Although only slightly more than a third of the length of War and Peace, Moby-Dick, at two-hundred thousand words, is still a massive commitment. But… if one desires to read with close comprehension, often even with a focused and careful analysis, the text can come alive like few other books.

With that in mind, this novel will span the whole four weeks. At that pace, one will need to commit several hours to this course. Fortunately, it won’t be a chore; it will be one of the most joyful, exciting, and profound literary experiences you’ll likely ever experience. Millions of readers have found this text to be transformative, bewildering, and transcendent. It is perhaps America’s most brilliant literary accomplishment, often cited as the one novel that retired adults wished they had read in school. If you are one of those, don’t worry: Your wish just got granted.

This four-week course nicely translates into four reading assignments, 100 pages each week. Our edition also has 300 pages of critical material, at no extra cost! So, occasionally, we’ll dip into these extra readings to spice things up!

About The Instructor
Lou F. Caton, Professor Emeritus, has taught a variety of literature courses at the University of Oregon, Auburn University, and Westfield State University. Along with articles that have been published in newspapers and journals, he has two books: an edited collection (with Emory Elliott), Aesthetics in a Multicultural Age (2002, Oxford University Press) and Reading American Novels and Multicultural Aesthetics: Romancing the Postmodern Novel (2008, Palgrave-McMillan).