This course will study Herman Melville’s great American novel, Moby Dick. Roughly half the term will be spent on a close reading and discussion of this encyclopedic work. Reflecting on the book’s expansive reach, the rest of the term will be devoted to a look at issues relevant to its social-historical context and diverse intellectual concerns. These may include such topics as the 19th-century oil industry and the abolitionist movement, literary connections to Shakespeare and the Bible, and many other topics in fields as different as philosophy, art, and biology. Each of these “expansions” will be led by faculty members visiting from other departments and disciplines. Each student will write a term paper and a number of short response papers.
