How you explore Moby-Dick on Literah
The cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words — each one a card in a feed you scroll on your phone. One at a time, at your pace, in any order you like.
- Built for your phone. Literah is designed for mobile, so your worlds travel with you. On a laptop it shows a QR code to carry the world to your phone.
- A feed, not a wall of text. 46 characters, 33 places, 34 objects and 8 plot beats, each its own card with its own illustration.
- The author’s own words. 62 passages of Moby-Dick sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as Herman Melville wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
- The same scroll, a better world. The gesture you already give away to feeds, spent on Herman Melville instead.
The Moby-Dick feed, as it appears in your mobile
The plot of Moby-Dick
The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.
- Ishmael and Queequeg
- The Pequod Sets Sail
- Ahab's Vow
- The Whiteness of the Whale
- The Hunt Begins
- The Gathering Signs
- Warnings Ignored
- The Chase
The author's pen in Moby-Dick
The passages themselves, Herman Melville's own words, as Literah maps it.
- Call Me Ishmaelch. 1
- Crowds of Water Gazersch. 1
- The Sea's Deep Meaningch. 1
- The Marvellous Paintingch. 3
- The Harpooneer’s Facech. 3
- The Angel Above the Stormch. 7
- The Pulpit as Prowch. 8
- Delight Against This Worldch. 9
- Drawn Toward Himch. 10
- The Nantucketer Owns the Seach. 14
- A Noble Craft Melancholych. 16
- Peleg Puts Him To Proofch. 16
- Anything About Your Soulsch. 19
- The Endlessness of Earthly Effortch. 22
- Landlessness and Highest Truthch. 23
- Starbuck's Enduring Naturech. 26
- Stubb's Careless Calmch. 27
- Flask and the Whalech. 27
- The Three Harpooneersch. 27
- Ahab Upon the Quarter Deckch. 28
The characters of Moby-Dick
Who is who, as Literah maps it.
- Ishmaelmajor
- Captain Ahabmajor
- Moby Dick, the White Whalemajor
- Queequegmajor
- Starbuckmajor
- Stubbmajor
- Pipmajor
- Fedallahmajor
- The Pequod Crewmajor
- Flasksupporting
- Tashtegosupporting
- Daggoosupporting
- Father Mapplesupporting
- Captain Pelegsupporting
- Captain Bildadsupporting
- Elijahsupporting
The locations in Moby-Dick
Where it happens, as Literah maps it.
- Manhattan Waterfrontwaterfront
- New Bedfordwhaling port
- The Spouter-Inninn
- Whaleman’s Chapelchapel
- Nantucketisland port
- The Try Potsinn
- Kokovokoisland kingdom
- The Pequodwhaling ship
- The Pequod’s Quarter-Deckship deck
- Ahab’s Cabinship cabin
- The Forecastleship crew space
- The Mast-Headlookout station
- The Pequod’s Try-Worksshipboard furnace
- The Pequod’s Forgeshipboard forge
The core concepts in Moby-Dick
What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.
- The sea promises freedom and reveals helplessness
- Friendship answers isolation but cannot abolish fate
- Labor and metaphysics are inseparable
- Obsession turns the world into one enemy
- Meaning is made by readers, but not safely
- Authority becomes dangerous when private obsession captures public labor
- Whiteness is terror, blankness, sanctity, and unreadability
- Fate, prophecy, and free will tighten around action
- Survival through narration
The objects of note in Moby-Dick
The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.
- The Pequod
- The Doubloon
- Ahab’s Ivory Leg
- Queequeg’s Coffin / Life-Buoy
- The Harpoon Forged for Moby Dick
- The Whale-Line
- The Musket
- Ahab’s Charts
- The Quadrant
- The Compass / Needle
- Father Mapple’s Pulpit
- Pip’s Tambourine
- Try-Pots / Try-Works Tools
- Queequeg’s Harpoon
The offer
Explore Moby-Dick. And 127 more.
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