This is a nautically-minded literature course intended for readers from all disciplinary backgrounds.

What book is an unparalleled extravagance of literary ambition and style, a firsthand observatory of sea and life at sea, a serious natural history of cetacean mammals, an apparently bottomless mirror for American philosophical self-reflection, at once a mythic quest and a white-knuckle adventure story? Or: what book would you bring, if you happened to be an island-bound castaway? You will be one, so buy Moby Dick. Together we’ll attempt to harpoon the Great Book, read for delight, and hope for wisdom in its wake. Beside the White Whale, we’ll collect and examine many other specimens from the literatures of the sea, and assemble a bibliography, an anthology for our pleasure, and a permanent bookshelf for the FHL library.