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/lit/ - Literature

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4123982 No.4123982[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

What's /lit/'s opinion on this classic? Currently about half way through and I'm absolutely loving it.

>> No.4123993

I've considered jumping in myself, what do you like about it OP?

>> No.4123994

If you can handle the pace and knowing how it ends, it's a great ride. I personally loved the random events and stories that Ishmael tells and hears-- I've heard others found it annoying and made the story drag on.

For example: Ishmael's opinions on crows' nests and his own masthead which didn't have one. That was a whole chapter.

That may seem excessive, but having taken a whole chapter to illustrate the safety of a bucket to stand in in comparison to the much manlier "stand on two wooden pegs until we tell you come down", we feel the weight and fear of the dreaded responsibility.

Then he tells us we'll die by the crew's hands or slipped hands if we doze off up there. Way to follow human neuroticism like a dutiful duckling, Melville.

>There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a gently rolling ship; by her, borrowed from the sea; by the sea, from the inscrutable tides of God.
>But while this sleep, this dream is on ye, move your foot or hand an inch; slip your hold at all; and your identity comes back in horror. >Over Descartian vortices you hover. And perhaps, at mid-day, in the fairest weather, with one half-throttled shriek you drop through that transparent air into the summer sea, no more to rise for ever. Heed it well, ye Pantheists!

>> No.4123995

>>4123993
The fact that there's dick in the title

>> No.4124003

>>4123994

That passage is beautiful, forgot how good Melville's prose is. I need to re-read Moby D one of these days.

>> No.4124028

>>4123994

I'm partial to these kind of chapters where we are told details about the life and workings of whaling crew and the whales themselves. It's interesting to read about, for example, the harpooners jobs and such, or the different varieties of whales. Of course Melville's prose is masterful.

>> No.4124048

>>4123982

Then you'll love the rest of it. I read it this summer and loved it as well.

>> No.4124069

>>4123982
It's one of the few books that /lit/ almost universally considers good.
And for a good reason, Melville's prose is godlike. I still get chills when I reread some of my favorite chapters, like the one where the chef starts preaching to the sharks, or when the two whaling vessels find a massive herd and started going on a hunting spree.

>> No.4124090

it's best to think about it as a book about whaling with an adventure story thrown in, rather than a book about an adventure story with digressions

i think that 90% of the criticisms i hear about this book are people misunderstanding that

>> No.4124275

It's my favorite book.

>> No.4124303 [DELETED] 

>>4123982

I was stuck in Tokyo with no internet and it was the only thing in English within a hundred miles, and I'm glad I was forced to read it. One of the funniest damn books I ever read. Ishmael's droll attitude to everything is hilarious. I especially like the chapters on whales, especially the bit where he says (paraphrased) "These guys aren't whales. They're fucking glorified porpoises. They should gtfo."

>> No.4124306

One of the funniest damn books I ever read. Ishmael's droll attitude to everything is hilarious. I especially like the chapters on whales, especially the bit where he says (paraphrased) "These guys aren't whales. They're fucking glorified porpoises. They should gtfo."

>> No.4124311

>>4123982
Ishmael and Quequegg
True love can never die.

>> No.4125151

>>4124275
Same here.

>> No.4127503

>>4123994
I'm also midway through Moby Dick, and I feel the extra chapters are somewhat justified.
Maybe not the ones with the limited facts about wales or even waling from that day, but the one where he explains why the color white would inflict fear, how wales are actually capable of killing people, etc.

The abstract passages are great, it humbles you reading something so deep and so old. I can't believe that the people here that claim to be writers and post their shitty wordy prose have ever read Moby Dick.

>> No.4127527

>>4127503
Half way through MD and can't spell whale. Shame on thee.

>> No.4127537

>>4123982
SPOILER

-HE DIES IN THE END-

>> No.4127984

Best book I have ever read