num_pages: 707
description: On a previous voyage, a mysterious white whale had ripped off the leg of a sea captain named Ahab. Now the crew of the Pequod, on a pursuit that features constant adventure and horrendous mishaps, must follow the mad Ahab into the abyss to satisfy his unslakeable thirst for vengeance. Narrated by the cunningly observant crew member Ishmael, Moby-Dick is the tale of the hunt for the elusive, omnipotent, and ultimately mystifying white whale—Moby Dick. On its surface, Moby-Dick is a vivid documentary of life aboard a nineteenth-century whaler, a virtual encyclopedia of whales and whaling, replete with facts, legends, and trivia that Melville had gleaned from personal experience and scores of sources. But as the quest for the whale becomes increasingly perilous, the tale works on allegorical levels, likening the whale to human greed, moral consequence, good, evil, and life itself. Who is good? The great white whale who, like Nature, asks nothing but to be left in peace? Or the bold Ahab who, like scientists, explorers, and philosophers, fearlessly probes the mysteries of the universe? Who is evil? The ferocious, man-killing sea monster? Or the revenge-obsessed madman who ignores his own better nature in his quest to kill the beast? Scorned by critics upon its publication, Moby-Dick was publicly derided during its author’s lifetime. Yet Melville’s masterpiece has outlived its initial misunderstanding to become an American classic of unquestionably epic proportions. Includes an extensive Dictionary of Sea Terms (37 pages). 
language: English
title: Moby-Dick
titlecomplete: Moby-Dick
characters: Captain Ahab, Fedallah, Flask, Aunt Charity, Mrs Hussey, Pippin ("Pip"), Peter Coffin, Moby Dick, Ishmael, Peleg, Perth, Bildad, Daggoo, Fleece, Queequeg, Tashtego, Mapple Priest, Elijah, Starbuck, Dough-boy, Stubb
genres: Audiobook, American, Historical Fiction, Novels, Literature, Classic Literature, Classics, Adventure, Fiction, 19th Century
ratings_count: 545064
places: New England, Nantucket, Massachusetts, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, New Bedford, Massachusetts, Massachusetts
awards: awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Audie Award
category: Solo Narration - Male, awardedAt: 662716800000
name: Премія імені Максима Рильського
publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics