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File: 135 KB, 800x986, 800px-Herman_Melville_by_Joseph_O_Eaton.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
23414712 No.23414712 [Reply] [Original]

>suddenly goes on a multi-page rant about what paintings of whales he likes and what ones he thinks are shit

was it autism?

>> No.23414719

Obviously

>> No.23414959
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23414959

>architecture didn't just die, it was murdered
>anyways, here's Quasimodo getting sentenced to life in the pillory

>> No.23415131

>>23414712
70% of the book is like that and pretending like that shit isn't bland as hell is peak pseud.

>> No.23415140

>>23414959
>Ah yes, Felix Tholomyes and Fantine met in 1817
>In order to set the scene here is a completely random list of random people and events from 1817
>the abbe de Turkey had just written a scandalous page on the pope calling him out for not delivering the sacristy properly and Turrio Luporo was the most cherished mime and tight rope walker of that year.

>> No.23415145

>>23414712
It is entirely possible he had less story to tell and more whale related output he wanted to get across, it is hard to say anon and blaming autism probably is not the route to go. The world may have been collectively spared so to speak.

>> No.23415168

>>23414712
The Whale represents the World and all of the descriptions of the whale represents Vanality of Human knowledge compared to the real world, life, and God

But yeah he was autistic

>> No.23415224

>>23415131
The problem is they serve a purpose, his obsessive rants about minute details of whales is there to reinforce the obession of Ahab. But yes they are extremely bland despite the excellent prose. He needed to find better ways of working this stuff into the plot.

>> No.23415444

>>23414712
definitely and I fear the best chapters are now behind us. This guy needed an editor big time

>> No.23416261

>>23415224
Sure they have a purpose. Show it's impossible to rationally understand the whale no matter how desperately you try, characterize Ishmael, etc. But I think it could've gotten all that across far more elegantly (and without making me feel like I'm watching paint dry for hundreds of pages lmao)

>> No.23416533
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23416533

>those cars in the 1960s were something *chuckles* anyway, here are 5 pages explaining how black people comb their hair to look fluffy

>> No.23416548
File: 201 KB, 639x393, Cuvier-s-sperm-whale-1836.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
23416548

why did he draw it like that?

>> No.23416549
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23416549

>enjoying the story? Good
>imagine a white man fucking a black woman
>now imagine a black man fucking a white woman
>okay all done back to the story

>> No.23416602

>>23414959
Modernity was the Capitalism of Hugo's day

>> No.23416608

>>23416602
Whatever that means. Capitalism was the capitalism of that day or monarchy was.

>> No.23416611

>>23414959
love this nigga like you wouldnt believe

>> No.23417023

>>23414712
it is not autism. IT IS DEVOTION.

the book is about WHALES. it cannot be topped in this regard.

>> No.23417070

The whole book is awesome. You assume he’s saying something profound that you don’t understand; then you think he’s just bullshitting; then you realize he IS bullshitting but actually was saying profound things that you didn’t understand— and that he didn’t actually understand them, either.
>>23416261
Sure you can. Re-read the Whiteness of the Whale chapter. It’s staring the reader right in the face. It’s as relevant today— more so even— as when it was written.

>> No.23417110

>>23415131
I think when hes just talking about tools its bland, when you’re reading it on that site that tells you the definition of all those weird ass terms and words he uses its less boring but if I ever reread im probably skipping all that shit

>> No.23417150

>>23414712
It was an abundance of raw power