THIRTEEN ARCHIVE

This Day in History: Moby-Dick Published, 1851
Friday, November 14th, 2008

Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick about the voyage of the whaling ship Pequod, is published by Harper & Brothers in New York, on Nov. 14, 1851. While Moby-Dick is now considered America’s greatest epic, the book about Captain Ahab and the white whale, was initially considered a flop.

The Classic Novel
Despite the narrator Ishmael’s exhaustive description, he can never fully understand the nature of the behemoth Moby-Dick, which is usually interpreted as a symbol of evil, God, or an indifferent universe. Read more about the classic American novel and navigate through 200 years of other famous literary works here.

Sperm Whales: The Realy Moby Dick
Learn the facts behind the mystique of the sperm whale here.
Interact with the habits, biology, and social structure of sperm whales here.

One Response to “This Day in History: Moby-Dick Published, 1851”

  1. Meg says:

    Power Moby-Dick, http://www.powermobydick.com, provides the full text of the novel for free online, along with notes to help the reader.

Leave a Reply

Send me THIRTEEN's free weekly program update email

Please note that the THIRTEEN editorial staff reserves the right to not post comments it deems to be inappropriate and/or malicious in nature, as well as edit comments for length, clarity and fairness. No solicitations or advertisements will be allowed. Users may link to other Web sites relevant to discussion, but most often links to commercial Web sites will not be permitted.
©2012 WNET    All Rights Reserved.    825 Eighth Avenue    New York, NY 10019