美国文学史学习指南中文翻译HermanMelvill
美国文学史及选读Herman Melville
3. Social Background
• Economic boom:
Industrialism Immigration Westward expansion
optimism and hope among people
4. Features
• American Romanticism was both imitative and independent.
下令攻打“叛乱”州。此战不但改变当时美国的
政经情势，导致奴隶制度在美国南方被最终废除， 也对日后美国的民间社会产生巨大的影响。
2. Ideals:
• Ideals: Democracy and political equality became the ideals of the new nation.
Moby Dick
is hidden all the time
Mirrors（反 映） its enviorment
unknown and
inscrutable,
unknowable truths mysterious
only the surface of the ocean is available for human observation and interpretation
Some events in this period
• American Civil War (1861-1865)
• 南北战争，又称美国内战（American Civil War），是美国历史上一场大规模的内战，参战 双方为美利坚合众国（简称联邦）和美利坚联盟
国（简称邦联）。这场战争的起因为美国南部十 一州以亚伯拉罕·林肯于1861年就任总统为由而 陆续退出联邦，另成立以杰斐逊·戴维斯为“总 统”的政府，并驱逐驻扎南方的联邦军，而林肯
1 History of American Literature 美国文学史 英语简介
Brief Introduction of the American Literature History
1. The Colonial Period (1607-End of the 18th C) 2. The Romantic Period (19th C-1865) 3. The Age of Realism (1865-1918) 4. The Modern Period (1918-1945) 5. The Postwar Period (1945- )
regarded as one of the American authors writing in the Modernist tradition of the 1920s)
The Modern Period (19181945)
The 1920s African American literature (Harlem Renaissance) Langston Hughes The 1930s Left or socialist-oriented writers: John Dos Passos and John Steinbeck
Henry David Thoreau Walt Whitman Emily Dickinson Edgar Allan Poe Nathaniel Hawthorne Herman Melville
The Age of Realism (18651918)
William Dean Howells Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn;
Frank Norris
Dreiser
(McTeagaue,
美国文学史及选读的名词解释(全) (2)
Colonial Period:1.American Puritanismit comes from the American puritans, who were the first immigrants moved to American continent in the 17th century. Original sin, predestination（预言）and salvation（拯救）were the basic ideas of American Puritanism. And, hard-working, piousness（虔诚,尽职），thrift and sobriety（清醒）were praised.Romanticism Period:2.Romanticism: the literature term was first applied to the writers of the18th century in Europe who broke away from the formal rules of classical writing. When it was used in American literature it referred to the writers of the middle of the 19th century who stimulated（刺激）the sentimental emotions of their readers. They wrote of the mysterious of life, love, birth and death. The Romantic writers expressed themselves freely and without restraint. They wrote all kinds of materials, poetry, essays, plays, fictions, history, works of travel, and biography.3.Gothic tradition (哥特传统): Gothic novel or Gothic romance is a storyof terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery. In an extended sense, many novels do not have a medievalized setting, but which share a comparably sinister, grotesque, or claustrophobic atmosphere have been classed as Gothic. It contributed to the new emotional climate of Romanticism.4.Transcendentalism (先验说,超越论): is a philosophic and literarymovement that flourished in New England, particular at Concord, as a reaction against Rationalism and Calvinism (理性主义and喀尔文主义). Mainly it stressed intuitive understanding of God, without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind. The representative writers are Emerson and Thoreau.5.Stream of consciousness（意识流）：It is one of the modern literarytechniques. It is the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them. It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce. Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and skillfully the unconscious activity of the mind fast changing and flowing incessantly。
HermanMelville美国文学解读精品PPT课件
Moby Dick- Themes
• symbolic work ￡ natural history. • obsession, religion, idealism, • pragmatism, revenge, racism, sanity, • hierarchical relationships and politics.
Moby -Dick
symbolism
Moby Dick:
❖ To the author, it symbols nature, it is complex, unfathomable and dangerous;
❖ To the captain Ahab, it is evil, is a wall. ❖ To the narrator, Ishmael, it is a mystery. ❖ As a part of the natural world, it represents the
helatersaidwhaleshipmyharvardyalemelville?smajorworkstypee1846omoo1847redburn1849mardi1849玛地政治宗教寓言whitejacket1850白外衣mobydick1851白鲸pierre1852billybudd比利手稿1891未完成
destruction of the environment
Moby -Dick
symbolism
❖ Starbuck: the prime symbol of good ❖ Ahab: with an overwhelming obsession to kill
the whale-evil, but with a baleful fire become himself an evil in his thirst to kill evil. ❖ Its whiteness: a paradoxical color, signifying death and corruption, purity, innocence, and youth.
美国文学 梅尔维尔
style of writing
主要写作风格为哥 特式的浪漫主义， 大量运用讽喻和怀 疑论，以现代主义， 荒诞主义以及存在 主义为先导。
• 梅尔维尔身前没有引起应有的重视，在20世纪二 十年代声名鹊起，被普遍认为是美国文学的巅峰 人物之一。 《白鲸》直到出版后七十年，才获得 社会大众广泛的重视。 • 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔是美国最伟大的小说家之一， 也是美国象征主义文学大师。他不仅是小说家, 而且还是一位卓越的哲学家和诗人, 他以极其敏 锐的目光关注着自己生活的时代及其社会变迁。 • 英国作家毛姆认为他的《白鲸》是世界十大文学 名著之一，其文学史地位更在马克·吐温等人之 上。梅尔维尔也被誉为美国的“莎士比亚”。
Marriage
His friendship with Hawthorne
During the summer of 1890 Melville and Hawthorne met and became good friends. They shared similar ideas and opinions on most kinds of fields. • Especially against the background of Transcendental optimism, Melville agrees with Hawthorne’s Blackness --- the evil at the core of life. • ―Evil in life and the human soul help make life and man better。 • ―To scale great heights, we must come out of the lowest depths. The way to heaven is through hell. We need fiery baptism in the fierce flame of our bosoms.（凤凰涅槃 浴 火重生）
美国文学史整理资料
Colonial Period殖民时期Background:Puritanism背景：清教主义1.features of Puritanism特征宿命论:上帝决定一切之前发生的事情(1).Predestination:God decided everything before things occurred.(2).Original sin:Human beings were born to be evil,and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation.原罪论:人类生来就是邪恶,这原罪(3).Total depravity性恶说有限的赎罪:可以通过一代一代(4).Limited atonement:Only the“elect”can be saved.只有选举才能得救2.Influence影响(1).A group of good qualities–hard work,thrift,piety,sobriety(serious and thoughtful)influenced American literature.一群好的品质——努力工作、节俭、虔诚、节制(严重的和深思熟虑的)美国文学的影响。
(2).It led to the everlasting myth.All literature is based on a myth–garden of Eden.它导致了永恒的神话。
所有的文学是基于一个神话——伊甸园。
(3).Symbolism:the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American.象征意义:美国清教徒的隐喻认知模式主要是在调用形成一个文学象征这是典型的美国人。
美国文学史1所学知识总结
A Review:美国文学史（1）所学知识点总结I The Colonial PeriodCaptain John SmithAmerican Puritanism(Calvinism(TULIP:⏹Total depravity (全然败坏)⏹Unconditional election （无条件的挑选）⏹Limited atonement （有限的待赎）⏹Irresistible grace （不可抗拒的恩典）⏹Perseverance of the saints （圣徒蒙保守）Protestantism, Puritanism )What did most of the early writers write mostly?: description of the natural scene of the new continent; religious zeal; record of their experiences of immigration andtheir life in the new continent.)II The Age of Enlightenment“Reason ”1. Benjamin Franklin (Deism,自然神论Deists typically reject supernaturalevents (prophecy, miracles) and tend to assert that God does not interfere with humanlife and the laws of the universe.1）Autobiography;（13 virtues:1）Temperance;2) Silence3) Order 4) Resolution 5) Frugality 6) Industry—Lose no time; be alwaysemployed in something useful7)Sincerity 8) Justice 9) Moderation10) Cleanliness11) Tranquility12) Chastity13) Humility2）Poor Richard’s Almanac(a collection of proverbs)2. Thomas Paine:Common SenseIII Romantic Period1. Washington Irving “Father of American Literature” the first belletrist in Am Lit;1)“Rip V an Winkle”2)“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”2. James Fennimore Cooper “American Scott” * Historical Novel“frontier, wilderness”Leatherstocking Tales : a series of 5 novels:The Deerslayer; The Last of the Mohicans; The Pathfinder;The Pioneers; The Prairie3. Nathaniel HawthorneHis family history; his views of sin; feature of his writing: ambiguityHis major works;E.g. The Scarlet Letter(The Scarlet Letter；Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale,Pearl,)4. Herman Melville:Moby Dick (symbols, major themes, characters: Ishmael . Ahab, Pequod)5: New England Transcendentalism:Features:1) emphasis on spirit or the Oversoul as the most important thing in the universe2) the individual as the most important element of society3) nature as symbolic of the Spirit or GodRalph Waldo Emerson: “Nature”“The American Scholar”: America’s Declaration of Intellectual IndependenceHenry David Thoreau: Walden (which chapter in Walden impresses you most?) “Civil Disobedience”: Nonviolent struggle“A Plea for Captain John Brown”: his anti-slavery attitude6. Edgar Allan PoeGothic Tales : Major featuresa short story: “The Fall of the House of Usher”;Poems: “The Raven”; “To Helen”7. Two Greatest poets in 19th century AmericaWalt Whitman : “America’s poet”; “Father of free verse”Free verse ; Leaves of Grass“O Captain! My Captain!”“Song of Myself”“I Hear America Singing”Emily Dickinson:“Because I could not stop for Death”“Wild Nights-Wild Nights ”The subjects in her poetry;Characteristics:Short lines; Lack titles; Slant rhyme; Unconventional capitalization Unconventional punctuation; full of images.IV. American Realism(Definition; fidelity, actuality, truthful depiction of life)1. William Dean Howells （focusing on the rising middle class）2. Mark Twain (focusing on the lower class) (Local Colorism)3. Henry James (focusing on the upper class)(international theme, psychological analysis)The differences among the three writers.American Naturalism: social and economic factors; natural and hereditary reasons※ American Realism and American Naturalism(3 major ideas; mood: pessimistic; objects; themes.)Stephen Crane :The Red Badge of Courage (war)Maggie, A Girl of StreetsFrank Norris: Mcteague; The Octopus Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie。
《美国文学史》各章节知识点指南
《美国文学史》各章节知识点指南时间：2011年2月使用教材：《美国文学史》（第二版）常耀信著Chapter 1 Colonial America★1607 Jamestown, Virginia：the first permanent English settlement in America★1620 Plymouth, Massachusetts: the second permanent English settlement in America★Captain John Smith: the first American writer writing in English★Anne Bradstreet: the first American woman poetMajor work: The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America (1650)Contemplations (9) on P. 17 （熟悉这首诗歌）To My Dear and Loving Husband《致我亲爱的丈夫》★Philis Wheatley: the first black woman poet in American literature★Edward Taylor: the most famous poet in the colonial periodHuswifery on P. 19 （熟悉这首诗歌）★Roger Williams: The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience (1644)Translated the Bible into the Indian tongue★John Winthrop: “Model of Christian Charity”（〈基督慈善之典范〉）The History of New England (two volumes, 1825, 1826)(〈新英格兰史〉) 1630 --- 1649 in diary★Thomas Paine: Common Sense, The American Crisis, The Rights of Man, The Age of Reason★Philip Freneau: Poet of the American RevolutionThe Wild Honeysuckle, The Indian Burying Ground, The Dying Indian: Tomo Chequi★Charles Brockden Brown: the first important American novelistWieland, Edgar Huntly, Ormond, Aurthur MervynChapter 2 Edwards, Franklin, Crevecoeurthe 18th century: Age of Reason and EnlightenmentJonathan Edwards: America’s first systematic ph ilosopherThe Freedom of the Will, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac熟悉37页的引文Hector St. John de Crevecoeur: Letters from an American FarmerChapter 3 American Romanticism, Irving, CooperWashington Irving: the first American writer to win international acclaimThe Sketch Book: Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy HollowJames Fenimore Cooper: Leatherstocking Tales (五个故事的题目)Natty Bumpo (人物形象)Chapter 4 New England Transcendentalism, Emerson, ThoreauRalph Waldo Emerson: Nature (the Bible and manifesto of New England Transcendentalism)The American Scholar (America’s Declaration of IntellectualIndependence)Henry David Thoreau: Walden, or Life in the WoodsChapter 5 Hawthorne, MelvilleNathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter, Twice-Told Tales, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, The Marble Faun, Young Goodman BrownHerman Melville: Moby Dick, Omoo, Mardi, Redburn, White Jacket, PierreChapter 6 Whitman, DickinsonWalt Whitman: Leaves of Grass; free verse; Song of MyselfEmily Dickinson: Of the 1775 poems, only 7 poems were published in her lifetime.熟悉教材中98至102页所选的诗歌Chapter 7 Edgar Allan Poe★Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher, The Philosophy of Composition, The Poetic Principle, The Raven，To Helen熟悉教材中107页所选的The Raven中的部分诗行Chapter 8 The Age of Realism, Howells, JamesWilliam Dean Howells: The Rise of Silas Lapham, Criticism and FictionHenry James: important writings listed on P. 125the international themeChapter 9 Local Colorism, Mark TwainHamlin Garland: Crumbling Idols, Veritism (真实主义)Bret Harte: The Luck of Roaring CampMark Twain: 主要作品, vernacular literature, colloquial styleHarriet Beecher Stowe 斯托夫人& her Uncle Tom’s Cabin《汤姆叔叔的小屋》Louisa May Alcott 路易莎·梅·奥尔科特& her Little Women 《小妇人》Kate Chopin 凯特·肖班& her The Awakening 《觉醒》Chapter 10 American Naturalism, Crane, Norris, Dreiser, RobinsonStephen Crane: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (the first naturalistic novel in American literature), The Red Badge of Courage (the first anti-war novel in American literature),Famous short stories: The Open Boat, The Bride Comes to the Yellow SkyFrank Norris: The Octopus, McTeagueTheodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie, Jennie Gerhardt, the Desire Trilogy, The GeniusEdwin Arlington Robinson: Richard CoryJack London: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf, Martin EdenO. Henry (William Sidney Porter): famous for his short stories such as The Gift of the Magi Upton Sinclair: The Jungle, the Muckraking MovementChapter 11 The 1920s, Imagism, PoundThe first American Renaissance: the first half of the 19th centuryThe second Renaissance: the 1920sThe three principles of the Imagist Poetry熟悉四首意象派诗歌：In a Station of the Metro, Oread, The Red Wheelbarrow, Fog, 并会分析其中的第一和第四首Ezra Pound: The Cantos, Hugh Selwyn MauberleyChapter 12 T. S. Eliot, Stevens, WilliamsT. S. Eliot: The Waste Land （五个部分的题目）, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock其他主要作品founder of New Criticism: depersonalization, objective correlativeWilliam Carlos Williams: PatersonChapter 13 Frost, Sandburg, Cummings, Hart Crane, Moore★Robert Frost: New England poet, lyrical poet, the unofficial poet laureate, won the Pulitzer Prize four timesThe Road Not Taken (熟悉此诗), Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Mending Wall, Apple-picking <<摘苹果>>Carl Sandburg: Fog, The Harbor (two famous Imagist poems)E. E. Cummings: the most interesting experimentalist in modern American poetryHart Crane: The BridgeChapter 14 Fitzgerald, Hemingway★F. Scott Fitzgerald: the spokesman of the Jazz AgeThe Great GatsbyErnest H emingway: Hemingway hero with “grace under pressure”, the iceberg principle“I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eights of it under water for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg. It is the part that doesn’t show. ”冰山运动之雄伟壮观，是因为它只有八分之一在水面上。
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美国文学史学习指南中文
翻译H e r m a n M e l v i l l Last revision on 21 December 2020
《白鲸》赫尔曼·梅尔维尔
美国文学简史
有些十九世纪伟大作家的创作生涯在他谈论起了是相当有趣的。
梭罗和迪金森在当时没有读者，坡和惠特曼被人误解，麦尔维尔由于忠于自己的风格，当时也没有受到重视。
他不像梭罗和迪金森那样对此满不在乎，而是常常因此痛苦万分，与惠特曼相比，他有生之年甚至完全没有得到人们的肯定。
赫尔曼·梅尔维尔的童年是快乐的，但在他11岁时，父亲去世，留下了一大笔债。
麦尔维尔很早就开始工作了，没有受过什么教育。
他做过银行职员、商人、老师，还在叔叔的农场帮过忙。
这些日子都没有让他过上好日子。
在20岁左右的时候他做了海员。
麦尔维尔的人生中有三件事应当引起我们的特别注意，出海就是其中一件事，另外两件事分别是他的婚姻和与霍桑的友谊。
但是普通的水手是工人阶级的最底层，而麦尔维尔不过是个捕鲸手，而捕鲸手有事水手里地位最低的。
但和马克·吐温一样，麦尔维尔由此了解到最底层人民的生活。
麦尔维尔去过英国的利物浦和南太平洋，他的青年时光所经历的事情对普通人来说是相当严酷，但是他在海上的经历却使他受益匪浅，为他的小说提供了丰富的素材。
麦尔维尔的婚姻生活与马克·吐温稍有不同，倒是与菲茨杰拉德更为相似。
这是三位作家区的太太的地位都比自己高，但只有马克·吐温一人获得了太太的理解与支持。
麦尔维尔和菲茨杰拉德都为了挣钱满足太太奢华的生活而写了很多粗罗德文学作品。
麦尔维尔区的市一位有钱的法官的女儿，伊丽莎白·肖。
为了供养太太和人数不断增多的家庭，麦尔维尔不得不靠写作为生，在当时的情况下，靠写作谋生是极其不易的，更何况麦尔维尔又是一位醉心文学的艺术家。
麦尔维尔曾经经济上非常窘迫，直到年迈塔菜不为这个问题操心。
1850年的夏天，麦尔维尔与霍桑相识了。
当时麦尔维尔住在马萨诸塞州的皮茨菲尔德，霍桑住在勒诺克斯。
他们成为了好朋友，相互拜访至少九次以上，并且经常通信，尽管后来霍桑这边的消息中断了。
麦尔维尔看过霍桑的书并深有感悟。
他对霍桑十分认同。
他的文章《霍桑和他的青苔》就讲述了《古屋青苔》对自己的世界观和生活态度的影响。
尽管当时流行的而是新英格兰超验主义者对人类与世界的乐观主义，而麦尔维尔还是从霍桑的作品里认识到美国的罪恶。
麦尔维尔对霍桑的罪恶的理解以及黑暗场面的描写十分着迷。
当两人相遇的时候，《白鲸》已经完成了差不多三分之一，但在遇到霍桑之后，麦尔维尔就《白鲸》的原来的构想做了重要的改变。
这个故事很有可能成为麦尔维尔又一部奇异的捕鲸传奇，而现在变成了我们今天人在阅读的世界名着，这都得益于霍桑。
麦尔维尔写给霍桑的一封信里谈到了他与这位老作家相处时那么富有“激情”的秘密：他继续有人能够理解和欣赏自己的文学作品，因为他的家庭并没有理解和支持他。
尽管后来两个人的友谊慢慢淡去，但两个人的哲学观去始终相似。
他们代表了当时的悲剧式人文主义。
霍桑于1851年秋天搬走，他们此次没有再见过面，直到1856年他们最后一次相见。
据说自那以后的二十年，麦尔维尔就再也没有写过小说而转写诗歌。
《克拉莱尔》就是他最着名的诗歌作品。
麦尔维尔非常喜欢阅读。
爱默生、霍桑、克莱尔、雪莱、托马斯布朗、莱尔德地理学和莎士比亚都在他的书单之列。
麦尔维尔读书态度十分严肃，他在做阅读时总是做批注和评论。
阅读莎士比亚是他的人生有了深度，克莱尔和霍桑的象征主义也唐塔着迷。
对爱默生，麦尔维尔则是既尊敬又排斥。
从海上回来的八年时间，麦尔维尔写了很多作品，出版的书如潮涌一般充斥着市场。
1846年《泰比》最先出版，紧接着陆续出版了《奥莫》（1847）、《马迪》（1849）、《雷德伯恩》（1849）、《白夹克衫》（1850）《白鲸》（1851）《皮埃尔》（1852）。
前三本书是麦尔维尔根据自己在南太
平洋岛屿的历险改编而成，《雷德伯恩》是依据他去英格兰的经历写的。
《白夹克衫》则是根据在美国的一艘军舰上的生活改编的。
因此麦尔维尔一度被认为是着名的传奇故事作家。
但是，出来《泰比》和《奥莫》比较畅销之外，其他的作品既没有使他名声大噪，也没有给他带来所需要的丰厚收入。
《白鲸》出版后读者的冷淡度几乎使麦尔维尔从40岁末开始放弃了小说创作。
后来他留下了《自信的人》和《比利巴德》的手稿，另外还有几篇长篇故事，如《书记员巴特勒比》和《贝尼托赛莱诺》。
从这些作品看来，麦尔维尔似乎还是黑白分明，不像还是那样已经向现实妥协。
直到创作《比利巴德》，麦尔维尔似乎才平静下来。
结束了多年以来的痛苦和挣扎，内心获得了平静，并试图接受这样一个事实，即人必须依据世界的规则而生存。
世界的确是一个陷阱，上帝所制定的标准人类无论如何都达不到。
在麦尔维尔看来，世界史谜图，人类无法解开这个谜团；麦尔维尔决定放弃这个探索，向命运妥协。
所以在《比利巴德》里年轻的水手没有异议的接受了审判，平静的死去了：“比利面向船尾站着，在最后的时刻，他的话，唯一的话，被清楚地传达——‘上帝保佑威尔船长！’谁都没有想到脖子上绕着不光彩的绳索的他会说出这样的话——一个罪人向着船尾表达出对荣誉的祝福，谁都没有想过用树上飞走的鸟儿歌唱的旋律说出的话的含义；经过如此痛苦的经历而磨练出来的罕有的人格魅力使他的话具有这样强烈的效果。
”死去的比利闪耀着“上帝的羔羊的神圣的使命”之荣光，他升起的身体“被黎明的光笼罩着”。
这里的描写是对麦尔维尔生活的一个概括，也是对自己将来历史上和子孙眼中的地位的预测。
因此《比利巴德》被认为是作者的遗嘱。
麦尔维尔接受了命运，停止了与上帝的争辩。
在生命的最后20年，麦尔维尔在纽约的海关工作，每天早出晚晚归。
甚至当他还在世的时候，大家却已经我忘了他还是个作家。
麦尔维尔为读者写作。
他们却对此并不欣赏，双方都失望透顶。
麦尔维尔的问题在于他不愿意牺牲自己对艺术的标准去迎合读者
的感觉和要求。
他的故事往往以“一碟面包和一杯牛奶开头，然后是花一般的语言，最后却是一个莎士比亚式的悲剧结局，所以他慢慢被人们遗忘。
当麦尔维尔72岁逝世时，居然有一个评论家奇怪他居然活到了那个时候。
霍桑比任何人都清楚他的两男的境地。
他们最后一次碰面后，霍桑在他的《英语笔记》里写道：”只有他拥有一个确却的信念，他才会安息。
很奇怪他居然这样坚持......没有得到这样的信念，他会继续怀疑，也不安心；他是如此的勇敢和诚实，不会随便迁就......他有着高尚的品格。
”
麦尔维尔最着名的作品是《白鲸》。
评论家一致认为这是世界上最伟大的巨着之一，想要了解十九世纪的美国及美国历史，就必须阅读这本书。
这是一本百科全书，包括历史、哲学、宗教，还有对捕鲸产业的详细描述，但是首先这是一本莎士比亚式的悲剧，是人类在漠然甚至是充满敌意的宇宙里向命运抗争的故事。
在《马迪》里，麦尔维尔暗示我们应该知道生活中的罪恶，人类的灵魂应该帮助人们生活的更好。
就像他所说的：“通往天堂的道路是地狱。
”
麦尔维尔把他认为对自己观点有用的东西全部放进了《白鲸》这部作品里。
故事的情节大致是这样的：伊斯梅尔心情沮丧，希望通过登上捕鲸船皮廓德号出海来逃避现实。
船长亚哈只有一条腿，因为上次出海时白鲸莫比迪克咬断了他的一条腿。
亚哈发誓要杀掉白鲸，他在桅杆上悬上金币，奖励最先看到白鲸的人。
皮廓德号捕到了很多鲸鱼，但是亚哈执意要捕到白鲸，才能返航。