I really liked Moby Dick. I read it for my American Lit class in college, which was focused on captivity narratives. Strangely enough, my favorite parts were probably the long digressions, because, as Hec points out, they deepen the metaphors. "The Whiteness of the Whale" is fucking brilliant.
'Dear Diary, Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy.' 'Today, we were kidnapped by hill folk never to be seen again. It was the best day ever.'
Jayne ,'Safe'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Polter-Cow - Jun 17, 2005 9:28:05 am PDT #7936 of 10002
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
P.M. Marc - Jun 17, 2005 9:31:34 am PDT #7937 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear
I have not read the whale book. I should. I've read other Melville.
Kathy A - Jun 17, 2005 9:37:11 am PDT #7938 of 10002
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I liked Billy Budd. I might have to revisit MD, just to give it a read outside of the classroom requirement.
Matt the Bruins fan - Jun 17, 2005 10:11:16 am PDT #7939 of 10002
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
I have not read the whale book. I should. I've read other Melville.
Having lost many hours of my life that I can never get back to the quintessential boredom of Billy Budd and Bartleby the Scrivener, I can't imagine this encouraging you to read more rather than conditioning you against it.
Nutty - Jun 17, 2005 10:46:07 am PDT #7940 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
I've read "Bartleby the Scrivener" and "My Kinsman Major Molineux." I always meant to get to Typee and haven't; I think it's in the queue right after the rest of Joseph Conrad.
I saw the 1960s movie of Billy Budd, and am reliably informed that the book version can't possibly compete with Terence Stamp's girlish loveliness.
P.M. Marc - Jun 17, 2005 11:07:57 am PDT #7941 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear
I saw the 1960s movie of Billy Budd, and am reliably informed that the book version can't possibly compete with Terence Stamp's girlish loveliness.
Sadly, this is true.
Ginger - Jun 17, 2005 12:08:55 pm PDT #7942 of 10002
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I've read a good chunk of Melville, and Billy Budd is the one thing I really disliked. Typee and the other Polynesian novels are fun, but nothing like Moby Dick, which is why his audience was more than a little miffed by Moby Dick. They were expecting more fun with native girls and got a grand, overwhelming, psychedelic mass of words carried on a sea of whale blubber.
("My Kinsman, Major Molineux" is by Melville's very good friend, Nathanial Hawthorne. They'd both be flattered by the confusion.)
Amy - Jun 17, 2005 12:14:27 pm PDT #7943 of 10002
Because books.
The only Melville I liked was Bartleby the Scrivener.
t /Melville heretic
ChiKat - Jun 17, 2005 12:16:49 pm PDT #7944 of 10002
That man was going to shank me. Over an omelette. Two eggs and a slice of government cheese. Is that what my life is worth?
Standing with AmyLiz's heretic corner.
Sophia Brooks - Jun 17, 2005 1:00:21 pm PDT #7945 of 10002
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here