Moby-Dick

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Just started this ten days ago, deeply enjoying it so far. I see there is a Melville thread, but didn't see any threads for Moby-Dick. I was drawn to it because of its reputation as a complex book, and while its not as maximalist as I was expecting, its still quite rich in technical atmospheric detail, and it even toggles between writing formats, like Ulysses does 70 years later (e.g. between novel format and play format).

Also, I was perusing through wikipedia whereupon I learned that, in the John Huston film adaptation, Orson Welles plays Father Mapple, who gives a sermon in an extraordinary scene early in the story. Has anyone seen the film?

orson-welles-as-father-mapple-in-moby-dick-1956-director-john-huston-novel-herman-melville-scr...jpg
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Chapter 67, a mere two pages describing how a whale is hauled aboard and harvested, is maybe my favorite so far. Will post text later.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
At a weird chapter now where Ishmael is massaging the lumps out of a tub of sperm whale oil, and he enters a trancelike euphoria and begins sensually squeezing the hands of his shipmate who is helping him.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
This book is similar to some of the other maximalist ones I’ve read, in that it involves a comprehensively analytic treatment of some number of cultures or technical domains.

Most of Moby-Dick so far as been first-person discourse about various aspects of whales and the whaling industry, with bits of plot peppered in along the way. Some of this technical detail can be considered exposition, in that provides necessary context for the reader to understand the plot, but most of it is arguably more supplemental in nature. It’s as if the intention is to dramatically enrich the reader’s apprehension of the adventure by fast-tracking their expertise on the subjects involved; as if being cursorily aware of the sperm whales anatomy, the architecture of the whaling ship, the history of sperm whale encounters across the world, the observed behavioral psychology of the whale, etc, will all deepen the drama of the whale attack as a fictional experience.
 

Murphy

cat malogen
Blood Meridian borrows from it - Judge Holden, the whale (hairless), fate, swap ocean for Texas and the border
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
At a weird chapter now where Ishmael is massaging the lumps out of a tub of sperm whale oil, and he enters a trancelike euphoria and begins sensually squeezing the hands of his shipmate wthe ho is helping him.
Question; is his nsne really Ishmael? the most famous opening line of all time says "call me Ishmael" which to me suggests Ishmael is some kind of nicknam or other name he is hiding behind - to me the main thing I take from that first line is that his name, whatever it may be, is not Ishmael... what do you reckon?
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I baptise you not in the name of God but rather I'm the name of The Devil, for I would strike the very sun itself if it insulted me.... @version he beckons, he beckons....
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Also I hate to do this to you mate but I think it's best to tell people this stuff, you've been spelling it wrong the whole time Should be Mopy Dick I'm afraid to say

 

Corpsey.

Well-known member
Chapter 67, a mere two pages describing how a whale is hauled aboard and harvested, is maybe my favorite so far. Will post text later.
That was a great chapter. The procedural quality to it. The encyclopedia bits of the book get a bit tired but that was a good one
 

Ian Scuffling

Well-known member
Is that the try-works? The image of the fire from the stacks is the one that stuck with me the most. Seems that's where all the encyclopedic bits are supposed to lead.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Question; is his nsne really Ishmael? the most famous opening line of all time says "call me Ishmael" which to me suggests Ishmael is some kind of nicknam or other name he is hiding behind - to me the main thing I take from that first line is that his name, whatever it may be, is not Ishmael... what do you reckon?
Yeah his name is Ishmael, but it rarely came up after that first sentence, mostly just in situations where he is talking/narrating about himself in the third person.
 

Ian Scuffling

Well-known member
I don't think there's any confirmation that's his legal name though and there's lots of insights to be made if you read as though it's not
 
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