It is the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships cables and hawsers A Polar wind blows through it, and birds of prey hover over it So Melville wrote of his masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history In part, Moby Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and da It is the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships cables and hawsers A Polar wind blows through it, and birds of prey hover over it So Melville wrote of his masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history In part, Moby Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself But than just a novel of adventure, than an encyclopaedia of whaling lore and legend, the book can be seen as part of its author s lifelong meditation on America Written with wonderfully redemptive humour, Moby Dick is also a profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.