heavy climax. "Queequeg" follows with a flitting melody and ends with bleak chords and finally a quick note at the end. The middle movement "Father Mapple" is supposed to be a hymn that an imaginary man sings during the voyage. This movement is actually sung by the band, and begins very wearily but has a rather strong ending. The next movement is "Ahab" which readily depicts the captain. The same is true of "The White Whale", the final movement of the suite and by far one of the most fearsome pieces composed for a wind band. Each movement is preceded by some text supposed to be read to give an indication of the movement.
Composer Peter Westergaard has composed Moby Dick: Scenes From an Imaginary Opera, an operatic work for five soloists, chorus and chamber orchestra entitled The work was premiered in October 2004 in Princeton, New Jersey. Its libretto draws on the parts of the novel that deal with Ahab's obsession with the whale.
Writer Julian Rad and Director Hilary Adams created a bare stage adaptation of Moby Dick that premiered in New York City in 2003. The Off-Off Broadway "play with music" was nominated for three 2004 Drama Desk Awards: Outstanding Play (Julian Rad, writer/Works Productions, producer), Outstanding Director of a Play (Hilary Adams) and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Michael Berry as Starbuck). Moby Dick was the first Off-Off Broadway production to ever be nominated in the Play and Director categories in the 50 year history of the Drama Desk Award.^{[citation needed]} For more information see the company website (Works Productions) and the director's website (Hilary Adams).

[edit] Allusions to Moby-Dick

The phrase "white whale" is often used to describe an obsession with a single goal.
The word Moby appears to be an invention of Melville's. It has passed into colloquial English as a rough synonym for "very large".
Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea references a hunt for a dangerous ship-sinking "Moby-Dick", which turns out to be the Nautilus.
Moby Duck is a character created for Disney's line of comic books, a relative of Donald Duck and the other ducks in the Disney mythos.
Tom and Jerry meet "Dicky Moe" in a 1961 MGM cartoon of the same name.
Kurt Vonnegut's 1962 novel Cat's Cradle makes allusions to Moby Dick in its chapter format (short in length and many in number) and in its opening line ("Call me Jonah" instead of Moby-Dick's "Call me Ishmael").
McMurphy, the rebellious main character in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest sports white whale shorts.
A 1964 episode of Mr. Magoo saw Ishmael Quincey Magoo hunting the great white whale. [1]
Rocky and Bullwinkle once encountered a white whale named "Maybe Dick".
Sam Peckinpah's 1965 film Major Dundee, with Charlton Heston and Richard Harris, recycles many of the story's plotlines and characters into a Western setting (IMDb link).
Hanna-Barbera Studios's 1967 cartoon Moby Dick (IMDb link). Moby Dick was a Lassie-like pet hero, who rescued hapless boys menaced by various Saturday morning cartoon threats: flying saucers, shark men, and so on.
Mad magazine's obligatory movie satire "Morbid Dick" began with the line, "Call me Fishmeal!"
The BBC radio comedy series Round The Horne has a spoof of the story, written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman entitled Moby Duck. Its Ishmael character, played by Kenneth Horne, has the unlikely name of Ebenezer Kukpowder.
"The Doomsday Machine" is a Star Trek episode written by Norman Spinrad that is loosely based on the Moby-Dick story.
"Obsession (Star Trek)" is another Star Trek episode where Captain Kirk tries to destroy a vampire-like cloud creature that attacked and killed his captain and his crew on his old ship, the Farragut. Kirk was like Ahab and the creature resembled Moby Dick. However, the story ends with the crew learning about the creature, its menace to known space and deciding that Kirk was fundamentally correct in hunting it.
Nova, a 1968 science fiction novel by Samuel R. Delany, features a starship voyage with a misfit crew, and an obsessive and facially scarred captain strongly resembling Ahab.
"Moby Dick" is an instrumental recording by Led Zeppelin featuring a drum solo by John Bonham.
National Lampoon produced a poster in which Moby Dick is rendered as a gigantic condom.
"Nantucket Sleighride" was a recording by Mountain which describes a ship's crew "in search of the mighty sperm whale" and referring to "Starbuck sharpening his harpoon".
Philip Roth's 1973 book The Great American Novel begins with the line "Call me Smitty," and refers to Moby-Dick several times throughout its length.
Jaws was a 1975 film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the novel by Peter Benchley. Actor Robert Shaw played Quint, a crusty old Ahab-like sea captain who was obsessed with hunting down a great white shark. In the novel version, Quint dies in much the same way as Ahab, pulled into the depths by the creature due to a snagged harpoon line.
Bruce Sterling's 1977 novel Involution Ocean is a science fictional pastiche of Moby-Dick.
Rick Veitch's Abraxas and the Earthman (serialized in Marvel's Epic Magazine) was practically influenced by Moby Dick.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) borrows liberally from Moby-Dick. Khan and his first officer Joachim are based on Ahab and Starbuck, and many of Khan's lines involve the character's near verbatim quotes of the novel, a paperback copy of which is seen on a shelf in Khan's exile quarters at the film's beginning (IMDb link).
In Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Captain Jean-Luc Picard's fight against the Borg is compared to that of Captain Ahab against Moby Dick (IMDb link). Ironically, the character who makes the connection (Lily Sloane) had never read the book, while Picard was very familiar with it, paraphrasing (or incorrectly quoting?) a short passage to which Lily responds, "I guess he didn't know when to quit." Two years later, the actor who portrays Captain Picard, Patrick Stewart, performed the role Captain Ahab in a TV movie version of Moby-Dick.
Moby Dick! The Musical, a 1990s West End musical about a girls' boarding school production of the classic tale
In the late 1990s, performance artist Laurie Anderson produced the multimedia stage presentation Songs and Stories From Moby Dick. Several songs from this project were included on her 2001 in music CD, Life on a String.
Rakhnam, a purple arcwhale which threatens the party at various points in the 2001 video game Skies of Arcadia, is homage to Moby-Dick (his name in the Japanese version of the game is "Mobys").
The German funeral doom metal band Ahab refers in all of their songs to the book by Melville. Their demo "The Oath" was released in 2005. On October 10, 2006, their debut album "The Call of the Wretched Sea" is slated to be available in America. [2]

The American heavy metal band Mastodon released a 2004 concept album named Leviathan, which contained lyrics based on Moby Dick. Some song titles include "I Am Ahab" and "Seabeast".
In the comic book series Bone by Jeff Smith, the protagonist (named Fone Bone) is a great admirer of Moby-Dick and refers to it frequently. When he tries to read passages from the book to his friends, they immediately fall asleep. His dreams contain a great deal of Moby-Dick imagery, and when he and his companions pass through a region in which their thoughts become reality, his cousin Phoney suddenly gains a peg-leg, a facial scar and a costume like Ahab's.
In Marvel Comics' Livewires the ultimate goal of Project Livewire is to seek out and destroy the most secret of all black ops projects, the one they refer to as "The White Whale", because they do not actually know its real codename.
The New England Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts hosts a Moby Dick Marathon [3] reading of the novel every January 3 – 4. The Marathon in 2006 was the 10th anniversary of this event. Volunteer readers are allotted 10 minute time slots over the approximately 25 hours it takes to read this novel aloud. Among the hundreds of Moby-Dick fans who flock to this event, descendants of Melville attend every year.
Moby Lick was a fictitious character in Mattel's action figure line known as the "Street Sharks", that later appeared in the animated series based on the toyline. While its name is an obvious pun on Melville's work, the character was a humanoid orca (killer whale) with a huge tongue.
Roger Zelazny's short story "The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth" is inspired by Moby-Dick. It tells the story of a whaling crew on the seas of Venus, hunting a giant Icthyosaur.
Ahab's Wife, or the Star Gazer, by Sena Jeter Naslund, is a novel about Ahab's wife, who is only briefly mentioned in Moby-Dick. In Naslund's novel, the heroine meets dozens of famous people, including Frederick Douglass, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Maria Mitchell, and even Henry James as a precocious 5-year-old.
Captain Ahab makes a cameo appearance in the 1994 animated film, The Pagemaster, as one of a long list of appearances by many famous literary characters and novels. Captain Ahab, along with Macaulay Culkin's character, is attacked by Moby Dick while in a rowboat (IMDb link).
A Japanese animated adaptation to Moby-Dick, called Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick, was produced in 1997. It was set in outer space.
In an episode of the animated TV series, The Simpsons, where Krusty the Klown fakes his own death and elopes to a life on the seas, the "Sea Captain" character is seen answering the phone with the phrase "Call me back, Ishmael" - a direct play on the opening line of Moby Dick
In the 2003 film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the League is greeted by one of Captain Nemo's men. His first line: "Call me Ishmael." (Moby-Dick at the Internet Movie Database)
In the 1978 TV series Battlestar Galactica, remade in 2003, Commander Adama (who later in the show has a scar that runs down the length of his chest) has a man named Lieutenant Starbuck (changed to a female for the remake) as his top fighter pilot. Another Galactica pilot is named Boomer, which is the name of another ship's captain in Moby-Dick. Other vague parallels such as the use of epic names also exist.
In an episode of the animated television series Futurama, Fry and Leela meet Ahab and Queequeg after a brainlike alien transports them into the book Moby-Dick.
The American/German heavy metal band Demons & Wizards included their song about Moby Dick, "Beneath These Waves", on their 2005 album Touched by the Crimson King.
In the television show, The X-Files, Dana Scully's family has a liking for Moby Dick; she names her dog "Queequeg". Ironically it's eaten by a sea-monster during Season 3 after it investigates a noise. Despite Scully calling Queequeg back over and over the dog is obsessed with finding out what the noise was. Scully also used the nickname "Ahab" for her father and he, in return, called her "Starbuck".
The Yoram Gross 1986 film Dot and the Whale featured the character of Dot, with the help of her dolphin friend Nelson, trying to find Moby Dick (who in the film is represented as an old, wise guide; similar to a character such as Gandalf in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) after discovering a dying, beached whale on the coast of Australia. At the time the film was made, the total population of whales was slowly dwindling due to heavy hunting. The film was made to help educate children about the nature of whales and to encourage anti-whaling. [4]
In Robert J. Sawyer's novel Far Seer (part of the Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy), Var-Keenir, captain of the Dasheter, is obsessed with hunting down and killing "Kal Ta Goot", an Elasmosaurus.
MC Lars' 2006 album The Graduate contains the track "Ahab", in which Lars raps the story of Moby-Dick.
An episode of Seinfeld features a police officer searching for a notorious violater of parking laws (who turns out to be Newman)). Throughout the show, the miscreant is referred to as the officer's "white whale". Kramer also wears an eyepatch like Ahab for most of the episode.
Macross Dynamite 7 an OVA spinoff of the Macross 7 TV series details a Zentradi poacher obsessed with the killing of a gargantuan white space-whale.
The computer game Deus Ex: Invisible War features two fictional coffee shop chains, and the competition between them serves as a side plot. One of the coffee chains is named QueeQueg's while the other is named Pequod's. The names were chosen in relation to the character Starbuck, from which the real world coffee shop chain Starbucks drew its name.
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. released his song "Call me Ishmael" on Atlantic Records on June 26 in the UK. The video can be seen at his website.
"Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream", from the album Bringing It All Back Home, includes several Captain Ahab references; Dylan pronounces Captain Arab as "AY-rab".
"Ghost of Moby Dick" is an episode of the television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The episode features a person obsessed with killing a large whale that he blames for a personal tragedy.
Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment (2004) by American author Jed McKenna begins with the line "Call me Ahab," and references Moby-Dick several times within the broader context of spirituality.
The musician Moby is Herman Melville's great-great-grand-nephew, and takes his stage name from the book.
Moby Dicks was Cockney Rhyming Slang for John Player "No. 6" cigarrettes in the 1970's.
In the videogame Just Cause, a patrol boat is called the "Pequod", a reference to the ship in Moby-Dick.
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events has many references to Moby Dick, including the name of a submarine, the Queequeg and the leader of an island, named Ishmael ("Call me Ish").
On the 1960's animated Hanna-Barbera sitcom, "The Flintstones," Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble accidentally get swallowed by a white whale named Dopey Dick, during a Water Buffalo Lodge deep-sea fishing trip.
Popeye the Sailor Man: A Whale of a Tale, by Arthur Korb was a childrens book and record released in 1975 that featured a whale named Mopey Nick, who talks like Popeye (Popeye taught him to talk "people-talk") and who eats spinach like Popeye when extraordinary strength is called for. Popeye and Mopey became friends when "Popeye had pulled a whale hunter's harpoon out of Mopey's flipper." The whale hunter turned out to be Popeye's rival, Brutus, and Brutus had been pursuing the whale relentlessly ever since. After a few adventures, Popeye and the whale end up coming to Brutus's rescue, and Brutus promises never to chase Mopey Nick again.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

Hershel Parker and Harrison Hayford, ed. (2002). Moby Dick / Herman Melville. Norton Critical Edition. ISBN 0393972836

[edit] Editions

Melville, H., The Whale. London: Richard Bentley, 1851 3 vols. (viii, 312; iv, 303; iv, 328 pp.) Published October 18 1851.
Melville, H., Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1851. xxiii, 635 pages. Published probably on November 14 1851.