/lit/ - Literature

>>19814116
Honestly, nothing. I'd jump right in.

If you're some sort of ignorant pedant, I'd acquaint myself with Shakespeare first. A bit a Milton wouldn't hurt either.

A determined reader could just look at the books Melville owned, and read them too.

http://melvillesmarginalia.org/Browser.aspx

>>19814116
Homer.

>>19814144
>>19814116
Please link the best version for those new to reading Ye Olde texts?

I like to juxtapose the monomaniacal psychopathy of Ahab with Don Quixote. Their lives are inseparable from the fantasy/obsession of their self-perpetuated narrative within the story.

Of course it’s not necessary, but it does allow you to explore variations of themes. Read it once now, read it again later.

>>19814195

>>19814195
For Shakespeare, the Oxford editions have been modernized in spelling and some conventions which may help bridge that gap.

>>19814208
>>19814204

so which version is this? link?

>>19814195
>the best version for those new to reading Ye Olde texts?
It depends on what you're looking for. If getting specific older editions is what you're after, you might get lucky and find scanned copies on archive.org. If you're looking for something more definitive, look to releases put out recently by academic presses, with copious footnotes and an intro or essay that situates the work in its historical context. Nothing beats actually reading the works though, even if it's just a copy on your phone full of spelling mistakes introduced by poor optical character recognition.

>>19814116
Melville was a Shakespeareaboo and Bibleboo so read them

>>19814860
kek

>>19814116
1) The Bible
2) Iliad
2) Tragedies and Histories of Shakespeare
3) Paradise Lost
4) Gulliver's Travels
5) Typee
6) Moby Dick

>>19814204
>>19814212
This is the Canterbury Classics Word Cloud series. Definitely not the best version, I got their Don Quixote and it was falling apart before I even cracked it open. Just go with the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition if you don't mind deckled edge. Of course Moby Dick is the greatest book ever written so you should splurge on the Folio Society Limited Edition.

>>19815930
I fucking hate paradise lost but want to get into Melville. Do I really have to finish that one hit wonder cuck Milton’s ramblings to understand moby dick?

>>19816131
Deckled edges are based

>>19816571
>that penguin with the deckle edge

>>19814116
You don't need to read anything. Read it like it's any other novel and experience the book. If after reading it ,you love the book, then you can read his influences. Always stressing about "prerequisite" reading will kill any joy from actually reading the fucking thing.

>>19814116
A lot more than you think, or than anyone here knows, including me. For example, I've never seen anyone mention anywhere the reference that Moby Dick makes to 'The Knights of St. John', a poem by Frederick William Faber:
From Moby Dick:
>And this reminds me that had the great Sperm Whale been known to the young Orient World, he would have been deified by their child-magian thoughts. They deified the crocodile of the Nile, because the crocodile is tongueless; and the Sperm Whale has no tongue, or at least it is so exceedingly small, as to be incapable of protrusion. If hereafter any highly cultured, poetical nation shall lure back to their birth-right, the merry May-day gods of old; and livingly enthrone them again in the now egotistical sky; in the now unhaunted hill; then be sure, exalted to Jove’s high seat, the great Sperm Whale shall lord it.
From The Knights of St. John:
>How many a vision fades from Fancy's eye.
>How many a golden dream of days long past,
>And airy hopes, too fair, too bright to last!
>All, all are gone. The wild Arabian tale,
>Aladdin's lamp, and Sinbad's magic sail,
>These have no power to chain the listening ear,
>Or hush the soul in extasy of fear:
>Untenanted, unhaunted now, the hill,
>The lonely heath, the waving woods are still;
>Fairies no more beneath the moon's pale light
>Reveal their mystic dance to mortal sight;
>Each shadowy form grows dim; and we deplore
>A splendor that is seen on earth no more.

>>19814195
https://librivox.org/moby-dick-by-herman-melville/

>>19814116
It's a very easy book for English speakers. No pre-requisites.

>>19816560
No, just read the first two books, it’s only about 60 pages

>>19814116
Shakespeare's tragedies and Paradise Lost. Maybe start with the Greeks?
Maybe Don Quixote?
Honestly, very little apart from the Bible, Shakespeare, and Milton will prepare you for it.

>>19814116
Honestly, I’d say just go for it. The more stuff you try to read as prerequisite, the more likely you give up on it. You can always come back and reread it later.

>>19814116
It's a great book, an absolute joy to read.

I'm planning on reading Moby-Dick once I finish my current read. Right now I'm torn between the Norton Critical Edition (because of annotations) and just any other edition (no annotations). Any advice anons? It will be my first time reading through it if that wasn't obvious.

>>19814116

>>19818107
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/herman-melville-and-anonymous/moby-dick/paperback/product-7wgny7.html?page=1&pageSize=4
The only one you'll ever need.

>>19814116
Shakespeare

>>19814116
>Why do I need to read beforehand
What do you mean *why*? Because if you don't read anything else beforehand it'll be a really weird experience learning to read from fucking Moby-Dick, that's why, you imbecile.