L2L Moby Dick (pt. I)

Moby Dick; or, The Whale (pt. I)

Herman Melville

In October 1851, the fate of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, The Whale seemed lost at sea. It wouldn’t be until the twentieth century — and well after the author’s death — that Melville’s sixth book earned its now-lingering reputation as a “Great American Novel.” But how many Americans have read it? And is it worthy of the Ahab-esque obsession with which scholars, authors, and others have pursued its legacy? This week — or, 170 years later — Leigh, P. T., and Dr. C invite you to “read allowed” as they read and examine the opening of this novel in the first episode of a new L2L series.