Moby-Dick: Setting sail on the Pequod in 2006

Not Quite Cliffs Notes

2006-08-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

This is not a new book (copyright 2000), but I just came across it: The 5-Minute Iliad and Other Instant Classics: Great Books for the Short Attention Span. It provides a fun little take on a number of pieces of classic literature. I’ll have to read it to refresh myself about those I’ve already read and familiarize myself with those I haven’t.

Moby-Dick is condensed to 10 pages. I think it might have been especially useful to have had this as an alternative for those who got stuck on the “Cetology” chapter. In this version it—along with a few other chapters, I believe—reads thus:

The whale is a gigantic sea creature with a big head at one end and a great thick tail at the other. It is therefore a fish. Like us, the whale has warm blood and lungs; unlike most of us, the whale swims about in the watery depths of the ocean and breathes through the top of its head. There are different kinds of whales in different parts of the world. The most commonly hunted are the Right Whale of the North Atlantic and the Norway Right Whale. There are also Nearly Right Whales, Technically Right Whales, Slightly Erroneous Whales, Simply Wrong Whales, and a thousand other varieties besides. They have lots of blubber, which can be made into oil, and also ivory, and meat, and some of them, ambergris. Ambergris is used as a skin lotion by many islanders of the South Seas, as an aphrodisiac by many Asian, as jewelry by some Australian aborigines, and an excellent plaque-fighting toothpaste in the Americas.

Something in this slippery world that can hold

2006-08-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

Hey shipmates...I'm gearing up for my presentation at NEKLS Tech Day '06. I'm talking about how to use techie tools to enhance and encourage book lust in patrons, friends, and family, and I'm featuring our M-D blog.

And then I remembered that I only posted my New Bedford trip photos to my Queequeg's blog. How foolish of me.

Mr. Sprinkles, Larry & I had a great time walking the streets and seeing the sites that Melville walked and saw. Photos of whales, ships, Moby-Dick/whaling-inspired tourist spots, history, and Mr. Sprinkles are all up on Flickr.

After reading M-D so many times, it was fantastic to actually be in New Bedford--and stay inches from the river that first launched HM into the world of whaling. It's odd how comforting it is to visit places HM visited and wrote about 150+ years ago. It makes the world feel strangely stable. As Ahab says, "I like to feel something in this slippery world that can hold, man."

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

To Kill a..

2006-04-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

The new blog is up. Check it out here.

The next book...(I'm sick of comments)

2006-04-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry...sick of posting comments...here are some options from me...

Arthur & George (by Julian Barnes) --yeah...this just came out, but it's sitting on my coffee table, and it's longing for me...

To Kill a Mockingbird

Great Gatsby (I've listened to it, but never read it all...plus I love F.Scott)

Anything by Hemingway, Anything (really, anything...I've only read his short stories...and I love him)

Invisible Man

What I will NOT read: anything by Virgina Woolf (I've read too much already by her, and I've never liked any of it), anything by Dickens (ditto on Woolf), anything by Hunter S. (again, ditto...)

My List (What to Read Next)

2006-03-31T18:14:00.000-08:00

OK, I've come up with a list of authors/titles that I would like to read, but might not without some extra motivation. It's random and off the top of my head, so I'm sure there are other things I would enjoy that I've left off. And it's slanted pretty heavily toward the 20th century. I'm going to put the actual list as a comment so you can come up with your own before seeing mine and being influenced by it. And then add yours as another comment, of course.

Arr! Is that the weathered Pequod coasting into harbor?

2006-03-23T11:32:00.000-08:00

So, what's next? Is anyone interested in turning this into a real book club? Here are my votes. Tell me what you want.

Henry V (for Shakespeare in the Park)
LotR Trilogy
The Hobbit
One of those Jane Austen books or other 'classics'

Redbeard, 89-117

2006-03-19T19:17:00.000-08:00

We just had the MD post-reading discussion at the delicious Jazz: A Louisiana Kitchen. Strawberry Fist, Her Grace, Her Grace's husband (who will now be referred to as His Grace), Her Grace's mom, Kelly, and I were all in attendance. In this post and the next one, I will finish my notes from this reading of Moby Dick.

From Chapter 89 - Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish:

"A Loose-Fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it." "..What at last will Mexico be to the United States? All Loose-Fish"
I thought this was an interesting point of view. You've got to remember that in 1851, the US was acquiring territory and new states pretty regularly. I wonder if we will eventually incorporate Mexico, too.

From Chapter 90 - Heads or Tails:

"Ye tail is ye Queen's, that ye Queen's wardrobe may be supplied with ye whalebone". Now this was written at a time when the black limber bone of the Greenland or Right whale was largely used in ladies' bodices."
The things women do for fashion. Imagine getting into one of these things and having your chambermaid lace you up. In order to have the 'perfect' figure, you would be subject to anything from fainting fits to miscarriage.

From Chapter 93 - The Castaway:

"So, though in the clear air of day, suspended against a blue-veined neck, the pure-watered diamond drop will healthful glow; yet, when the cunning jeweller would show you the diamond in its most impressive lustre, he lays it against a gloomy ground, and then lights it up, not by the sun, but by some unnatural gases. Then come out those fiery effulgences, infernally superb; then the evil-blazing diamond, once the divinest symbol of the crystal skies, looks like some crown- jewel stolen from the King of Hell."

This is still the case today. Diamonds do look more fiery in flourescent light, even those of poor quality. Melville has taught us budding jewelry-buyers something useful. Make sure you view your gems, diamonds in particular, in natural light before you buy it. Diamonds of lower color quality (like yellow) are often placed under slightly blue fluorescence to make them look whiter.

And fluorescing diamonds do look very cool (like crown-jewels stolen from the King of Hell) under blacklights. Like a white shirt at a dance club.

From Chapter 96 - The Try-Works:

"Wrapped, for that interval, in darkness myself, I but the better saw the redness, the madness, the ghastliness of others. The continual sight of the fiend shapes before me, capering half in smoke and half in fire, these at last begat kindred visions in my soul.."

When I read this passage, I thought of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. All of those shadows on the cave wall.. However frightening they are to you, if it's all you know, then there's some comfort in it. Not an exact parallel, I know, but a tangent.

From Chapter 109 - Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin:

"Let the owners stand on Nantucket beach and outyell the Typhoons. What cares Ahab?"

Haven't we all felt this way about the people in charge of us at times? I know I have. And what a good way to put it, Ahab.

From Chapter 113 - The Forge:

"No, no - no water for that; I want it of the true death-temper. Ahoy, there! Tashtego, Queequeg, Daggoo! What say ye, pagans! Will ye give me as much blood as will cover this barb?" holding it high up. A cluster of dark nods replied, Yes. Three punctures were made in the heathen flesh, and the White Whale's barbs were then tempered.

"Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!" deliriously howled Ahab, as the malignant iron scorchingly devoured the baptismal blood.

This is a wonderfully devilish scene. I'd like to use some of it for a d+d cutscene. There seem to be a lot of rituals to dark gods, and, since I've never actually seen one, it's nice to have good visual ideas to draw on. And, the translated latin: I do not baptize you upon the name of the Father, but upon the name of the devil! Scary.

From Chapter 117 - The Whale-Watch:

"Take another pledge, old man, said the Parsee, as his eyes lighted up like fire-flies in the gloom, - Hemp only can kill thee."

How is it that Fedallah can give these sort of predictions? And how is it that he's actually right? Does he cast auguries or something? I love the sort of mysticism that Melville gives him. I'm sure it's a form of Orientalism, the idea of the other, that was so prevalent during the time in Europe. Melville gives these attributes to Fedallah, and the awe of him to the rest of the crew.

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

Redbeard, 79-84

2006-03-14T12:01:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to get all of my posting done by the big showdown on Sunday. Here's a bit more.

From Chapter 79 - The Praire:

"Human or animal, the mystical brow is as that great golden seal affixed by the German emperors to their decrees. It signifies "God: done this day by my hand".

I love the idea of that passage. I wish people were as forthright about the things they did as Melville alludes to. Sort of like, "my word is my bond" or closing a deal by a handshake. Personal ethics and accountability are things that I place a high value on, and you can be sure that if I tell you I'll do something, it will be done.

From Chapter 81 - The Pequod meets the Virgin:

"I tell ye what it is, men" - cried Stubb to his crew - "It's against my religion to get mad; but I'd like to eat that villanous Yarman - Pull - won't ye?"

Stubb would be a fun guy to get drunk with. What sort of person even thinks of something like this, lets alone says it? Hilarious.

"Oh! won't ye pull for your duff, my lads - such a sog! such a sogger! Don't ye love sperm?"

I know I'm taking this line completely out of context, but.. *snicker*

From Chapter 82 - The Honor and Glory of Whaling:

"..that famous story of St. George and the Dragon; which dragon I maintain to have been a whale; for in many old chronicles whales and dragons are strangely jumbled together, and often stand for each other. "Thou art as a lion of the waters, and as a dragon of the sea.."

That picture on the right is St George and the Dragon, by Rogier van der Weyden (1432). I don't know about you, but this myth must have been really corrupted by this time if it really referred to a whale, instead of a dragon.

I will say this to back up Melville's theory. There is a work at the Nelson that is supposed to depict lions, but since the artist (sculptor) had never seen lions, they came out looking like giant rats.

From Chapter 84 - Pitchpoling:

"Queequeg believed strongly in anointing his boat, and one morning not long after the German ship Jungfrau disappeared, took more than customary pains in that occupation; crawling under its bottom, where it hung over the side, and rubbing in the unctuousness as though diligently seeking to insure a crop of hair from the craft's bald keel."

When you read this, what did you think? Was he actually swimming under the ship and rubbing oil in? Or did he do it from one of the smaller boats?

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

The goal of the chase, illustrated

2006-03-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

Ishmael's and Ahab's quests are different, but similar. Both chase meaning, both are driven by what they don't know and feel they must try to understand. Ahab's just more pissed off about it. Ok, maybe that's a bit simplistic, but there is the idea that if only we could hitch a ride on the whale...or at least what the whale represents--particularly a unique, mysterious, genius whale, we could ride to the bottom of the ocean and back and out, up into the stars, and the ungraspable phantom of life would be a bit more graspable.

Beth Schultz chose this Rockwell Kent illustration as the graphic for her "Unpainted to the Last" exhibit poster in 1995 (that cooresponded with her book of American Art inspired by the M-D). In the Kent illustrated edition, this graphic is in the "Moby Dick" chapter, but I always think that it illustrates the following quote (from Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars.)

"Thus at the North have I chased Leviathan round and round the Pole with the revolutions of the bright points that first defined him to me. And beneath the effulgent Antarctic skies I have boarded the Argo-Navis, and joined the chase against the starry Cetus far beyond the utmost stretch of Hydrus and the Flying Fish. With a frigate's anchors for my bridle-bitts and fasces of harpoons for spurs, would I could mount that whale and leap the topmost skies, to see whether the fabled heavens with all their countless tents really lie encamped beyond my mortal sight!"

A nice collection of Kent's M-D illustrations are available at the Plattsburgh State Art Museum Web site in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Kent illustrated edition of M-D.

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

Surfacing

2006-03-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

I took a few days off to go to my niece's third birthday party. She lives in NY (like our buddy H.M. once did) so on the trip there and back, I had a lot of airport hours to enjoy M-D...here are some of the notes I scribbled as I drank Starbucks coffee, listened to my ipod, and read my favorite book... I omitted some of the quotes that Scott also highlighted, but I also love the Town-Ho story and the comment about the story of M-D being too long a story...

What is meaning, and what do we know?
Yeah, yeah, I know that Descartes covered this, and The Matrix made it popular, but that doesn't mean we have a good answer, or that Melville's questions aren't relevant. The whale lives below the surface, below the world we can see and comprehend, and therefore is all the more mysterious and alluring to us. But as Ishmael explains, the world above the surface alludes us as well.

From The Fountain "...in this world it is not so easy to settle these plain things. I have ever found your plain things the knottiest of all. And as for this whale spout, you might almost stand in it, and yet be undecided as to what it is precisely."

Cannibals and Caretakers, all
I love the constant reminders that we humans are very much part of the natural world, and the natural world is very much us. We are all cannibals. The whaling business is a cannibalistic enterprise. We are also caretakers. In The Grand Armada, when they encounter the pod of nursing and pregnant whales, Queequeg pats the baby whale on the head. Starbuck scratches their backs with his lance. The objects of death are the same objects of affection. The person who wants to kill you might also be your buddy. There is no inherent meaning...only context and contrast. "...there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself."

"It is also very curiously displayed in the side fin, the bones of which almost exactly answer to the bones of the human hand, minus only the thumb. This fin has four regular bone-fingers, the index, middle, ring, and little finger. But all these are permanently lodged in their fleshy covering, as the human fingers in an artificial covering."

"I myself am a savage, owning no allegiance but to the King of the Cannibals; and ready at any moment to rebel against him." Woo hoo!

More from The Grand Armada "...and as human infants while suckling will calmly and fixedly gaze away from the breast, as if leading two different lives at the time; and while yet drawing mortal nourishment, be still spiritually feasting upon some unearthly reminiscence;--even so did the young of these whales seem looking uptowards us, but not at us, as if we were but a bit of Gulfweed in their new-born sight. Floating on their sides, the mothers also seemed quietly eyeing us. One of these little infants, that from certain queer tokens seemed hardly a day old, might have measured some fourteen feet in length, and some six feet in girth. He was a little frisky; though as yet his body seemed scarce yet recovered from that irksome position it had so lately occupied in the maternal reticule; where, tail to head, and all ready for the final spring, the unborn whale lies bent like a Tartar's bow. The delicate side-fins, and the palms of his flukes, still freshly retained the plaited crumpled appearance of a baby's ears newly arrived from foreign parts."

My favorite title of a chapter: "Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars"

A few of my favorite quotes that I revisit like old friends each time I read this:

From Brit: "that however baby man may brag of his science and skill, and however much, in a flattering future, that science and skill may augment; yet for ever and for ever, to the crack of doom, the sea will insult and murder him, and pulverize the stateliest, stiffest frigate he can make; nevertheless, by the continual repetition of these very impressions, man has lost that sense of the full awfulnessof the sea which aboriginally belongs to it."

Also from Brit: "For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half known life."

From The Prairie: "I try all things; I achieve what I can."

From The Honour and Glory of Whaling: "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is thetrue method."

And, possibly my favorite quote from the whole book.... from The Tail: "Real strength never impairs beauty or harmony, but it often bestows it; and in everything imposingly beautiful, strength has much to do with the magic."

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

And there was much rejoicing.

2006-03-01T21:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it's finished. Again. Last night, I stayed up past my bedtime and read the last two chapters. They're a doozy.

I've fallen a little behind on my posting things. I've got about 20 different sections dog-eared, places that, when read, caught my eye. What I'd like to do is split it up into about 4 different posts, of five. That way it's not too boring.

From Chapter 54 - The Town-Ho's Story:

"Moby Dick!" cried Don Sebastian; "St. Dominic! Sir sailor, but do whales have christenings? Whom call you Moby Dick?"

"A very white, and famous, and most deadly immortal monster, Don; - but that would be too long a story."

I love this little exchange. It reminds me of someone watching a tv show of someone watching tv. Melville's got Ishmael's telling the Spaniards that the story's too long, and he knows the readers are already right in the thick of it. Clever. It's like finding an easter egg in a software program.

Also, upon re-reading this chapter, I liked it a lot more. The first time I read the book, I couldn't stand it.

From Chapter 59 - Squid:

"What was it, Sir?" said Flask.

"The great live Squid, which they say, few whale-ships ever beheld, and returned to their ports to tell of it."

That'd be a scary encounter. 60-plus feet of flailing tentacles, two monstrous eyes. Yards away from your ship. Added to the fact that you'd never seen anything like it before, and you're hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from the nearest land. Terrifying.

From Chapter 60 - The Line:

"..like the six burghers of Calais before King Edward.."

This is one of the things we learned about in art history. The French town of Calais was besieged by England's King Edward. The people inside were starving. So, the mayor, and five of the other town fathers gave themselves up to save their town. (Something you'd never see today). You can see the expressions on their faces in the Rodin sculpture. Well, Edward was so impressed with their bravery that he spared the town.

"For, when the line is darting out, to be seated then in the boat, is like being seated in the midst of the manifold whizzings of a steam-engine in full play, when every flying beam, and shaft, and wheel, is grazing you. It is worse; for you cannot sit motionless in the heart of these perils, because the boat is rocking like a cradle, and you are pitched one way and the other, without the slightest warning.."

A bit of foreshadowing. Hemp's the only thing that can kill him now.

From Chapter 64 - Stubb's Supper:

"Whale-balls for breakfast - don't forget."

Stubb's conversations with the cook, Fleece, are hilarious to me. Maybe it's the way the cook has of speaking. It could be the way he has to follow Stubb's orders, or even his general attitude, but I can see why Melville could be seen as a humorist after reading this.

Chapter 77 - The Great Heidelburgh Tun:

Quoin. I have no idea what this looks like. Google images tells me it's some sort of architecture term for the corners of masonry buildings, but that can't be what Ishmael's talking about. Can someone draw one for me?

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

Get together in March?

2006-02-21T19:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, word around town says Ms. S has completed the book. It looks like Degolar is around chapter 64...Redbeard has already finished it once, and is on his second voyage...do you all want to plan a get together of shipmates? In mid-March prior to PLA?

I tell you, the sperm whale will stand no nonsense

2006-02-18T19:27:00.000-08:00

A few random thoughts...

Why can't I forgive Starbuck? I'm sure it's because I'm afraid I'm him. I can't get over the irony that they named a suburban, strip-mall coffee shop after him. Although don't think I don't frequent Starbucks...and I think there is a lot libraries can learn from Starbucks...but we can learn from their mistakes, too...ok...back to the book...

the little lower layer according to Ahab...
"All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event--in the living act, the undoubted deed--there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me."

What is M-D? Everything, nothing, etc, etc...

What M-D is not:
"So ignorant are most landsmen ofsome of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world, thatwithout some hints touching the plain facts, historical andotherwise, of the fishery, they might scout at Moby Dick as amonstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous andintolerable allegory."

I love that Melville wrote a book that has been perceived as an allegory for really almost everything, and even as he's writing, he's all prickly about how readers will perceive his book as a detestable, hideous, intolerable allegory...On one hand he's writing a script-like chapter like the Dubloon where everything is perception, and on the other, he's spewing cetological facts....It's a messy, messy book. Remember this? "A boggy, soggy, squitchy picture truly, enough todrive a nervous man distracted. Yet was there a sort of indefinite,half-attained, unimaginable sublimity about it that fairly froze youto it, till you involuntarily took an oath with yourself to find outwhat that marvellous painting meant." A boggy, soggy, squitchy picture indeed.

Who is the narrator, and is Ishmael a character or just a thin front for Melville, or all that and probably more? On page 280, in The Affidavit, the narrator (Ishmael?), speaking of Capt. D'Wolf, says, "I have the honor of being a nephew of his." In my edition, the footnote says that "Capt. John De Wolf married a sister of Melville's father." Wait...was that Melville speaking directly to the reader?

I love this line...
"yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable--they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness" (Surmises)

I'm pretty sure that in all my previous lives my heart has been broken by sailors of various sorts...I think the only reason I'm happy now is that Larry couldn't be a navy pilot because of his poor eye-sight... oh, and I have to think that there is some significance in the fact that although I love the ocean, I get horribly motion-sick...and everyone who I've ever dated, or you know, married, has never been motion-sick for even a moment. Surely all this is not without meaning...

"aye, chance, free will, and necessity--nowiseincompatible--all interweavingly working together."

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

Redbeard's Progress, 40-53

2006-02-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

From Chapter 40 - Midnight, Forecastle:

"Our captain stood upon the deck, A spy-glass in his hand"

I was reading this line, and I couldn't help but think of the opening theme of Gilligans Island. I'm sure it's unintentional, but..

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, the tale of a fateful trip."

That's the only part of the two that seem to sync up, but interesting all the same.

From Chapter 41 - Moby Dick:

"..half-formed foetal suggestions.."

In my version of the text, the 'o' and 'e' of the text are combined in a ligature (Œ). Thats what those strange letter combinations are called. One mark of well-set type (in my opinion) is if ligatures are present. It means the typesetter (or designer) has taken the time to look for these few letter combinations and use a special character in place of two. (Some design programs do this automatically now, so there's really no excuse for not having ligatures.) So, next time you're reading a book, check those ligatures. Ligatures also occur in fl, ff, fi combinations. There's more here, if you're interested.

And, what a creepy line. To use fetal in that way. Sort of like a dingy, flourescent-lit operating room, in the early hours of the morning. *shivers*

Chapter 42 - The Whiteness of the Whale:

Degolar didn't seem too keen on this chapter, but I liked it. There's something to be said for the color white. I was thinking about how hard white clothes are to keep clean, and even now, a pure white is hard to come by, especially to have it stay in it's pristine form. The idea of whiteness as being for the wealthy makes sense to me that way. They can afford to have their clothes professionally cleaned, and if they start to get dingy, they can just buy a new one.

From Chapter 43 - Hark!

"Hist! did you hear that noise, Cabaco?"
"There it is again - under the hatches - don't you hear it - a cough - it sounded like a cough."
"There again - there it is! - it sounds like two or three sleepers turning over, now!"

What could be down in the hatches? More foreshadowing. Building suspense. Maybe Elijah from Nantucket was onto something.. ghostly shapes. Have you guys found out what's down there yet?

From Chapter 44 - The Chart:

"While thus employed, the heavy pewter lamp suspended in chains over his head, continually rocked with the motion of the ship, and for ever threw shifting gleams and shadows of lines upon his wrinkled brow, till it almost seemed that while he himself was marking out lines and courses on the wrinkled charts, some invisible pencil was also tracing lines and courses upon the deeply marked chart of his forehead."

I love that paragraph. Very visual. You can picture it in your mind, the rocking boat, the growing shadows on Ahab's forehead, illuminating and deepening the furrows on his brow as his mind works with plotting the white whale's course..

From Chapter 45 - The Affidavit:

"Like some poor devils ashore that happen to know an irascible great man, they make distant unobtrusive salutations to him in the street, lest if they pursued the acquaintance further, they might receive a summary thump for their presumption."

Haven't we all known someone like this? Patrons at the library that we see day after day, we know their quirks, but dread getting too familiar because then they'll take an interest in us. Better just to nod as they walk by.

From Chapter 48 - The First Lowering:

"Smuggled on board, somehow, before the ship sailed. (Strong, strong, boys!") in a whisper to his crew, then speaking out loud again: "A sad business, Mr. Stubb! (seethe her, seethe her, my lads!) but never mind, Mr. Stubb, all for the best. Let all your crew pull strong, come what will. (Spring, my men, spring!)"

I love how Starbuck whispers so urgently to his men. To fully capture this, I think you've got to listen to the audio version. But it's such a cool character quirk, the whispering. And it's so fittingly Starbuck.

And, now we know who was belowdecks.

From Chapter 51 - The Spirit-Spout:

"..his turban and the moon, companions in one sky."

Again, very easy to visualize.

And, how about that whale, taunting them for days with his ghostly white spout. Makes you want to find out what happens next. Sort of a subdued chase scene.

Chapter 53 - The Gam:

I think the whole reason that this chapter is in the book is so Melville can explain it someplace and then just use 'gam' in the next chapter without having to stop the flow of the story. An interesting way to do it. Would something like this be done now? Would it be relegated to a footnote, or a glossary entry?

Technorati Tags

2006-02-11T10:59:00.000-08:00

I feel really dumb, but it's taken me this long to realize I had to have an account with technorati before my posts from my other blog would show up there. You should be seeing them now, though.

The mates, gold, and relaxation at sea.

2006-02-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

I would love to be like Stubb, the way Chapter 27 describes him.

He would hum over his old rigadig tunes while flank and flank with the most exasperated monster. Long usage had, for this Stubb, converted the jaws of death into an easy chair.

Completely at-ease in dangerous or threatening situations. I'm normally pretty laid back on the surface, some might say, and I'm glad that I present such a calm demeanor, but inside, its different.

And also, I loved this bit..

"..against all mortal tribulations, Stubb's tobacco smoke might have operated as a sort of disinfecting agent."

On to Chapter 28 - Ahab:

I took the full compliment of art history classes while I was at KU, (and jccc, for that matter), enough to have minored in it, so I thought I'd show you what Ishmael was talking about when he said:

"His whole high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze, and shaped in an unalterable mould, like Cellini's cast Perseus."

The bronze may not have been so weathered when Ishmael gazed on this statue, and I'm sure Ahab didn't tote around the severed head of medusa (like Queequeg with his shrunken heads).

Chapter 30 - Cetology:

This is easily my least favorite part of the book. Maybe, if I was interested in marine biology, it would be good. Maybe not. The only saving grace this chapter has for me is its usage of old book formats. Folio, quarto, and such. Here's a nice little link that explains it all. It's almost as confusing as figuring out envelope sizes. A6, A4, and such.

Chapter 34 - The Cabin-Table:

What a crummy role poor King-Post gets. Wouldn't it be better if he were back among the crew, so he could at least eat his meals in peace, without fear of having to slam down his dinner? But isn't that the plight of all people who get better positions? The simpler times, they think of. And if he wasn't a mate, he'd hardly have his own boat and crew.

Chapter 35 - The Mast-Head:

"In the serene weather of the tropics it is exceedingly pleasant the mast-head; nay, to a dreamy meditative man it is delightful. There you stand, a hundred feet above the silent decks, striding along the deep, as if the masts were gigantic stilts, while beneath you and between your legs, as it were, swim the hugest monsters of the sea, even as ships once sailed between the boots of the famous Colossus at old Rhodes. There you stand, lost in the infinite series of the sea, with nothing ruffled but the waves. The tranced ship indolently rolls; the drowsy trade winds blow; everything resolves you into languor. For the most part, in this tropic whaling life, a sublime uneventfulness invests you; you hear no news; read no gazettes; extras with startling accounts of commonplaces never delude you into unnecessary excitements; you hear of no domestic afflictions; bankrupt securities; fall of stocks; are never troubled with the thought of what you shall have for dinner"

What a dream this would be. Thousands of miles away from the cares of the 'real' world. When Kelly and I were in Maine, such a relaxed feeling came over me, it could have been the most sublime that I've ever felt. I think this is in some small part due to being near the ocean. Most of it was probably post-wedding euphoria, not to mention being with my best friend, but there was something about the ocean that was so relaxing. And, since I've never been on a whaling voyage, this is the only thing I can compare it to.

From Chapter 36 - The Quarter-Deck:

"Look ye! d'ye see this Spanish ounce of gold? - holding up a broad bright coin to the sun - it is a sixteen dollar piece, men. D'ye see it?"

An ounce of gold in 1850 was worth 16 dollars. Since the US was still on the gold reserve back then, this wasn't an arbitrary price. A dollar note would get you a dollar in gold, if you so desired. Anyway, $16 worth of gold would only amount to about 1/33 of an ounce in today's world. Whereas, an ounce of gold is worth $571.60 (as of yesterday, anyway).

Getting underway

2006-01-31T12:29:00.000-08:00

A rather lengthy M-D post follows. Hope you're all ready.

From Chapter 16 - The Ship:

"..in many things, Queequeg placed great confidence in the excellence of Yojo's judgment and surprising forecast of things; and cherished Yojo with considerable esteem, as a rather good sort of god, who perhaps meant well enough upon the whole, but in all cases did not succeed in his benevolent designs."

I think we're getting one of our first bits of foreshadowing here. That's all I'm going to say until any first-timers are done with the book.

"Her ancient decks were worn and wrinkled, like the pilgrim-worshipped flag-stone in Canterbury Cathedral where Beckett bled."

Isn't it humbling to think about the amount of people who must have passed over the flag-stone, for it, a stone, to grow wrinkled and worn?

From Chapter 19 - The Prophet:

"Nothing about the silver calabash he spat into?"

Now I know what a calabash is. :)

From Chapter 21 - Going Aboard:

"It was nearly six o'clock, but only grey imperfect misty dawn, when we drew nigh the wharf. "There are some sailors running ahead there, if I see right," said I to Queequeg, "it can't be shadows.."

Another little bit of foreshadowing.. and then a few lines later, with that weirdo, Elijah..

"But he stole up to us again, and suddenly clapping his hand on my shoulder, said - "Did ye see anything looking like men going towards that ship a while ago?"

Struck by this plain matter-of-fact question, I answered, saying, "Yes, I thought I did see four or five men; but it was too dim to be sure."

"Very dim, very dim," said Elijah. "Morning to ye."

Something's not quite right on that foggy, dim morning. Elijah knows something, but how much? And when will it be revealed to Ishmael and the crew? Also, I love Elijah's 'morning to ye'.

From Chapter 22 - Merry Christmas:

"Spring, thou chap with the red whiskers!"

That's totally me that Peleg's talking about. :D

"Come, come, Captain Bildad; stop palavering, - away!"

Another vocab word, palavering.

From Chapter 25 - Postscript:

"In truth, a mature man who uses hair-oil, unless medicinally, that man has probably got a quoggy spot in him somewhere. As a general rule, he can't amount to much in his totality."

I thought that this was a funny one. So did Degolar, it would seem. As an aside, Kelly and I caught a bit of "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" on tv the other night, and George Clooney's character used hair-oil quite a bit, much to the displeasure of his fellows. (Dapper Dan, if memory serves)

From Chapter 26 - Knights and Squires:

"But were the coming narrative to reveal, in any instance, the complete abasement of poor Starbuck's fortitude, scarce might I have the heart to write it; for it is a thing most sorrowful, nay shocking, to expose the fall of valor in the soul.. ..That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that it remains intact though all the outer character seem gone; bleeds with keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a valor-ruined man."

It is sad, and heart-wrenching to see a noble man fall. Not noble, as in rich, but in quality of character. The same can be said when seeing someone you always knew as strong, and in control, suddenly being dependant on others..

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

Time off from American ambition and unnecessary excitements

2006-01-28T13:51:00.000-08:00

Warning: this is post is rather choppy..but to smooth it out would mean I would have to work, and I promised myself I wouldn't work at anything today...

One of the knocks against M-D (the book, not the character) is that it is about everything, and therefore nothing. Which, I guess, sorta makes it like Web Content....ah...surely this is not all without meaning. Larry (my husband) and I both choose disciplines that are really about everything. (He's Comms studies/rhetoric.) Choosing disciplines that are themselves undisciplined and unweildly seems yet another mark of personal indulgence. It's like a kid standing in front of a buffet of desserts...Everything is too good to pass up so you have to taste it all.

Anyway, this is prescisely what I love about this book. It's about everything. Everything can be seen through its lenses.

For example: American ambition and the unrelenting need for a constant stream of information or, as Melville calls it "unnecssary excitements."

There is a constant theme of the particularly American drive to work more, get more, and relentless pursue a singular goal without regard to cost. Take for example this quote from chapter 35:

"In most American whalemen the mast-heads are manned almost simultaneously with the vessel's leaving her port; even though she may have fifteen thousand miles, and more, to sail ere reaching her proper cruising ground. And if, after a three, four, or five years'voyage she is drawing nigh home with anything empty in her--say, an empty vial even--then, her mast-heads are kept manned to the last; and not till her skysail-poles sail in among the spires of the port, does she altogether relinquish the hope of capturing one whale more."

As I think about the week that just passed where I was completely exhausted, felt like I could work non-stop and still not have everything I needed to have done completed, and where I was constantly turning over work issues in my dreams--all because of my own vanity and my own pursuits, I was particularly interested in the topics of by the discussion of Flask, who never gets to really eat because of the protocol of the captain's table where he's required to be the last one seated and the first one to leave, "Therefore it was that Flask once admitted in private, that ever since he had arisen to the dignity of an officer, from that moment he had never known what it was to be otherwise than hungry, more or less. For what he ate did not so much relieve his hunger, as keep it immortal in him. Peace and satisfaction, thought Flask, have for ever departed from my stomach. I am an officer; but, how I wish I could fish a bit of old-fashioned beef in the forecastle, as I used to when I was before the mast. There's the fruits of promotion now; there's the vanity of glory: there's the insanity of life!"

This is all contrasted with Ishmael's musings on his dreamy meditations high above in the mast-head, and his admission that he "kept but sorry guard" and openly preferred his musings and meditations to the actual business of looking out for whales.

I was particularly interested in the solace he took in being in a "news-free" zone--even pre-Internet." There you stand, lost in the infinite series of the sea, with nothing ruffled but the waves. The tranced ship indolently rolls; the drowsy trade winds blow; everything resolves you into languor. For the most part, in this tropic whaling life, a sublime uneventfulness invests you; you hear no news; read no gazettes; extras with startling accounts of common places never delude you into unnecessary excitements; you hear of no domestic afflictions; bankrupt securities; fall of stocks; are never troubled with the thought ofwhat you shall have for dinner--" Hmmm...what would Herman say about the Internet and our need to be online and swimming in the streams of information 24/7? I'm sure he would be thrilled and horrified; replused and hopelessly attracted.

So, to avoid suffering said fruits of promotion and insanity of life, I spent my Saturday in "vacant unconscious reveries," working out, reading, watching basketball, napping, painting toenails pink, and trying desparately to be "hopelessly lost to all honorable ambition." Now I'm just posting a quick blog entry before I get dressed to go to my friends' annual Burns night. (mmm...haggis and lots of toasts to the lads and lasses!)

P.S. Are you all at the The Quarter Deck (36) yet? It's one of the most vivid chapters of the book, and the one that all the movie versions seem to fixate on. Strangely enough, from one of my earlier readings I noticed I wrote "Henry V" in the margins by Ahab's rallying speech.

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

Queequeg's Innocence

2006-01-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

First I want to apologize for joining the party late and not having a lot of deep thoughts to contribute to this point. I'm finally making a bit of progress (just finished chapter 16, The Ship). But my primary style of reading is just to absorb something for what it is on a first encounter and only go back later, after having the perspective of the whole to consider, to really analyze and/or philosophize, so right now I'm just kind of taking it in. Plus the language is just different enough and the narrative dense enough that it takes all my focus just to keep up when I'm listening to it. It's been interesting having seen everyone else's reactions to parts of the story and then reading them after. I haven't been able to comment until after the fact.

One thing I'm wondering about is that a number of you have said you love Queequeg for his "innocence." Even though he has many other excellent qualities, I'm not sure innocence is a word I would use to describe him. Granted, Ishmael describes him with that word, but he is another character with a specific perspective to take into account. For all of his good qualities, it's important to consider his role as narrator, both in his immediate view that Queequeg is a dangerous savage and his 180 degree turn to the perspective that he's a wonderful fellow. He's still shaped by his Western, Christian, ethnocentrism, and he makes a lot of assumptions about Queequeg both ways. I see Queequeg as someone who must be/have been desperately lonely. He left behind everything he knew and loved--and not necessarily on the best of terms--and has since been a strange man in strange lands. He's probably been feared and ridiculed, sometimes respected, but rarely, if ever, befriended. If his immediate generosity toward and attachment to Ishmael seem extreme, it's probably because no one else has offered friendship in such a way. He's obviously a proud, brave, hard-working, and generous individual (but he does have a temper, as evidenced by his throwing the guy on the docks who was mocking him). But I still don't know about innocent, so I'm curious to know what in the book makes you think that about him (and remember, you can only reference the first 16 chapters :-).

Technorati: Moby-Dick06

the next book

2006-01-24T15:43:00.000-08:00

I know that this is reaching far, far into the future, but I'm going to suggest it anyway. Every summer, at Southmoreland Park, the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival puts on a play. This year, I'm told, it's Henry V. Wouldn't it be a novel idea for us to all read the book, and then go see the play together? Food for thought. Sorry about the non-Moby content.

New Bedford

2006-01-22T13:55:00.000-08:00

I think I remember Erica posting something about going to New Bedford soon for a marathon reading on the docks. While I'm sure I won't go, I would be interested in light of the following:

But in New Bedford, actual cannibals stand chatting at street corners; savages outright; many of whom yet carry on their bones unholy flesh. It makes a stranger stare.

and

But think not that this famous town has only harpooners, cannibals, and bumpkins to show her visitors.

From “The Street” (chapter 6)

I think I've run across a few bumpkins in my day, but I can't remember any harpooners or cannibals.

Moby-Dick06

Cetology

2006-01-22T11:26:00.000-08:00

As you're enjoying the Cetology chapters (because, you know, who wouldn't?), I thought you might want to check out the American Cetacean Society's sheet on Sperm Whales.

You can even listen to a recording of a sperm whale's clicks (this totally gave me goosebumps).

Any theories on the purpose(s) of these cetology chapters?

Technorati Tag: Moby-Dick06

A wayward whale dies and the idea of a boggy, soggy, squitchy picture

2006-01-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

Today, as I was working out at JCCC, I was watching the news coverage of the first whale to be spotted in the Thames since 19something...Now, I log back on to find out that the whale died during the rescue attempt. Sad.

But somehow this reminded me of a thought I had after reading Scott's post.

I love the description of the boggy, soggy, squitchy painting in the entry to the Spouter-Inn. It evokes that feeling you have before creation when you have this incredible sense of what you hope to create, and you still have the hope that indeed you'll be able to create it. Of course, in the end, you don't...it's only half-attained if you're lucky, and you realize that once again the glorious, bone-shaking vision you had continues to elude you.... (hmm...somewhat like hunting for a single white whale through the 7 seas...)

No story was ever finished...only abandoned.

The only hope we have really, is that someone else will be interested enough in the boggy, soggy, squitchy pictures we create to take an oath to find out what our creations mean in the end...

"But what most puzzled and confounded you was a long, limber, portentous, black mass of something hovering in the centre of the picture over three blue, dim, perpendicular lines floating in a nameless yeast. A boggy, soggy, squitchy picture truly, enough to drive a nervous man distracted. Yet was there a sort of indefinite, half-attained, unimaginable sublimity about it that fairly froze youto it, till you involuntarily took an oath with yourself to find out what that marvellous painting meant. "

moby-dick06 (technorati tag)

MD-related current events.

2006-01-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

If Ahab and his compatriots wouldn't have over-hunted..

Right-whales spotted off Texas.

Prairies and Oceans

2006-01-19T05:17:00.000-08:00

Momarita joining the ship reminds me of one of the things I love about M-D: the analogy of ocean and prairie. We're all Kansans in my family...which for us means the prairie is a big thing. (Oh..you all can call her Momarita if you want, but you can also call her Carol...she's a groovy girl....don't worry, you don't need to censor yourself in your posts. She's dealt with me for 34 years--she isn't easily shocked.)

Although I don't remember a specific mention in M-D to the fact that indeed the prairie is an ocean floor (a truth that seems to have much meaning in itself...more on that in a sec), there are a lot of references to the similarities between the rolling ocean and the rolling prairie.

One of my favorites is further up in the book but for those who aren't finished, yet, I'll give you a taste of loomings to come (from the Pacific chapter):

"I could have greeted my dear Pacific with uncounted thanks, for now the long supplication of my youth was answered; that serene ocean rolled eastwards from me a thousand leagues of blue.

There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath; like those fabled undulations of the Ephesian sod over the buried Evangelist St. John. And meet it is, that over these sea-pastures, wide-rolling watery prairies and Potters' Fields of all four continents, the waves should rise and fall, and ebb and flow unceasingly; for here, millions of mixed shades and shadows, drowned dreams, somnambulisms, reveries; all that we call lives and souls, lie dreaming, dreaming, still; tossing like slumberers in their beds; the ever-rolling waves but made so by their restlessness."

I think it would be lovely if the next time someone flippantly dissmisses KS as flat, I would whip out that last paragraph...this is what I feel when I'm driving across I-70...it's the dust of the hidden soul of the ocean, now in memorial. It's the millions of mixed shades and shadows, drowned dreams, somnambulisms, reveries; all that we call lives and souls...the waters have receded but the ocean floor and blankets of sediments of shadows, dreams, lives, and souls are below our feet every day.

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

High Time To Get To the Sea

2006-01-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

I'm joining the blog at the invitation of my daughter, Erica Reynolds. After 11 years of ER distilling every conversation down to its connection to Moby Dick, I thought I should read it. It didn't take me but a few chapters before I felt the need to tuck the book under my arm and carry it about so I could have it near, on the chance of a moment to read, and to read to others who are not fortunate enough to have the book at hand.

Real or imagined (by me), the effects of Melville on society seem to be revealed in every chapter. I'm drawn to stories that have a sense of place. Ishmahl's sense of place is less measured in geographic terms than it is measured by volume. Big water. Ocean. That's the place Ishmahl's soul's drizzly November needed. Works for me, and I think of others who must have been drizzly soulmates. How about Norman McLean who was "haunted by waters" in A River Runs Through It? Must have read Moby Dick.

Carol Williamson

A man cut away from the stake: Enter Ahab....

2006-01-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

It takes 27 chapters peppered with ominous warnings of our ship’s captain before we and Ishmael get to see Ahab in the flesh in his self-titled chapter. I’ve been reading this book off and on, over and over again since 1995, and I always have a different take. And now, I have to admit that I feel a great deal of empathy for him.

I was 23 when I first read Moby-Dick, and in general, I had issues with so-called authority—at the time I was kick first, and ask questions later. At one point, when I was considering an additional tattoo, I specifically remember thinking that I would never accept a job in an organization in which it would be a problem for me to have a visible tattoo. (Of course, at the time, I didn’t have something like Queequeg’s harpooner skills—in the end, I think that most organizations are willing to overlook a few pagan markings, if you have enough talent and expertise ; )

Anyway, when I was in my twenties, I thought of Ahab as this complete tyrant. Someone so obsessed with his own desires and compulsions and unfathomable monomania that he completely disregarded the lives of his crew and company. He was a cruel, heartless monster.

I was right. But now, I also see a more sympathetic side.

I’m not going to make excuses for him, and I don’t even have great explanations, but the descriptions of his physical and mental scars and losses, his obsessive watch on the deck, and his disregard for anything that might bring him the slightest moment of calm almost break my heart.

“And not only that, but moody stricken Ahab stood before them with a crucifixion in his face; in all the nameless regal overbearing dignity of some mighty woe.”

“Ahab was inaccessible. Though nominally included in the census of Christendom, he was still an alien to it. He lived in the world, as the last of the Grisly Bears lived in settled Missouri. And as when Spring and Summer had departed that wild Logan of the woods, burying himself in the hollow of a tree, lived out the winter there, sucking his own paws; so, in his inclement, howling old age, Ahab’s soul, shut up in the caved trunk of his body, there fed upon the sullen paws of its gloom!”

What horrors did Ahab experience that brought him here? Yes, he’s obsessively chasing after the whale that scarred and maimed him, but how does he get to this point? What exactly took hold of him? What seeped into his soul and now bears down with an intolerable, unbearable weight? How is someone able to so completely lose track of everything that roots him to this world and instead turn violently toward a completely futile and ultimately fatal pursuit?

and why does that seem so sympathetic to me now?

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

I'm Coming Aboard

2006-01-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

I finished listening to Anansi Boys last night. I'm planning to pull Moby Dick off the holds shelf this afternoon and start listening to it on the way home from work tonight.

Scott's post and the sub-sub

2006-01-11T18:03:00.000-08:00

Scott "Book of Nature" Vieira has a post on the sub-sub librarian and the technorati tag. He inquires, "back to that sub-sub librarian. I tried Googling this--is there a history to this reference before Melville?"

I don't know if Melville didn't just make up the term. I sorta think so, but it makes sense anyway. It's the whole librarian I, II, III, IV thing that might have even existed back in his time, and a sub-sub is below all of them. I always thought of the sub-sub as a hard-working librarian who stays with the books rather than move into admin...(for better or worse)...Obviously, Melville identifies with these hardworking, passionate, and completely unappreciated folks. Ishmael makes a special point of going to sea as a sailor. The consumptive usher who supplies our Etymology "loved to dust his old grammars." And we have the "poor devil of a Sub-Sub." At least the Sub-Sub is a good librarian and supplies all references without bias...be them "sacred or profane."

Actually, when Beth Schultz (my advisor at KU and my mentor in all things Melville) suggested I should go to library school, we used to joke about the sub-sub thing. It seemed like a nobel life, even it requires talents and virtues I lack (like, you know, patience).

I've linked to Scott V's blog on the side. If anyone else is reading M-D and posting on his/her own blog, be sure to tell me so I can link to it from here, too. And don't forget your technorati tags...sometimes it will take a while for them to be included in the tag stream.....

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

You can not hide the soul...

2006-01-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

How can you not love Queequeg? And although this is a 19th century novel written before the civil war, Queequeg is no stereotypical nobel savage...he's a real guy--a really amazing one--but a real guy nonetheless...he's also Ishmael's friend and hero and mentor...

"a spirit that would dare a thousand devils...a man who never cringed and never had a creditor...Entirely at ease, preserving the utmost serenity; content with his own companionship; always equal to himself."

Oh, and I loved Sarah's post on the importance of friendship and the yummy, intriguing openness that shared darkness prior to sleep provides.

Should we all be so lucky to go to bed "at peace with our own consciences and all the world."

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

Sarah's post on the sermon...(don't forget the Technorati tags for more posts...)

2006-01-08T05:48:00.000-08:00

Sarah is well on her way, and has a really interesting post about the sermon. I think it was Hawthorne who once called Melville the most deeply religious man he had ever known, and Moby-Dick is packed with religious symbolism, metaphors, and questions.

In a letter to Hawthorne, Melville wrote about M-D, "I have just written an evil book, and feel spotless as the lamb." This is particularly intriguing because we could argue for a lifetime what exactly Melville meant by that--as we could about the book itself. Surely all this is not without meaning, but it's the pursuit of meaning even while knowing that it will forever elude me, and the beauty of the everythingness and nothingness that the text elicits from the whale, the whiteness, the pursuit, the concept of meaning itself, and the sea, that thrill me. I never get tired of reading this book...

Ok, back to the sermon...I'll admit to being a bit of a hedonist, so I can't stand the idea that I'm supposed to deny any of my impulses and urges if they're only about what feels good, and they don't hurt anyone. But of course the measurement of what hurts me or others in the end is the tougher call. Oh, yeah, and I have major issues so-called obedience. I can't type the word without getting icky shivers up my spine, and a bitter taste in my mouth.

That said, would it be better to give up the control, say that you'll follow the rules if someone else makes the decisions for you? It seems tempting sometimes, and so much of M-D is about power, control, and acquiescence. How much control do you really have? How much do you give willingly to others? At what cost do you give control? At what cost do you keep it?

Ms. Handgraaf is posting to Veggienerd, but if you follow the technorati tag link Moby-Dick06, you'll pull all the related posts together (from this blog, other blogs, etc...).

Oh, and in response to Sarah's question about the edition: I'm reading a fairly heavily annotated but old edition of M-D--that was published in '64. The ISBN is 0-672-60971-1. But really, there are a lot of good new editions, too.

(P.S. I don't want to insult anyone's knowledge, but I don't want to leave anyone in the dark, either: if you have any questions about how tags work, or how you add them, just ask Sarah or me. )

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

Enter Queequeg

2006-01-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

When Scott "Shoreline" Sime said he had read M-D, I asked him what his favorite parts were, and he had mentioned the part where Ishmael wakes up with Queequeg's arm draped over him--and I totally agree--I love the thought of two snuggled in like newlyweds.

Many of my favorite lines are in these first chapters--particularly as we experience Ishmael's rollercoaster ride of fear, ignorance, superiority, confusion, and vulnerability. Whenever I go to any kind of so-called diversity training, I think of this chapter, and wish we could read it instead of whatever the presenters have planned—or, really, better yet…we should turn everyone out alone on the streets with ragged boots and a threadbare coat, on a frigid December night in 19th century Massachusetts, point them in the direction of a seedy waterfront hotel, and let them discover they’ll have to share a bed with a harpooner (they’ll find out about the cannibal thing soon enough…)

I like that Melville doesn’t pull punches with his characters. Ishmael’s a great guy and all—and he has a good heart—but he thinks some awfully stupid things, as we all do when we are scared and feel the need to cling to social stereotypes or ideas that might provide comfort when we’re most vulnerable.

And yet, Ishmael figures it out in a few minutes. Whether this is testament to Queequeg’s nobility, kindness, and charisma, or to Ishmael’s openness, loneliness, or quest for knowledge, or all of the above, it’s hard to say. I love that even though prior to Queequeg’s arrival Ishmael couldn’t sleep and complained the mattress must be stuffed with corn cobs or broken crockery, after he gets over his fears and prejudices, and snuggles in with Queequege, he slept oh-so-soundly “ I never slept better in my life.”

“Ignorance is the parent of fear.”
“Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.”

Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)

As we go to sea...

2006-01-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

The first chapters of the book are, in fact, on the shore...and we're headed to New Bedford where we'll really launch...Melville himself sailed out of New Bedford on the whaling ship Acushnet (the anniversary of which is commemorated by the annual marathon readings on the dock).

Here are some options for how we can share our thoughts as we chart our course and chase the big MD:

1. If you have a blog, post away. So that we can find all of our posts, just tag them with Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag).

2. For those who don't have your own blog or would prefer to post in one place, I started this blog. Post away my dears!

3. If you know of anyone else who wants to play, let me know, and I'll send them invites to the blog so everyone can post directly...

"By reason of these things, then, the whaling voyage was welcome; the great flood-gates of the wonder-world swung open, and in the wild conceits that swayed me to my purpose, two and two there floated into my inmost soul, endless processions of the whale, and, mid most ofthem all, one grand hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air."

Ready to set sail?

2006-01-03T18:46:00.000-08:00