Zen and the White Whale: A Buddhist Rendering of Moby-Dick [Paperback]

In Moby-Dicks wide philosophical musings and central narrative arch, Daniel Herman finds a philosophy very closely aligned specifically with the original teachings of Zen Buddhism. In exploring the likelihood of this hitherto undiscovered influence, Herman looks at works Melville is either known to have read or that there is a strong likelihood of his having come across, as well as offering a more expansive consideration of Moby-Dick from a Zen Buddhist perspective, as it is expressed in both ancient and modern teachings. But not only does the book delve deeply into one of the few aspects of Moby-Dicks construction left unexplored by scholars, it also conceives of an entirely new way of reading the greatest of American booksoffering critical re-considerations of many of its most crucial and contentious issues, while focusing on what Melville has to teach us about coping with adversity, respecting ideological diversity, and living skillfully in a fickle, slippery world.Daniel Herman teaches American literature at San Francisco State University and the University of San Francisco.

[Moby Dick is] a text that cannot be contained by any geographic, disciplinary, or ideological boundaries. Yet, Daniel Herman has caught it . . . in simply one of the most imaginative, creative, and fascinating academic works I have read in years. . . . Hermans fresh, invigorating arguments enlarge rather than restrict other possible readings. . . .It is a testament to Herman that his insights and creativity can expand an already seemingly saturated novel. American Studies

Daniel Herman, a professor of American literature and a longtime practitioner of Soto Zen, offers yet another perspective in Zen and the White Whale. Noting that there has so far been no thorough investigation of the parallels with Zen philosophy that exist in Moby-Dick, Herman endeavors to fill that gap by examining the principal characters, scenes, and themes of Moby-Dick through the lens of Zenl\