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Thread: Is This Truly One of the Great Works in English?

  1. #16
    Registered User curlyqlink's Avatar
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    I'm currently re-reading Moby Dick for a book group-- this is my third reading of the novel. It definitely rewards repeated readings... something I'm finding to be true of the Iliad also, which I'm also currently re-reading. I'd say this is a characteristic of great literature.

    Structurally, Moby Dick was ahead of its time. It reads almost like "experimental fiction", abandoning traditional narrative. It's something that can be frustrating at first brush, and takes a little getting used to. But I'm finding that the effort is rewarded; each time I read Moby Dick, I like it better. (Same as with James Joyce or Proust).

    Structurally, Moby Dick begins as traditional first person narration. Then, as the Peqod sets sail, it shifts to an omniscient narrator. We're suddenly privy to other character's thoughts, things "Ishmael" could not possibly know. There is an interlude of theatrical prose, complete with stage directions, and then the non-fiction encyclopedia stuff, and we're off into the stratsophere....

    Taken as a whole, though, Moby Dick remains a very traditional novel. The whale-ship is a microcosm, a sounding board on the nature of man, justice and laws, democratic (and other) government of men, religion, and speculations on Nature itself. It reminds me of Victor Hugo and his great "trilogy" of novels on the subjects of Religion, Nature, and the Law: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Toilers of the Sea, and Les Miserables, respectively.

    And as for his method, what Melville does in Moby Dick is not all that much different from what Balzac did-- Balzac often got quite specific in his novels on the nitty-gritty of society and economy, matters normally outside the scope of fiction. For instance, the business of paper manufacturing in Lost Illusions.

    So I think the "digressions" upon the natural history of the whale are not really digressions at all (though they sure seem that way at first...) They simply bring the arena of Nature within the compass of this rather all-encompassing novel. Something novelists, and other artists, have often done.

  2. #17
    Wälsung Sieglinde's Avatar
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    Well, it's a slow book. But reading is not about speed and action on the first place. I'm re-reading it now, for the first time in English, and I don't find it that "hard" to read.

    I see the humour better as in translations. And damn, I love the Ishmael/Queequeg subtext. And I like Starbuck - he's the most "normal" character aboard.

    But yes, I admit to love Billy Budd way more than Moby Dick. Not because it's shorter, but its theme grabs you and doesn't let you go. MB is a slow-paced epic, BB is a tragedy which has very few plot-stopping things. And they are all nececcary. And BB's characters are just more lovable. Captain Vere needs a hug.

    As for "listening" BB: forget the audio books. Listen the OPERA. It's badass, and if anyone, Britten understood all the subtext. (And by subtext, I mena slashiness.)

  3. #18
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    A voyage of discovery

    Besides all the intended symbolism of the great white whale, it seems evident to me that Melville intended to introduce the reader to whaling just as much Ishmael, the former merchant marine hand, is being introduced to it. The cadence of a 3-4 year voyage is depicted by the slow chronicle that with encyclopedic asides introduces us, the reader, into this world and let us participate in the hunt. For one, I could hardly wait for the call of "There she blows" breaking with all excitement the every-day routine of days at sea. It is this same monotonous rythm that allows us to get to know piecemeal the crew of the Peaquod. This kind of work harks to a slower paced literary enjoyment unencumbered by the MTV-gen time span or comic book visual narrative. Like other parsed works of great literature [Rememberance of things past - comes to mind] character is revealed hapenstance in bits and pieces, and together with it the general ambiance of an alien time and world. At the end of this voyage you, the reader, come out as expert a whalemen as Ishmael became. You become he.

  4. #19
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    Good point about Melville writing with a greater knowledge but assuming the ego of a narrator with lesser knowledge. I am reading Moby Dick for the first time, after hearing for years that it is one of the greatest works of American literature. I agree with Max that a lot of editing regarding whaling might make the book more readable.

    I am wondering if anyone knows if Melville really believes what he says about animals becoming extinct. In chapter 106 the narrator compares whales to elephants saying elephants are not extinct and will never be, but just before that he wrote about the extinction of the American bison. I am looking for further knowledge or critical analysis about this work.

  5. #20
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    mellville rocks

    [QUOTE=country doctor;610794]i like how he ends many of his chapters with such emphatic statements addressed to the reader. QUOTE]

    I do know what you mean. Those are some of my favorite parts.

  6. #21
    Registered User Buddha Frog's Avatar
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    I have to agree with everyone who described reading this book as a chore. It has taken me most of this year to read it and perserverance was certainly the product of a sense of duty at times. The page-turning interest generated by the first (land-lubbing) chapters was not fully rekindled until very late into the book.

    Having said that, I actually quite enjoyed Ishmael's lengthy discourse on, and categorisation of cetaceans. I know it could be argued this type of (pseudo) scientifical digression has no place in a novel, as it contributes nothing to the dramatic progress of the tale. However, the beauty of what I would call classic literature is that no stone is ever left unturned. The 'facts' (and Ishmael's ignorance of the Blue Whale - the largest creature ever to have lived - did provoke a smile) serve to add depth to the novel. Without the efforts Melville takes to illustrate the magnitude of the Sperm Whale, I think many people's appreciation of the actual chase of MD, and the destruction he creates, would have been hampered. This would particularly have been true in times gone by when you or I would have no real concept of how truly enormous a whale can be.

    Many ideas expressed in the novel have contributed to its recognition as one of the classics. I think the novel overcomes its flaws to be worthy of its lofty status, although I am looking forward to the day I re-read it, and find more in some areas of the book I found less rewarding on my first read.

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