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Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851) opens with one of the most famous lines in fiction: 'Call me Ishmael.' The narrator, a young sailor, goes on to tell of Captain Ahab's obsessive hunt for the white whale that took his leg.

Literary history

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The story behind the card

Melville (1819–1891) drew on his own time aboard the whaler Acushnet, on which he sailed in January 1841, and on the true story of the Essex, a whaleship sunk by a sperm whale in the Pacific in 1820. The opening line is often read as a hint. In the Bible, Ishmael, a son of Abraham, is sent away into the desert, so the name suggests a wanderer and an outsider, and the narrator never says it is his real name. The novel appeared in London as The Whale in October 1851 and in New York as Moby-Dick a month later. Sales were poor, and it was out of print when Melville died in 1891. Its reputation rose only after the centenary of his birth in 1919, and it is now counted among the great American novels.

Türkçe oku
Herman Melville'in Moby Dick'i (1851), edebiyatın en ünlü ilk cümlelerinden biriyle açılır: “Bana İsmail deyin.” Genç bir denizci olan anlatıcı, Kaptan Ahab'ın, bir zamanlar bacağını koparan beyaz balinayı saplantıyla kovalayışını anlatır.

Melville (1819–1891) romanı yazarken iki kaynaktan beslendi: Ocak 1841'de yola çıktığı balina avı gemisi Acushnet'te yaşadıkları ve 1820'de Büyük Okyanus'ta bir kaşalotun batırdığı balina gemisi Essex'in gerçek hikâyesi. İlk cümle çoğu zaman bir ipucu olarak okunur. Tevrat'ın Yaratılış kitabında İbrahim'in oğlu İsmail çöle gönderilir; bu yüzden ad, Batılı okura yurdundan kopmuş bir gezgini, dışlanmış birini çağrıştırır. Anlatıcı bunun gerçek adı olduğunu da hiç söylemez. Roman Ekim 1851'de Londra'da The Whale (Balina), bir ay sonra New York'ta Moby-Dick adıyla çıktı. Kitap pek satmadı; Melville 1891'de öldüğünde baskısı kalmamıştı. Romanın değeri ancak yazarın doğumunun 100. yılı olan 1919'dan sonra anlaşıldı; bugün Amerikan edebiyatının en büyük romanları arasında sayılır.

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Background reading: Herman Melville
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