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Moby Dick, Herman Melville’s classic nineteenth-century novel. It’s long, full of neologisms, encyclopedic, and “overwrought” if you believe one former American Lit survey student. In the age of fifteen-second TikTok videos, how can we get students to appreciate what one critic calls Melville’s mighty book? May we suggest layering in a few JSTOR Daily stories, a few images and objects from collections found on JSTOR, and focusing on sperm whaling in the United States. Links from JSTOR Daily to all content on JSTOR are free as usual. Call us prepared.
“Turner’s Whaling Pictures,” by Alison Hokanson Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin , Spring 2016, Vol. 73, No. 4, Turner’s Whaling Pictures (Spring 2016), pp. 1-2, 4-47.
IMAGES RELATED TO WHALING, HERMAN MELVILLE, AND MOBY DICK
Paintings of Whaler Ships
Whalers by Joseph Mallord William Turner, c. 1845The Whaler by Gordon Grant. Walter Reed illustration Archive on JSTOR
Whale Skeletons, Bones, Teeth
Students can understand the size of a whale from preserved skeletons and teeth.
The 1904 World’s Fair, St. Louis, Missouri: The US Government Building: Natural History Exhibit Featuring a Whale Skeleton and Life-Sized Whale Model, 1904Median Sagittal section of a whale’s tooth
Whale Oil Lamps
Whale Oil Lamp made from lacy pressed glass, 1825-1850Whale Oil Lamp made of blue free-blown glass, 1830-60Small albarello drug jar for spermaceti, Italy, 1701-1800
Objects That Use Whale Parts
A corset made of silk, cotton, and whale bone, 1891Queen Chess Piece made of “Whale Ivory,” 13th CenturyA scrimshaw sperm whale tooth owned by John Wesley Cromwell. The tooth is etched with a patriotic scene. 1800-1850
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