Comments on: Herman Melville: Moby-Dick

By: Trevor

Trevor — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:02:43 +0000

A nice write-up of Moby-Dick's ill-fated publication at the LOA blog (click here).

By: Trevor

Trevor — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:36:51 +0000

If you haven't already found this (I have apparently been out of the loop), it's great. One Drawing for Every Page of Moby-Dick is Matt Kish's on-going project to creat one illustration for every page of his 552-page signet classic version of Moby-Dick. Very fun to look at. When I write this, he is on page 105, so there's plenty of time to get caught up! On another note, my reading of Moby-Dick has stuck with me more than anything else I've read in a long time, and that includes the fantastic books I've read since starting this blog. When I finished it, I loved it but didn't think I'd go back for a re-read. But I can already feel the call of those magical pages. Truly a remarkable book.

By: Mish

Mish — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:24:22 +0000

I skimmed the assigned whale of a book years ago in high school, but the past year or so it’s been on my mind to give it my full attention. From the discussions I’ve heard and had, it seems to be one of those love it or loathe it books. I’m really looking forward to reading it. Great review.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:26:22 +0000

I read your review of Leviathan, or The Whale, William, and I put it down on my list! I’ve been reading quite a few sea novels this past year, not intentionally, and there’s something I like about them.

By: William Rycroft

William Rycroft — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:27:02 +0000

Fantastic to read this Trevor, I read Moby-Dick before I started blogging, i.e before I started to become a bit more attentive whilst I read, so it is great to read the thoughts of someone who was keeping notes! It is such an immense and amazing book but I fear that I may never read it with a closer eye. Maybe I will but thank you for writing this and reminding me why it is so important. Now that you have read it I cannot impress upon you how brilliant Philip Hoare's 'Leviathan, or The Whale' is. A must-read for you I think. I don't mean to be bossy but sometimes you have to be firm! My thoughts on it are here.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:04:36 +0000

Fascinating stuff, Chris! I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that could be so literal and figurative at once. I missed the “anti-birth” though I did catch some of the significance of the coffin. I think I’m becoming more and more a Melvillian — now I just need to read more of his work!

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:38:30 +0000

Your connection of the two ‘orphan’ passages made me realize that the ‘myth of the eternal return’ theme in the first passage is repeated not just verbally but also in the imagery at the end, with the ship being swallowed up by the sea being a sort of ‘anti-birth’ – and then of course there’s the coffin bobbing up out of the sea afterward. And the opening passage contains something of the same theme as well, with Ishmael in effect continually being drawn back to the sea, with the vague (eternal?) time of “never mind how long precisely” and the connection with Cato. So the book itself has that same structure.

By: Isabel

Isabel — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:12:56 +0000

I am halfway through Moby Dick through Daily Lit. even though he does digress a lot. I liked reading about old Nantucket, how Peter the Great learned about shipbuilding, and how eating lobster bisque was considered breakfast.

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:47:27 +0000

Sure Trevor, the forum is Fictional Woods:

http://z11.invisionfree.com/thefictionalwoods/index.php?act=idx

my nom de plume is *troutbum* the heavyweights there are gentle with philistines like me…

Congrats btw on the member of the Gilier Prize Shadow jury thing. Pretty cool…

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:03:51 +0000

Randy, if you don't mind sharing, what forum is it you frequent? I love WLF (though I haven't set up time in my day to participate like I'd like). I'd like to see what this one is. Dostoevsky is definitely one of my favorites too. Good luck, Claire. I would recommend reading it like I did, a bit at a time, more if the reading is going well. That way, the abundance of whale might not get in the way. Lisa, I totally understand. I'm one who likes that kind of detail in moderation, and it got to me between pages 500 and 625. Most every other part of the book was a joy for me. I particularly liked that Melville could be talking about the whale explicitly but about so many other things implicitly. But I missed the layers in those pages I mentioned above because I was having a difficult time of it, though I'm sure they were there for the picking. Had I not had a goal to read a certain small amount daily (very very doable) I'm not sure how my reading experience would have been. It allowed me to quit if it was getting to me, but it was never overwhelming to pick it up and read a bit the next day. Nadia, you surely can read Ulysses (one of my favorite books -- but, like Moby-Dick, one I can't recommend as readily as I could, say, Revolutionary Road or even American Pastoral). In fact, now that I'm through with Moby-Dick, I'm going to join Team Ulysses for a reread! I'll see you in those posts!