Pequod (Moby-Dick)The Pequod is a fictional 19th-century Nantucketwhaling ship that appears in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by American author Herman Melville. Pequod and her crew, commanded by Captain Ahab, are central to the story, which, after the initial chapters, takes place almost entirely aboard the ship during a three-year whaling expedition in the Atlantic, Indian and South Pacific oceans. Most of the characters in the novel are part of Pequod's crew.
Moby Dick (whale)Moby Dick is a fictional white sperm whale and the main antagonist in Herman Melville's 1851 novel of the same name. Melville based the sperm whale on a leucistic sperm whale of that period, Mocha Dick. DescriptionIshmael describes Moby Dick as having two prominent white areas around "a peculiar snow-white wrinkled forehead, and a high, pyramidical white hump", the rest of his body being of stripes and patches between white and gray.
Sperm whaleThe sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genusPhyseter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale superfamily Physeteroidea, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia. The sperm whale is a pelagicmammal with a worldwide range, and will migrate seasonally for feeding and breeding.
Ishmael (Moby-Dick)Ishmael is a character in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), which opens with the line "Call me Ishmael." He is the first-person narrator of the book. Because Ishmael plays a minor role in the plot, early critics of Moby-Dick assumed that Captain Ahab was the protagonist. Many either confused Ishmael with Melville or overlooked the role he played.
Great American NovelCanonical novel that is thought to embody the essence of AmericaUncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe is commonly cited as the Great American Novel—John William De Forest saw it as the closest possible novel.The "Great American Novel" (sometimes abbreviated as GAN) is the term for a canonical novel that generally embodies and examines the essence and character of the United States.
Captain AhabCaptain Ahab is a fictional character and one of the protagonists in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851). He is the monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship Pequod. On a previous voyage, the white whale Moby Dick bit off Ahab's leg and he now wears a prosthetic leg made out of ivory. The whaling voyage of the Pequod ends up as a hunt for revenge on the whale, as Ahab forces the crew members to support his fanatical mission.
WhalerA whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. TerminologyThe term whaler is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japan, still dedicates a singlefactory ship for the industry. The vessels used by aboriginal whaling communities are much smaller and are used for various purposes over the course of the year.American Renaissance (literature)The American Renaissance period in American literature ran from about 1830 to around the Civil War. A central term in American studies, the American Renaissance was for a while considered synonymous with American Romanticism and was closely associated with Transcendentalism. OverviewScholar F. O. Matthiessen originated the phrase "American Renaissance" in his 1941 book American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman.
Herman MelvilleAmerican writer (1819–1891)Herman Melville (bornMelvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American writer of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851), Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia, and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella.NovelLong fictional narrative storyMadame de Pompadour spending her afternoon with a book (François Boucher, 1756) Prose genres Poetry genres Dramatic genresComedyLibrettoMusicalOperaPlayhistoricalmoralSatireScriptTragedyTragicomedyHistoryAncientMedievalEarly medievalEarly modernRenaissance18th19th20thContemporary21st MediaVoiceaudiobookspeechWritingbookdigital electronicsebookmanuscript Lists and outlinesOutlineGlossaryBooksEpicfolk-epicsPoetsWritersMovementspoetry groupsCyclesLiterary awardspoetryShort story collection / CycleLost literary worklacunaTheory and criticismSociologyMagazinesCompositionLanguageNarrativeComparativeCircleSocietyPost-literate SocietyPeerFeudEstateWorkshopCircleA novel is an extended work of narrativefiction usually written in prose and published as a book.
William FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner ( ; néFalkner; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in for Lafayette County where he spent most of his life.Epic (genre)Epic is a narrativegenre characterised by its length, scope, and subject matter. The defining characteristics of the genre are mostly derived from its roots in ancient poetry (epic poems such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey). An epic is not limited to the traditional medium of oral poetry, and has expanded to include modern mediums including film, theater, television shows, novels, and video games.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.