Bøker av Herman Melville

Ismael, el único superviviente del ballenero Pequod, nos explica la obsesión del capitán Acab para capturar la gran ballena blanca, Moby Dick. El capitán, un hombre de casi sesenta años, lleva más de cuarenta en el mar. Infatigable cazador de ballenas, un día se enfrenta al terrible cetáceo blanco y, durante la lucha, pierde la pierna.La ballena blanca se convierte en su obsesión, desea darle el golpe final a toda costa. Con este objetivo, inicia una larga travesía final. Sin embargo, no dice la verdad a los tripulantes hasta que el Pequod ha zarpado, momento en que Starbuck, el segundo comandante de la embarcación, intuye que se trata del viaje final, que la aventura les lleva a la muerte. Sin embargo, Acab no cede y se empeña en perseguir el leviatà.En esta adaptación para jóvenes hemos prescindido de la mayor parte de la exhaustiva información relativa a la caza de la ballena de la obra original, además, hemos aligerado las descripciones psicológicas de los personajes y las reflexiones de carácter filosòfic.El resultado es una aventura marinera épica, en que se presenta un duelo entre el hombre y las fuerzas de la naturaleza, encarnadas por un mar inexorable, donde vive un ser marino poderoso e implacable.

Ismael, l'únic supervivent del balener Pequod, ens explica l'obsessió del capità Acab per capturar la gran balena blanca, Moby Dick. El capità, un home de gairebé seixanta anys, en porta més de quaranta al mar. Infatigable caçador de balenes, un dia s'enfronta al terrible cetaci blanc i, durant la lluita, perd la cama. La balena blanca es converteix en la seva obsessió,desitja donar-li el cop final costi el que costi. Amb aquest objectiu, inicia una llarga travessia final. No obstant això, no diu la veritat als tripulants fins que el Pequod ha salpat; moment en què Starbuck, el segon comandant de l'embarcació, intueix que es tracta del viatge final, que l'aventura els duu a la mort. Tot i així, Acab no cedeix i s'obstina a perseguir el leviatà.En aquesta adaptació per a joves hem prescindit de la major part de l'exhaustiva informació relativa a la cacera de la balena de l'obra original, a més, hem alleugerit les descripcions psicològiques dels personatges i les reflexions de caràcter filosòfic.El resultat és una aventura marinera èpica, en què es presenta un duel entre l'home i les forces de la naturalesa, encarnades per un mar inexorable, on viu un ésser marí poderós i implacable.

Herman Melville (born Melvill;[a] August 1, 1819 - September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. Although his reputation was not high at the time of his death, the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival, and Moby-Dick grew to be considered one of the great American novels. Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits.

Typee is the first book by American writer Herman Melville, published in the early part of 1846, when Melville was 26 years old. Considered a classic in travel and adventure literature, the narrative is based on the author's actual experiences on the island Nuku Hiva in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands in 1842, supplemented with imaginative reconstruction and research from other books. The title comes from the valley of Taipivai, once known as Taipi. Typee was Melville's most popular work during his lifetime; it made him notorious as the "man who lived among the cannibals".

Redburn: His First Voyage is the fourth book by the American writer Herman Melville, first published in London in 1849. The book is semi-autobiographical and recounts the adventures of a refined youth among coarse and brutal sailors and the seedier areas of Liverpool. Melville wrote Redburn in less than ten weeks. While one scholar describes it as "arguably his funniest work", scholar F. O. Matthiessen calls it "the most moving of its author's books before Moby-Dick".

Pierre; or, The Ambiguities is the seventh book by American writer Herman Melville, first published in New York in 1852. The novel, which uses many conventions of Gothic fiction, develops the psychological, sexual, and family tensions between Pierre Glendinning; his widowed mother; Glendinning Stanley, his cousin; Lucy Tartan, his fiancée; and Isabel Banford, who is revealed to be his half-sister. According to scholar Henry A. Murray, in writing Pierre Melville "purposed to write his spiritual autobiography in the form of a novel" rather than to experiment and incidentally work some personal experience into the novel. Published after the lukewarm reaction to Moby-Dick, Pierre was a critical and financial disaster. Reviewers universally condemned its morals and its style.

"One of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world, closing up its mystery and its tortured symbolism. It is an epic of the sea such as no man has equaled; and it is a book of exoteric symbolism of profound significance," so says the poet D.H. Lawrence in his essay on Moby Dick included in this edition. This unexpurgated edition also includes a real life account of Mocha Dick by Jeremiah N. Reynolds, from which Melville was partly inspired.