Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by American writer
Herman Melville, published in 1851 during the period of the
American Renaissance. Sailor
Ishmael tells the story of the obsessive quest of
Ahab, captain of the
whaler the
Pequod, for revenge on
Moby Dick, the white whale that on the previous whaling voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee.
