Helen Plum Library

A nineteenth-century tale of life aboard a New England whaling ship whose captain is obsessed with the pursuit of a large white whale

Up from the Depths tells the interconnected stories of two of the most important writers in American history-the novelist and poet Herman Melville (1819-1891) and one of his earliest biographers, the literary critic and historian Lewis Mumford (1895-1990). Deftly cutting back and forth between the writers, Aaron Sachs reveals the surprising resonances between their lives, work, and troubled times-and their uncanny relevance in our own age of crisis....

"Evangeline Hussey has made a home for herself on Nantucket, though she knows she is still an outsider to the island's small, close-knit community, one that by 1849 has started to feel the decline of a once-thriving whaling industry. Her husband, Hosea, and the life they built together, was once all she needed-but now Hosea is gone, lost at sea. Evangeline is only able to hold on to his inn, and her place on the island, by employing a curious gift...

"Consumed by an insane rage, Captain Ahab ... has but one purpose in life--revenge on Moby Dick, the great white whale who maimed and disfigured him."--Container

Each volume provides discussions of the literary and historical background of novels from various cultures and time periods. Includes concise synopses of plot, characters and themes, a brief author biography, discussion of the story's cultural and historical significance, and excerpted criticism.

Presents vital information on the most-studied short stories at the high school and early-college levels. Each entry contains author biography, plot summary, characters, themes, style, historical context, critical overview, and criticism.