Ahab's Wife : Or, the Star-Gazer

by Sena Jeter Naslund; Herman Melville

• ISBN13: 9780688171872
• ISBN10: 0688171877
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-09-07
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

"Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last." This is destined to be remembered as one of the most-recognized first sentences in literature--along with "Call me Ishmael." Sena Jeter Naslund has created an entirely new universe with a transcendent heroine at its center who will be every bit as memorable as Captain Ahab. Ahab''s Wife is a novel on a grand scale that can legitimately be called a masterpiece: beautifully written, filled with humanity and wisdom, rich in historical detail, authentic and evocative. Melville''s spirit informs every page of her tour de force. Una Spenser''s marriage to Captain Ahab is certainly a crucial element in the narrative of Ahab''s Wife, but the story covers vastly more territory. After a spellbinding opening scene, the tale flashes back to Una''s childhood in Kentucky; her idyllic adolescence with her aunt and uncle''s family at a lighthouse near New Bedford; her adventures disguised as a cabin boy on a whaling ship; her first marriage to a fellow survivor who descends into violent madness; courtship and marriage to Ahab; life as mother and a rich captain''s wife in Nantucket; involvement with Frederick Douglass; and a man who is in Nantucket researching his novel about his adventures on her ex-husband''s ship. Ahab''s Wife is a breathtaking, magnificent, and uplifting story of one woman''s spiritual journey, informed by the spirit of the greatest American novel, but taking it beyond tragedy to redemptive triumph. "Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last." This is destined to be remembered as one of the most-recognized first sentences in literature--along with "Call me Ishmael." Sena Jeter Naslund has created an entirely new universe with a transcendent heroine at its center who will be every bit as memorable as Captain Ahab.Ahab''s Wife is a novel on a grand scale that can legitimately be called a masterpiece: beautifully written, filled with humanity and wisdom, rich in historical detail, authentic and evocative. Melville''s spirit informs every page of her tour de force.Una Spenser''s marriage to Captain Ahab is certainly a crucial element in the narrative of Ahab''s Wife, but the story covers vastly more territory. After a spellbinding opening scene, the tale flashes back to Una''s childhood in Kentucky; her idyllic adolescence with her aunt and uncle''s family at a lighthouse near New Bedford; her adventures disguised as a cabin boy on a whaling ship; her first marriage to a fellow survivor who descends into violent madness; courtship and marriage to Ahab; life as mother and a rich captain''s wife in Nantucket; involvement with Frederick Douglass; and a man who is in Nantucket researching his novel about his adventures on her ex-husband''s ship.Ahab''s Wife is a breathtaking, magnificent, and uplifting story of one woman''s spiritual journey, informed by the spirit of the greatest American novel, but taking it beyond tragedy to redemptive triumph."Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last." This is destined to be remembered as one of the most-recognized first sentences in literature--along with "Call me Ishmael." Sena Jeter Naslund has created an entirely new universe with a transcendent heroine at its center who will be every bit as memorable as Captain Ahab.Ahab''s Wife is a novel on a grand scale that can legitimately be called a masterpiece: beautifully written, filled with humanity and wisdom, rich in historical detail, authentic and evocative. Melville''s spirit informs every page of her tour de force.Una Spenser''s marriage to Captain Ahab is certainly a crucial element in the narrative of Ahab''s Wife, but the story covers vastly more territory. After a spellbinding opening scene, the tale flashes back to Una''s childhood in Kentucky; her idyllic adolescence with her aunt and uncle''s family at a lighthouse near New Bedford; her adventures disguised as a cabin boy on a whaling ship; her first marriage to a fellow survivor who descends into violent madness; courtship and marriage to Ahab; life as mother and a rich captain''s wife in Nantucket; involvement with Frederick Douglass; and a man who is in Nantucket researching his novel about his adventures on her ex-husband''s ship.Ahab''s Wife is a breathtaking, magnificent, and uplifting story of one woman''s spiritual journey, informed by the spirit of the greatest American novel, but taking it beyond tragedy to redemptive triumph.

Author Biography

Sena Deter Nascund is Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Louisville and is on the MFA faculty of Vermont College. She is cofounder of The Louisville Review and of the Fleur-de-Lis Press. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xvi
Extracts	xvii
Mild Blue Day	1	(9)
The Dirge	10	(3)
The Crossing	13	(4)
Reverie	17	(3)
The Window	20	(3)
The Steamboat	23	(5)
The Paddlewheel	28	(1)
The Island	29	(7)
A Difficult Farewell	36	(4)
The Giant	40	(5)
Winters, Summers	45	(7)
New Bedford	52	(7)
Boston	59	(6)
The Petrel	65	(12)
A Storm at Night	77	(12)
The Brightness of Brightness	89	(8)
A Rose	97	(2)
Our Lady of the Rocks	99	(9)
The Return of the Petrel, with Three Letters	108	(7)
A Comb	115	(2)
The Fourth Letter	117	(6)
The Camel	123	(5)
The Sea-Fancy Inn	128	(8)
The Sussex	136	(6)
The Cabin Boy	142	(9)
The Companion	151	(7)
Captain Coffin's Story---Secondhand	158	(7)
A Whaleboat by Moonlight	165	(3)
Captain Morrell's Story---Thirdhand	168	(5)
Captain Ahab's Story---My First Acquaintance with Him	173	(5)
Aloft	178	(3)
``Pardon Me''	181	(4)
Reunion	185	(5)
Revelation	190	(2)
Sea Storms	192	(6)
The Frost Wind	198	(3)
Collision	201	(8)
The Course	209	(3)
The Distance of the Stars	212	(5)
The Sentence	217	(1)
What Do You Fetch for Your Mouth?	218	(4)
The Beginning of the Debate	222	(2)
Father and Son	224	(1)
The Human Animal	225	(1)
The Alba Albatross	225	(6)
Ganglion	231	(2)
Postscript on the Above	233	(1)
Soaring	233	(2)
Portrait of a Virgin Listening	235	(1)
Icarus	236	(6)
The Test	242	(2)
The Funeral	244	(2)
The Contest	246	(3)
I Am Married	249	(4)
Aboard the Pequod	253	(6)
The Hurricane House	259	(2)
Ahab's Jottings	261	(1)
Kit's Ruminations	262	(1)
Starbuck Introduces Himself	263	(1)
Ahab Overheard	264	(1)
A Letter to the Lighthouse	265	(2)
Poor Kit's a-Cold	267	(1)
Arctic	268	(9)
Ahab in His Cabin	277	(2)
Aloft, the Pequod	279	(4)
Starbuck: Ship's Log	283	(1)
Starbuck Communes with Mary, His Wife	284	(4)
In the Steward's Pantry	288	(1)
Ahab's Comfort	289	(3)
Nantucket--the Faraway Isle	292	(8)
Ahab Prepares for the Next Voyage	300	(11)
Breakfast	311	(3)
Shame	314	(4)
B'twixt	318	(7)
Enter: The Gaoler and the Judge	325	(5)
On the Moor	330	(4)
A Slow Spring	334	(3)
Churches	337	(7)
Baptismal	344	(8)
Fire	352	(4)
Ahab Addresses the Flames	356	(2)
Ahab's Wife	358	(4)
A Sky Full of Angels	362	(4)
Resurrection	366	(4)
The Purpose of Art	370	(10)
The Office of a Friend	380	(6)
Childhood as an Island	386	(3)
The World of Rebekkah Swain	389	(3)
Kentucky Seasons	392	(10)
A Winter Tale	402	(3)
The Burden	405	(5)
The Lantern	410	(5)
Shakespeare and Company	415	(5)
The Guide	420	(5)
Getting Started	425	(2)
Forest Murmurs	427	(13)
In the Cupola	440	(10)
To Summer	450	(7)
Wife	457	(1)
The Mitchells	458	(4)
Vestal Street	462	(7)
Ahab	469	(1)
From Cupola to Wharf	470	(3)
Idyll	473	(7)
The Comet	480	(3)
Frannie's Letter from an Inland Lighthouse	483	(2)
An Angry Letter from Aunt Agatha	485	(2)
Letter to an Inland Lighthouse	487	(1)
The Minister in the Woods	488	(9)
The History of Snow and Restlessness	497	(2)
Altar Rock	499	(2)
Mothering	501	(4)
Chowder Swirls	505	(3)
The Birthing Room	508	(2)
The Leg	510	(3)
Christmas Eve	513	(3)
A Last Glimpse of the Pequod: Christmas Day	516	(3)
The Jeroboam Returns	519	(5)
The First Part of Ahab's Third Voyage After His Marriage	524	(5)
Moon Watch	529	(4)
Letter from Susan	533	(5)
The Samuel Enderby of London Puts in for Repairs at Nantucket	538	(4)
The Distress of Justice	542	(4)
To Siasconset	546	(4)
The Hedge	550	(3)
Journey Toward the Starry Sky, in Present Tense	553	(6)
'Sconset Morning	559	(1)
More of Morning: Tashtego's Feather Makes the Letter S	560	(2)
The Neighbor Beyond the Hedge	562	(7)
The Roar of Guilt	569	(3)
The Return of the Delight	572	(8)
The Perseid	580	(2)
The Woolsack	582	(7)
Letter from Margaret Fuller, from England	589	(3)
Letter from David Poland, Virginia	592	(1)
Letter to Beloved Kin	593	(1)
Letter from Margaret Fuller, from Italy	594	(2)
The Judge's Invitation	596	(1)
Mrs. Maynard's Note	597	(1)
Preparations	598	(1)
Frannie	599	(12)
Liberty and the Dolphins	611	(4)
A Suitable Marriage	615	(1)
What Has Proved to Be a Last Visit	616	(2)
A Song	618	(2)
A Squeeze of the Hand	620	(2)
Una Preaches to the Waves	622	(1)
The Great Fire: June 1846	623	(2)
Reflections on a Wreck	625	(4)
During the Pleasure Party	629	(7)
Celestial	636	(1)
A New Friend	637	(4)
A Sermon Overheard	641	(6)
Plans	647	(2)
Recitation by Beach Fire	649	(6)
Letter from Susan, Forwarded	655	(6)
The Roof Walk	661	(3)
Epilogue	664	(3)
Acknowledgments	667