Harold B. Lee Library

Melville: Adaptations and Interpretations

Selected adaptations of Melville novels and stories

The Melville Collection contains copies of several motion pictures adaptations of Moby-Dick, including DVD copies of the 1956 MGM version starring Gregory Peck and the 1998 Artisan Entertainment version starring Patrick Stewart.

Printed adaptations  for stage and screen housed in the Melville Collection include:

Ray Bradbury.  Moby Dick: a screenplay (screenplay for the 1956 MGM movie).  Subterranean Press, 2008.

Call number: Melville Collection PS 2384 .M62 2008

Jan Powell, composer.  Book and lyrics by Ken Stone.  American tales: a musical in two acts. Samuel French, 2009  (an adaptation of Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and a story by Mark Twain).

Call number: Melville Collection ML 50 .P84 A44 2009

Fictional works based on Melville and his characters

Frederick Busch.  The night inspector.  Harmony Books, 1999.

Call number: Melville Collection PS 3552 .U814 N54 1999

Larry Duberstein.  The handsome sailor. Permanent Press, 1998.

Call number: Melville Collection PS 3554 .U253 H36 1998

Sheridan Hay.  The secret of lost things. Anchor Books, 2008.

Call number: Melville Collection PS 3608 .A9 S43 2008

Sena Jeter Naslund.  Ahab’s wife, or, The star-gazer. William Morrow, 1999.

Call number: Melville Collection PS 3564 .A827 A76 1999

Jay Parini.  The passages of H. M. Doubleday, 2010

Call number: Melville Collection PS 3566 .A65 P28 2010

Ted Pelton.  Bartleby, the sportscaster. Subito Press, 2010.

Call number: Melville Collection PS 3616 .E45 B37 2010

Responses to Melville in literature and art

The Melville Collection contains numerous adaptations and interpretations of Melville’s work (especially Moby Dick) in print media, including comic books, graphic novels, artists’ books, and movable books.  These items can be found in the library catalog through a title or genre search.  Other responses include:

Dan Beachy-Quick.  A whaler’s dictionary.  Milkweed Editions, 2008.

Call number: Melville Collection PS 2384 .M62 B43 2008

Robert Del Tredici.  Floodgates of the wonderworld: a Moby-Dick pictorial.  Kent State University Press, 2001.

Call number: Melville Collection PS 2384 .M62 D45 2001

Philip José Farmer. The wind whales of Ishmael. New York: Ace Books, 1971.

Call number: Melville Collection PZ 4 .F229 W5 1971

Robert K. Wallace.  Frank Stella’s Moby Dick: words and shapes.  University of Michigan Press, 2000.

Call number: Melville Collection N 6537 .S72 A66 2000