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A review by happylilkt
Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale by Herman Melville
5.0
First of all, I had read excerpts of Moby-Dick. I knew the closing imagery. I knew that it was about whaling. And obsession. And death.
"Now then, thought I... here goes for a cool, collected dive at death and destruction, and the devil fetch the hindmost." - Moby-Dick, chapter 49
But I had absolutely no idea that Moby-Dick was... oh dear, where to begin... a humorous work. A satirical work. A philosophical work. An irreverent work. A Homeric work. A Shakespearian work. A bawdy work.
"There might be quoted other lists of uncertain whales, blessed with all manner of uncouth names. But I omit them as altogether obsolete; and can hardly help suspecting them for mere sounds, full of Leviathanism, but signifying nothing." - Moby-Dick, chapter 32
I really do feel misled! I thought this would be a classic novel of the American Romantic movement. And there are some strong arguments for it, but while there are threads of the Romantic, I don't think that or any genre really can describe this. (It is absolutely shocking to me that it was written in 1850!)
I was led to expect that Melville's tangents would be analogous to those in Les Miserables or War and Peace, but, dear reader, they are not, not, not. Melville uses his tangents to jollify, skewer, satirize, condemn, and, oh yes, occasionally set the stage for his drama. I heard these tangents were boring, boring, boring, but truly they are the best part of the book!
I think this is probably a love or hate novel. A sink or swim one, if you will.
Looking forward to reading this again!
"From his mighty bulk the whale affords a most congenial theme whereon to enlarge, amplify, and generally expatiate. Would you, you could not compress him...One often hears of writers that rise and swell with their subject, though it may seem but an ordinary one. How, then, with me, writing of this Leviathan?" - Moby-Dick, chapter 104
"Now then, thought I... here goes for a cool, collected dive at death and destruction, and the devil fetch the hindmost." - Moby-Dick, chapter 49
But I had absolutely no idea that Moby-Dick was... oh dear, where to begin... a humorous work. A satirical work. A philosophical work. An irreverent work. A Homeric work. A Shakespearian work. A bawdy work.
"There might be quoted other lists of uncertain whales, blessed with all manner of uncouth names. But I omit them as altogether obsolete; and can hardly help suspecting them for mere sounds, full of Leviathanism, but signifying nothing." - Moby-Dick, chapter 32
I really do feel misled! I thought this would be a classic novel of the American Romantic movement. And there are some strong arguments for it, but while there are threads of the Romantic, I don't think that or any genre really can describe this. (It is absolutely shocking to me that it was written in 1850!)
I was led to expect that Melville's tangents would be analogous to those in Les Miserables or War and Peace, but, dear reader, they are not, not, not. Melville uses his tangents to jollify, skewer, satirize, condemn, and, oh yes, occasionally set the stage for his drama. I heard these tangents were boring, boring, boring, but truly they are the best part of the book!
I think this is probably a love or hate novel. A sink or swim one, if you will.
Looking forward to reading this again!
"From his mighty bulk the whale affords a most congenial theme whereon to enlarge, amplify, and generally expatiate. Would you, you could not compress him...One often hears of writers that rise and swell with their subject, though it may seem but an ordinary one. How, then, with me, writing of this Leviathan?" - Moby-Dick, chapter 104