MOBY-DICK ASSIGNMENT

Choose one chapter of Moby-Dick, and offer a 500-750-word gloss on it. You might explore technical terms used in the chapter. For example, you might consider the bibliography terms in Chapter 32, "Cetology." What do the terms folio, octavo, and duodecimo mean, and what do they have to do with cetology? Explain the terms and explain their significance here, both for the chapter and for the novel as a whole.

You might also consider some of the texts which Melville draws into the novel. For example, in the "Extracts" that precede chapter 1, choose a few quotations and discuss their significance. How do Montaigne, Rabelais, and Shakespeare fit into Melville's account? What are the implications of Melville's quotation from Darwin's Voyage of the Naturalist? In chapter 9, "The Sermon," you might consider Melville's use of the biblical story of Jonah.

You may also elaborate historical or political contexts of the novel. For example, in chapter 1, Ishamel envisions a playbill on which "whaling voyage by one ishmael" is placed between "Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States" and "BLOODY BATTLE IN AFGHANISTAN" (7). What election is Melville referring to here, and what battle in Afghanistan? And what do these events have to do with the novel?

You may also choose a significant passage and offer a close reading of that passage, followed by an explanation of the passage's significance to the chapter and to the novel as a whole.

This assignment gives you fairly wide range over texts and contexts. You may want to draw on materials such as the Readex collection of Early American Newspapers or the Library of Congress's American Memory collection. (See the links on the schedule of readings, my home page, and my list of useful resources in American literature and culture.) If you draw on materials outside the novel itself, be sure to acknowledge your sources properly.

Feel free to see me or e-mail me about your ideas. I may be able to steer you towards chapters and resources that will match your interests.

You�ll post this assignment to the courseworks discussion, under the category Moby-Dick. You�re responsible for reading all of your classmates� postings, and for posting one comment on a classmate�s posting. As always, please copy and paste your work into a courseworks message, rather than posting your message as an attachment. You may, however, use attachments if you want to post images to enhance your presentation, or you may post the images under class files.