HUMT281 - Moby Dick!

Credits: 3

Moby-Dick may be the only single book a mariner really needs to read: this epic of American literature has been called “the greatest book of the sea ever written,” and “one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world.” We will devote ourselves to reading this single novel, exploring the art, history, ethics, and philosophy of Herman Melville’s vision (and learning about whales in the process). At once a quest for revenge by the monomaniacal Captain Ahab and a story of his diverse crew on the Pequod, the book also offers a meditation on the meaning of life, good and evil, the existence of God, leadership, the nature of knowledge and perception, racial and cultural difference, labor, and the relationship between man and the natural world. We will focus on reading and discussion throughout, from focusing on tiny details of language, to embracing big concepts, to considering why Moby-Dick might matter to us today. As we read this novel that Philbrick calls “nothing less than the genetic code of America,” we will also explore its continued resonance in art and popular culture today. This is an elective course.

Prerequisites: LITR 101

U.S. MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY

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HUMT281 - Moby Dick!