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/lit/ - Literature

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4654576 No.4654576[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

What's the greatest American Novel and why is it Moby Dick?

>> No.4654604

East of Eden

>> No.4654608

It was The Sun Also Rises.

Because it's a story you can tell a zillion times and only get right once

>> No.4654637

>>4654576

You won your own thread.

It's obviously Moby-Dick.

>> No.4654655

>>4654637
I'm glad you can admit that.

>> No.4654675

>>4654608

Not even the best Hemingway. Get the fuck out.

>> No.4654687

>>4654655

Of course I can admit that you were shit enough to make a redundant thread.

>> No.4654710

>>4654675
What would you identify as Hemingway's best?

>> No.4654744

>>4654687
It's true, you can't beat Moby Dick

>> No.4655001

>>4654744
OP should have just been a thread about Moby-Dick
>and why no one ever calls it
>>the Whale

>> No.4655007

>>4654576
yeah it's moby dick probably. i feel like there are some postwar US novels that are pretty good, but I couldn't say they are going to take moby's place. it's got everything "great american novels" are known for... weirdness, enormous size, humor, groundedness. it's incredible.

>> No.4655010

>>4655001
I've always felt that The Whale is the perfect title.

But yeah, Moby-Dick is the best American novel.

>> No.4655015

>>4655010
I know, it has that kind of ominous feel to it that really captures the hunt and the nature of Ahab, because he was singular about "the whale" and not just any whale.
>>4655007
Hey it does have the whole checklist of stuff. It's pretty much the Infinite Jest of its day accept it doesn't have any footnotes.

>> No.4655020

>>4654604
Goddamn, first response got what I came to post.

>> No.4655022

>>4655015
And not only that, but Melville talks so much about "whales" in general that it's perfect as a sort of encyclopedic title.

>> No.4655027

>>4655015
>It's pretty much the Infinite Jest of its day accept it doesn't have any footnotes.

Are you kidding? Moby-Dick has one of literature's greatest footnotes: "I am aware that down to the present time, the fish styled Lamatins and Dugongs (Pig-fish and Sow-fish of the Coffins of Nantucket) are included by many naturalists among the whales. But as these pig-fish are a noisy, contemptible set, mostly lurking in the mouths of rivers, and feeding on wet hay, and especially as they do not spout, I deny their credentials as whales; and have presented them with their passports to quit the Kingdom of Cetology."

>> No.4655036

>>4655027
Fucking brilliant.

>> No.4655040

>>4655027
i don't know how anyone can't love this book. a book that has a chapter opening with the line
>"Shipmates! Have ye shipped in that ship?"

>> No.4655049

>>4655027
>all those commas

>> No.4655141

>>4655040
Beautiful

>> No.4655279

>>4654576

It is Moby-Dick and I don't think any other work will ever really beat it.

You could make a flimsy case for Huck Finn, maybe something from Faulkner (Absalom! Absalom! or Light in August are the best options), and if you want something modern, maybe Blood Meridian or Infinite Jest.

But let's not kid ourselves, pretty much every great American Novel will always be compared to Moby-Dick. It is the standard by which all other "Great American Novels" will and should be judged

>> No.4655283

>>4654576
>that based cover art by Tony Millionaire

>> No.4655338
File: 604 KB, 126x116, 1288198263217.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4655338

>>4655279
Amen.
>>4655283
>Mfw that's the copy I have

>> No.4655362

It really is the manliest story in the English language.
>Insane captain on a quest for revenge to hunt down a massive monstrous albino whale that still has a few harpoons sticking out of it's back and has it's own vendetta against whalers and sinks their ships whenever it gets the chance.

Its like Beowulf if Beowulf had a boat and a peg-leg.

>> No.4655535

>>4654576
>why is it Moby Dick

Because Moby dick is about the death of America's first oil industry. Because Ahab is killed without comment, and barely on the page, by one of the most rudimentary and banal mistakes of his trade; he dies of arrogance. Because it is a story of violence and drudgery, savage bloodlust, economic deprivation, but boundless opportunity for the ruthless. Because it is huge and boisterous and profane and obscene. Because it is tragic and profound. It is, in full frontal, the US' best portrait of itself whole.

>> No.4656032

>>4655362
>beowulf with a peg leg
ROFL

>> No.4656052

>>4655535
Beautifully said.

>> No.4656088
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4656088

>>4655338
>mfw I watched that whole gif