赫尔曼梅尔维尔.pptx
Herman Melville(August 1,1819 September 28,1891)第1页/共15页Herman Melville was a novelist and poet.He was born in a merchant family.His father died when he was eleven years old.He dropt out of school in his fifteen-year-old.He had been a bank clerk,clerical,clerk,farm worker and teacher to make a life.Since 1839,he had been a sailor in a variety of ship.His sailing experience has accumulated a bit thick material for his literature.Form 1866 to 1885,he became a customs officials of New York.He died of illness in 1891.In the early 40s,he started writing novels.His works include Tybee,Mardi,”Redburn”,”White Jacket”,”Moby Dick”,”The Confidence Man”,“Battle Pieces”,“Clarel”and two poems“John Marr and Other Sailors”“Timoleon”.第2页/共15页雷得本第3页/共15页His first three books gained much attention,the first becoming a bestseller,but after a fast-blooming literary success in the late 1840s,his popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime.When he died in 1891,he was almost completely forgotten.It was not until the Melville Revival in the early 20th century that his work won recognition,most notably Moby-Dick which was hailed as one of the chief literary masterpieces of both American and world literature.He was the first writer to have his works collected and published by the Library of America.第4页/共15页Moby Dick was a flop at the time,Moby Dick was a flop at the time,but Melville is remembered as the but Melville is remembered as the American ShakespeareAmerican Shakespeare白鲸在当时是部不怎么受欢迎的作品，但麦尔维尔现在被认为是美国的莎士比亚。第5页/共15页Captain Ahab IshmaelStarbuckQueequegcharacter list第6页/共15页Captain Ahab lthe Captain of the Pequodla grave older manlHe has spent nearly forty years as a sailorlThe novel is essentially the story of Ahab and his quest to defeat the legendary Sperm Whale Moby Dick,for this whale took Ahabs leg,causing him to use an ivory leg to walk and stand.Ahab is a dour,imposing man who frightens his crew through his unwavering obsession with defeating Moby Dick and his grand hubris.In many respects Melville portrays Ahab as barely human,barely governed by human mores and conventions and nearly entirely subject to his own obsession with Moby Dick.第7页/共15页Ishmael l a simple sailor on the Pequod l his role in the plot of the novel is inconsequential l Ishmael is the only survivor of the Pequods voyage,living to tell the tale of Moby Dick only because he is by chance on a whaling boat when Moby Dick sinks the Pequod and is rescued by a nearby ship.第8页/共15页Starbucklthe chief mate of the Pequod la Nantucket native and a Quaker with a thin build and a pragmatic manner lIn appearance,he is quite thin and seems condensed into his most essential characteristics lhis streamlined appearance well suits his attitudes and behavior lAmong the characters in Moby Dick,it is only Starbuck who openly opposes Captain Ahab,believing his quest against the great whale to be an impulsive and suicidal folly.第9页/共15页Queequegla harpooner from New Zealand lthe son of a king lMelville portrays Queequeg as a blend of civilized behavior and savagery l he is uncivilized by the standards of the main characters of the novel,yet Melville finds Queequeg to be incredibly noble,courteous and brave l Melville uses Queequeg as a character in perpetual transition from savagery to civilization,and in the final chapters after he suffers from an illness from which he wills himself recovered,in an uneasy stasis between life and death.第10页/共15页Moby DickMoby Dick is an epic tale of the voyage of the whaling ship the Pequod and its captain,Ahab,who relentlessly pursues the great Sperm Whale during a journey around the world.The narrator of the novel is Ishmael,a sailor on the Pequod who undertakes the journey out of his affection for the sea.Ahab tells the crew of the Pequod to look for a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow:Moby Dick,the legendary whale that took Ahabs leg.Starbuck tells Ahab that his obsession with Moby Dick is madness,but Ahab claims that all things are masks and there is some unknown reasoning behind that mask that man must strike through.For Ahab,Moby Dick is that mask.Ahab himself seems to recognize his own madness.When Ahab and his crew reach Moby Dick,Ahab finally stabs the whale with his harpoon but the whale again tips Ahabs boat.However,the whale rams the Pequod and causes it to begin sinking.In a seemingly suicidal act,Ahab throws his harpoon at Moby Dick but becomes entangled in the line and goes down with it.Only Ishmael survives this attack,for he was fortunate to be on a whaling boat instead of on the Pequod.Eventually he is rescued by the Rachel as its captain continues his search for his missing son,only to find a different orphan.第11页/共15页第12页/共15页Moby Dick is now considered one of the greatest novels in the English language and has secured Melvilles place among Americas greatest writers.Written in 1851,it is the story of Ishmaels whaling voyage.It contains many examples of alliteration,allusion,similes,and metaphors;it also presents an ironic argument against Transcendentalism and the power of man.This book contains reflections of Melvilles own whaling voyages and many collections of compiled whaling knowledge:the history of whaling,scientific whale groups,usage of whaling tools,etc.Altogether this book is a literary masterpiece.第13页/共15页第14页/共15页感谢您的观看。第15页/共15页
