検索キーワード： 著者 "Herman Melville" すべてのカテゴリー

"‘Breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!’ cried Ahab. ‘Thy hour and thy harpoon are at hand!’" Why does Captain Ahab look like a man who’s being crucified? How did he come by that hideous scar and the false leg made of a whale’s bone? And why is he obsessed with Moby Dick, the great white whale?Ishmael, the new recruit, has other strange shipmates. There’s Queequeg, for instance, covered in weird tattoos and selling shrunken human heads.

Call me Ishmael. These three famous words begin one of America's most epic novels, a tale of one obsessed captain, his doomed crew, and an elusive white whale named Moby-Dick. The massive original, however, can be very hard for young listeners to navigate. This beautifully abridged and adventure-filled version will thrill children and whet their appetite for the complete work - when they are ready to tackle it.

In 1797, young Billy Budd is impressed into naval service. It is a perilous time for a British Royal Navy still reeling from mutinies and marauding French ships. When Billy is forcibly transferred to HMS Bellipotent, he evokes the wrath of John Claggart, the ship's master-at-arms. Claggart falsely accuses Billy of conspiracy to mutiny, a charge that will have a profound effect on the fates of both seamen.

In Manhattan, an elderly lawyer's business is growing. Having two scriveners in his employ, the lawyer advertises for a third to meet demand. Enter Bartleby, a glum albeit quality scrivener. However, the lawyer quickly discovers that something is off with his new employee. When asked to perform any duties outside of writing, Bartleby responds with a canned "I would prefer not to." Soon Bartleby is living at the office and performing less and less at work.

Follow the sound of crashing waves, howling winds, and tolling bells to tales of treason and vengeance, beasts and plague, haunted houses and curses, mystery and murder. These vintage chillers, written by Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, Alexandre Dumas, and Guy de Maupassant, are brought to life by William Johnstone, Frank Lovejoy, Mercedes McCambridge, Eleanor Audley, Lon Clark, and more.

A bored school teacher seeks adventure as a whale hunter. He has no idea that the mad captain of the Pequod is interested in pursuing only one whale - the enormous white beast that bit off his leg! Now it's too late to turn back.

The world-class writers featured in this collection are adept at conjuring the depth of passion that surrounds all stories of love and loss. The short story form is perfect for capturing the uplift and dizzying heights that accompany a new object of affection, as well as the queasy unease and bottomless longing of lost loves.

Billy Budd, a paragon of simple goodness and virile beauty, is press-ganged into the crew of HMS Indomitable in 1797, soon after the mutiny in the British fleet. Billy is popular with everyone on board except Claggart, the master-at-arms, a depraved and wicked man. His malice towards Billy results in a death, a court-martial and an execution at sea.

After spending the summer of 1853 in the Berkshire Mountains, where he supposedly had a real life encounter with a lightning-rod salesman, Melville published "The Lightning-Rod Man". At the end of this short story, the lightning-rod salesman is exposed for the fraud that he is. However, that will not keep his successors from fanning out to the Middle West, where lightning storms abound and farmers are gullible.

Captain Delano is approached on the open sea by a battered-looking ship led by Captain Benito Cereno. Cereno, always accompanied by his personal slave, Babo, explains that his crew was transporting a group of slaves from Africa when their ship was caught and damaged in severe weather. He is polite but always timid and requests supplies for his ship's remaining journey. Captain Delano agrees to help but begins to notice the strange social interactions and atmosphere of Cereno's crew and the slaves.

Pierre Glendinning is the 19-year-old heir to the manor at Saddle Meadows in upstate New York. Engaged to the blonde Lucy Tartan in a match approved by his domineering mother, Pierre encounters the dark and mysterious Isabel Banford, who claims to be his half sister, the illegitimate and orphaned child of his father and a European refugee. Driven by his magnetic attraction to Isabel, Pierre devises a remarkable scheme to preserve his father's name, spare his mother's grief, and give Isabel her share of the estate.

Herman Melville’s tale of corporate discontent, Bartleby, the Scrivener, tells the story of a quiet, hardworking legal copyist who works in an office in the Wall Street area of New York City. The business where he works handles the official financial paperwork of wealthy men. One day, Bartleby’s employer requests he proofread one of the documents he has copied. Bartleby declines the assignment with the inscrutable “I would prefer not,” the first of what will become many refusals.

On a previous voyage, a mysterious white whale had ripped off the leg of a sea captain named Ahab. Now the crew of the Pequod, on a pursuit that features constant adventure and horrendous mishaps, must follow the mad Ahab into the abyss to satisfy his unslakeable thirst for vengeance.

A ship of whalers seeks the large white whale that caused the captain to lose his leg. This audio classic novel has been carefully abridged and adapted into 10 short, easy-to-understand chapters. This format enables listeners of all ages and English language abilities to understand and enjoy the story. This adventure tale is appropriate for children and adults.

Few things, even in literature, can really be said to be unique — but Moby Dick is truly unlike anything written before or since. The novel is nominally about the obsessive hunt by the crazed Captain Ahab of the book’s eponymous white whale. But interspersed in that story are digressions, paradoxes, philosophical riffs on whaling and life, and a display of techniques so advanced for its time that some have referred to the 1851 Moby Dick as the first “modern” novel.(Summary by Stewart Wills)

Narrated by Ishmael, the novel follows the whaling ship Pequod as it sails under the command of Captain Ahab—a man consumed by his relentless pursuit of a massive white sperm whale that once destroyed his leg. What begins as a maritime voyage unfolds into a profound exploration of obsession, fate, nature, and the limits of human will.

In this captivating tale, Herman Melville draws from his own early adventures at sea, weaving the story of Wellingborough Redburn—a naive young dreamer eager for foreign travels and thrilling escapades. As he embarks on a journey aboard the Highlander, a merchant ship sailing between New York and London, Redburn quickly realizes that life at sea is fraught with challenges beyond his imagination. True to Melvilles signature style, this narrative delves deep into themes of class and race, all while capturing the essence of maritime life. (Summary by James K. White)

The life of young heir Pierre takes a dramatic turn when he encounters a mysterious woman who claims to be his sister, leading him on a journey filled with secrets, identity, and unexpected revelations.

Bartleby the Scrivener A Story of Wall Street is a captivating short story by Herman Melville that delves into the complexities of human nature and the modern work environment. First published anonymously in Putnams Magazine in two parts between November and December of 1853, this thought-provoking tale was later reprinted in Melvilles collection, The Piazza Tales, in 1856 with some minor changes. The narrative, inspired in part by Melvilles engagement with Emersons philosophies, resonates with themes of individuality and societal expectations. The story has also been adapted for the screen ...

Discover Mardi, Melvilles captivating first foray into purely fictional narrative. In this thought-provoking tale, he delves into humanitys diverse beliefs, questioning whether one faith holds more significance than another—or if they are merely illusions. Through the protagonists allegorical journey across the South Pacific, Melville offers a poetically existential exploration of religious truths. But is this all that Mardi encompasses? Join us as we unravel the layers of this profound work. (Summary by James K. White)