I'll just stake my claim here on, The Point of the Tangents: What Melville wants to do is immerse you as deeply into the world and culture of whaling as he experienced it. So that the metaphors of whaling have a deeper resonance. What it all means to you is roughly what it would mean to a whaler of that era. The facts, the industrial grind of it, the lore all factor in.
Why is this important? Melville exploits one of the distinguishing traits of the novel - it's length. And one of the things you can do with that length is convey a great depth of knowledge. And he leverages that to make the story payoff in a way that a shorter story can't.
It's not unlike the Long Con narrative strategy used by Simon. There's much immersion so that the action rings louder. With Simon you know how the drug business works, so you understand what ever gesture and betrayal really means.
Plus, in Moby Dick there's all kinds of slash and Ahab is AWESOME and the action scenes at the end are thrilling. Plus also he throws a random play into the middle of it. With lots of rich, Shakespearean language.
I only made 250 pages until it was due back at the library. It was okay, but I can see how it would get very repetitive. I'll finish it for my quest book.
ETA:
Don Quixote.
Not
Moby Dick.
'Cause
Moby Dick
is awesomecakes.
So I'm probably going to re-read it after I read "Catching Fire". Much looking forward to that. Loved it. SO awesome.
I liked it, but not as much as
The Hunger Games.
I felt it was more of a placeholder in the trilogy, setting up the final novel and not a complete story unto itself.
Moby Dick is David Simon's favorite novel
I share this with the man. Plus The Wild Bunch. And yet I doubt I could converse intelligently with the guy.
I liked it, but not as much as The Hunger Games. I felt it was more of a placeholder in the trilogy, setting up the final novel and not a complete story unto itself.
Ooh, dang. Cause I loved Hunger Games. Is the third one out yet? Or announced? I should go look for that so I'm on the library list ASAP even if it isn't...
I think it is September. It's not in the SF library catalog yet.
I'm 191st on the list in Seattle. :) What can I say? We're a literate town, that likes to use the online catalog.
Okay, I adored it at the time. But it's been 20 years.
Wolfing good book!
ION, I've started Warren Ellis's Crooked Little Vein. It's hilarious so far, but so very, very wrong. WE is a sick, twisted fuck. I mean, really,
Godzilla Bukkake
in the first 40 pages? WTF?
Whitefonted because 1) might be a plot point and A) really disturbing (though hilarious in a sick way).
I read Moby Dick for the first time last year and loved it, but I'll admit to skimming through the catalogue of whales. I understand the point of it, but...so many whales...
Most of the "I have to explain this process to you in great detail because otherwise you won't understand this minor thing that happens later on" digressions are fantastic if only because of the writing. And the Fuck You Darwin, Whales Are Fish bit that kicks off the catalogue of whales is great. But after three or four whales, I think Melville's point is made and the rest of that section can be safely skimmed.
It's neat trying to figure out what makes an infodump tangent a slog vs a fascinating digression - in Les Miserables I love the Paris sewer system chapter but have yet to get through Waterloo. Anathem was one of my favorite books of the last decade, but I had no desire to keep going with the Baroque Cycle after Quicksilver.
I think I need to re-read Moby Dick. Maybe skipping the infodump parts. Because I remember it as a fine novella screaming to escape from a too-much novel.
