/lit/ - Literature

>>15249325
What do you guys think about the inversion of Greek/Homeric/Platonic ideas of light and illumination equaling goodness in Moby-Dick. To me, it is obvious Melville had a deep understanding of Plato and was very familiar with all of the dialogues. I believe he agrees with Plato on many fronts (his favorite dialogue was the Phaedo apparently) but I also think he has a few quibbles with Platonic philosophy, and I'd like to figure out what they are. This is the first example, though I believe there are other times in the novel were darkness is defined as something like "the proper element of a man's essence," as it is here.

>Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part. Upon opening my eyes then, and coming out of my own pleasant and self-created darkness into the imposed and coarse outer gloom of the unilluminated twelve-o’clock-at-night, I experienced a disagreeable revulsion. Nor did I at all object to the hint from Queequeg that perhaps it were best to strike a light, seeing that we were so wide awake; and besides he felt a strong desire to have a few quiet puffs from his Tomahawk.
- from Chapter 11: The Nightgown