Department of English

Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or The Whale is one of the greatest works of American literature, as it tells a vast, sweeping story of biblical proportions. Few novels have had as great a cultural influence, yet not many people have read the whole thing. This course welcomes students of all levels, offering a semester-long opportunity to study the entirety of this whale-of-a-novel in approachable chunks. We will immerse ourselves in the formative period during which Melville wrote the novel (published 1851) through films, artwork, field trips, and visits to archives where we’ll handle nineteenth-century texts and objects—including an original edition of Moby-Dick! In addition to the novel, we will read other works by Melville (including poetry and short stories) to better understand the critiques of slavery, capital, American empire, and religious institutions that shaped his writing. We will pay attention to his literary influences, ranging from mythology to the Bible to Shakespeare. Students will produce a variety of analytical and creative responses to the novel throughout the semester through short writing exercises, and for the final projects, students will have the choice of a critical essay or creative project.