November 14
MOBY DICK DAY
“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world...”
Thus begins Herman Melville’s book Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, which was first published in New York City by Harpoon & Brothers on this day in 1851. (Sorry. We meant Harper & Brothers.)
The complex, but rousing sea story tells the tale of a sea captain’s search for Moby Dick, the great white whale that had once crippled him.
The story is told by sailor-narrator Ishmael. Through the pages of Moby Dick, we meet Ishmael’s bunkmate Queequeg, a whale harpooner from Polynesia; learn everything there is to know about whaling in the nineteenth century; and, of course, about Captain Ahab and his obsession with Moby Dick.
Melville dedicated his novel to author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Director and writer John Huston adapted the high seas saga to the big screen in 1956 so all the world could see Moby Dick as big as life.
Herman Melville died at home, of a heart attack, shortly after midnight on September 28, 1891, at the age of 72. At the time, he had been almost totally forgotten by all but a small group of admirers in the United Kingdom and the United States.
(Recent whale sightings on the Web.)
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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