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As I'm re-reading Moby Dick, I have formed ipinion about the novel, and that opinion is that it's the greatest piece of American literature that I've ever read. It's so dense, so beautiful, so dark, so funny . . . just so great.
So, what do you think?
People complain aboout the disquisitions on cetology and the whaling industry and though both are superfluous to the story proper, the quality of Melville's prose, which is only equaled by Hawthorne in American letters, justifies the indulgences. The greatest American novel ever? I wouldn't dispute it as it's a good a candidate as any.
The cetology and other purely didactic sections of the book are challenging, as are several other slow parts. With the cetology chapter, we also get other boring chapters, such as the description of the mast-heads. What most people don't get is how these sections are how these sections are a joke. The humor is subtle and easy to miss, but once found is so glaringly hilarious that you wonder how you first missed it. Bottom line: Melville is screwing with us, and its brilliant.
And, as a caveat, you must take my claim as it being the greatest ever with a grain as salt, as my claim carries no weight; it is merely my opinion. Add to that I haven't read all American novels, so I can't definitively say.
The thing about Melville I found most funny is how the reading public thought Typee was fiction on account of its favorable portrayal of cannibals. (Typee was a true account.) The same reading public believedOmoo, which was pure fiction, was a true account.
^ Often the truth is weirder than the fiction (how many ways can you find to make that not sound like a cliche???)
Moby is a good book, but so are Huckleberry Finn (which humour also increases upon re-reading), Bury my Heart and Mohiccans, Red Badge and White Noise, Secret History and The Road - and honestly so many in different categories that to say 'the one' is such a such a such a...
Whenever I read a good new book, I tend to think it's the 'best', as does everyone, until the next best comes along to blow your mind all over again in completely different ways
Just have a pantheon of those ten thousand that must be read before you hit the great big library in the sky
Does anybody have one of those keyboards with the blue glowing letters?
p.s. I voted that it was a good book because no-one else had, otherwise I would have gone up a notch
I made this thread in the full realization that there is no way to point to one book and definitively say, "That's the best, end of story." It's just a matter of opinion, and fun to kick around. I do think MD should be in the list of contenders, though.
I'm curious to the ones who won't take the plunge into the greats category, what book would you place in the top spot?
And I have one of those keyboards, MM. It's super-cool.