**This class will be held In-Person**
One of the "Great American Novels," Herman Melville's 1851 Moby-Dick is exciting, encylopedic, dramatic, comic (at times), tragic throughout—and undeniably long. This course does not assume that everyone will read the whole book (though perhaps some will), but it will get us all the way through what the narrator ("Call me Ishmael) tells us about the harsh trade of whaling, about the ill-fated voyage of the Pequod, and about its captain's megalomania. Lectures will summarize the book, contextualize it in pre-Civil War America, and delve into passages of Melville's masterful prose. In-class discussions will focus on selections and issues of importance.
Week by Week Outline
1. On land: Ishmael and Queequeg: Chapters 1-23
2. At sea: Ahab: Chapters 24-42
3. The first whale: Chapters 43-70
4. Plunging deeper into whales and whaling: Chapters 71-98
5. Preparing for the chase: Chapters 99-117
6. The chase: Chapters 118-135