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[oakenguy]

Moby Dick: Classic of American Literature, or one long-ass book about a whale pwning an insane guy?

Discuss.

Comments

[cktraveler.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'm not touching that one with a ten-foot pole. I've heard that one nearly reach shouting-match levels.

But then, I distinctly recall doing Hemingway in college. We read the assignment as usual and filed into the classroom. The first thing the professor said before opening the floor for discussion was "First, I want to apologize on behalf of my discipline for making you read that."

Four men in the class looked incredibly uncomfortable just then. The rest of them and all the women breathed a huge sigh of relief.

So you can never really know. There is no Good and Bad literature, there is only Poetry and Pop-Poetry.

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

I have not read Moby Dick, so...the latter?

[coscaram.livejournal.com]

No surprise, but I go with the former. Moby Dick is one of my all-time favorites.

It was my introduction to allegory in literature and opened up a new way of enjoying books. Seeing beyond the literal meaning of the words on the page and finding out what the really mean.
However, if Melville doesn't grab you early, in the book, I can see why many people don't like it.

[malterre.livejournal.com]

Because I like all kinds of chocolate...
It is an anology of the death of the whaling man/life and yes, he gets P0wned by a cetacean.

[majes.livejournal.com]

or a piece of homoerotic porn that was just subtle enough to slip past the censors of its time?

or one long-ass book about a whale pwning an insane guy?

Now I'm imaging Captian Ahab shouting out "OMG Hax!" as he is dragged away by the whale.
Natch, the whale would respond "STFU I OWN JOO!!!11oneuno"

[empheliath.livejournal.com]

Natch, the whale would respond "STFU I OWN JOO!!!11oneuno"

Sometimes, when you start speaking in tongues like this, I look back and think, "I dated him?"

[crossbonestyle.livejournal.com]

I love that book because you can read it two different ways. If you arent into the allegorical stuff, you can read it at face value and still enjoy it.

[godswraith.livejournal.com]

I am with Cliff on this, I love books with varying levels, and the underbelly of this novel is filled with amazing imagery. In some ways this makes me think of red Badge of Courage, which I hated reading ubtill my brother pointed out the Christian symbolism, then it was like reading a mystery, unlocking the clues...

[tikva.livejournal.com]

HATE MELVILLE. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE.

[sistahraven.livejournal.com]

LOL. You want to see really crazy - go to the New Bedford whaling museum when they read it from start to finish with a whole host of guest readers - everyone takes a one hour chunk.

They do it. Every. Single. Year.

[sistahraven.livejournal.com]

I think it's 36 hours... I knew people who used to go to it every year :)

[snowwand.livejournal.com]

I opened the book in grade 7 or 8 english and promptly got the cliff notes version. Hated it, but that was also the year that we did the Great Gatsby, Scarlette Letter, and some other craptastic (IMO) books

[futileissue.livejournal.com]

You say the two like they're somehow contradictory. Frankly, I think most American classics are either -about- insane people, or were written by them.

[ayeshalan.livejournal.com]

Moby Dick: Classic of American Literature, or one long-ass book about a whale pwning an insane guy?

[Kosh] Yes. [/Kosh]

[ah-creator.livejournal.com]

Dammit...I was gonna say that. I'd trademark the gag if it didn't belong to somebody else. ;D

[qlewkr.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I miss Kosh. *sigh*

[mummimamma.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere that it was an American classic so I borrowed it from the library. Then I desided it was really boring, was glad I wasn't an American and had to read it and read the Brothers Karamasov in stead.

The fact that was about 14 at the time may account for something though.

[morgan-lafaye.livejournal.com]

Read it, liked it on many levels. But He's still a crazy man hunting a very large mammal. But then again they where all crazy men hunting large mammals.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

HEE. Your discussion question cracks me up. Sadly, I haven't read Moby Dick, so I can't contribute. However, in the same vein, I say:

Billy Budd: Chock-full of descriptions and celebrations of classical male beauty, or thin veneer of storyline over expressions of Melville's supressed homoerotic urges?

Discuss.