Post 9sDcYZNAGLzOISC6wy by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
(DIR) More posts by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
(DIR) Post #9sDcY7iT5YOQWPwjGi by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-16T03:33:05Z
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not jokeing. never read this book. this will be my third attempt. first of all HaHa Dick. this will not get old
(DIR) Post #9sDcY8IytnbGLf1tBI by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-16T03:33:44Z
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this will not be brief. i anticipate this read will take me about 2 months bc this book sux
(DIR) Post #9sDcY9GXKNErKMtS0e by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-16T03:35:40Z
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i have begun at the beginning, even reading the intro. i'm gonna try to soak this book up like a spongeit doesnt even start with the "Call me Ishmael" line. it's starts with 5 pages of quotes from assorted texts about whales. Melville admits these quotes are basically meaningless, decontextualized, and often factually incorrect. this is a great way to set the tone for this novel imo
(DIR) Post #9sDcYA4ALqwBoI75Mm by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-16T04:19:52Z
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honestly some of these opening lines might've been written by Sel on the Web
(DIR) Post #9sDcYAkhngxtwE13fk by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-16T04:38:04Z
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done with chapter 1. melville writes some things that are clever, some things that are unplaceably profound. he's right about the ocean. all of it.he also does a fuuuuckton of ominous foreshadowing
(DIR) Post #9sDcYBZkjtnYUXtpEu by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-16T16:42:31Z
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Me: "Herman Melville, you can't write a narrative that has no action and only atmosphere!"HM: "Hold me grog"
(DIR) Post #9sDcYCVBINjfMelgki by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-17T19:30:34Z
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chapter 3: Ishmael is a ninny. he's clearly a well educated person working in a field with mostly blue collar people. the comedy comes from them poking fun of him for being booksmart and uninformedalso racism. obviously racism. it's gonna be all over the place in this book
(DIR) Post #9sDcYDLe9JhdzNJaWu by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-28T02:18:12Z
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i learned the word 'bigamy' today
(DIR) Post #9sDcYES42wQlPZKEAi by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-29T03:17:57Z
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read more moby dick today
(DIR) Post #9sDcYF9fQpJDanj38S by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-30T22:02:55Z
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Melville uses Queequeg as a lens. On the one hand, he will detail and ridicule Queequeg's religious habits, making a point to draw comparisons between them and western institutions, as if to say "these are just as silly as any pagan islander". By the same turn, he often holds up Queequeg's habits as more "civilized" than any western tradition.authors, DO NOT DO THIS. Lol what a shitty role to relegate the only non-white character in your book to. Benevolent racism.
(DIR) Post #9sDcYFerYqGL9YJxlA by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-30T22:04:42Z
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lots of good spooky supernatural stuff revolving around the vagabond named Elijah, whom Melville deems "The Prophet". awesome stuff
(DIR) Post #9sDcYGDbTg3GtIZhuS by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-30T22:05:59Z
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we really get this sense that Ahab is fucking cursed as hell. not bad. not a bad man. a good man, by a lot of reckoning. but a cursed manthe distinction is important and Melville does a good job establishing it
(DIR) Post #9sDcYGvCrYvj4WyWsC by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-30T22:21:44Z
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i think in fiction we're used to seeing people who are cursed because they're evil. We understand why they've been cursed. they've brought it upon themselvesalternatively, a curse usually causes everything the sufferer undertakes to go awry, so that we again have some outward confirmation and warning to avoid the afflictedwith Ahab, Melville masterfully establishes - without ever explicitly stating this - that Ahab is both a decent man, and an able captain. And if that were all, we couldn't possibly wish to ship with a better man.But he carries some invisible inner darkness. a sin that wouldn't be visible if not for the outward symbol of it - his mangled leg!I think that this is incredibly subtle workand i think there's a lot of room for discussion of ableism
(DIR) Post #9sDcYHOH7UBMWgZkBM by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-01-31T18:10:16Z
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in chapter 19 it is revealed that "Moby Dick" is short for "Möbius Richard"
(DIR) Post #9sDcYIMBWk6XWUbaYy by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-01T22:06:30Z
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why have i previously attempted and failed to read this book twice before, finding it dreadfully dull? And why have I mad such progress (about 1/3 through now, further than I've made it in previous attempts), and why am I enjoying it now?I read the introduction this time, and went into it with an understanding of the book's intent.Herman Melville was not trying to tell a story. Old man yells at fish is pretty simple. you already know everything that happens in Moby Dick. He deliberately kept that story simple so he could ive it minimal attention, and he uses the pretense of a narrative as a scaffold so he can fully construct a model of the entire experience of the whaling industry as it stood in the 19th century. this was an endeavor with a centuries long storied past, with hundred of millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives wrapped up in it. Melville argues whalers have contributed more to navigation and discovery than any other
(DIR) Post #9sDcYIyTEOjHREWAEq by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-01T22:11:31Z
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the book is a semi-humorous, semi-religious, semi-autobiographical love letter to something that informed melville's identity. something he felt had never been chronicled. he approaches it with the rigor of an academic, the excitement of an amateur, and the vocabulary of a professional. in brutal detail he wants you to feel like youre on the deck of the ship. he describes smells and sounds. every side character has a personality. he takes the time to set out his own taxonomy of whales that he feels is more true to the profession than anything by Linnaeus. Moby Dick is the authoritative encyclopedia on 19th Century whaling. As a gift, we are allowed to also experience a haunting story of one man's obsession and doom
(DIR) Post #9sDcYJqM03pa8LjCE4 by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-04T20:50:58Z
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THEY SAID THE NAME
(DIR) Post #9sDcYKYJMczcKgIIk4 by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-04T22:41:02Z
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captain ahab calls everyone on deck and offers a doubloon to the person who spots the whale.several people point out (correctly) that you cant just spend three years of a whaling voyage hunting one single whale. ahab gives a rousing speech and everyone is onboard with it (for no reason)
(DIR) Post #9sDcYLE8r6SAQPrhwW by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-05T15:02:32Z
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the title chapter of this book is astonishing. Melville has spent the first 2/5 of the book setting up this ship's crew. he put the pieces into place so carefully. ishmael, our narrator, is so representative of the common stock of sailors onboard. he's melancholy, a bit bizarre, a little cracked. he's looking for adventure and greatness, and ultimately just the assurance (food, shelter, etc.) that being onboard a ship will give him for three yearsthe harpooneers are all brutal killers. for them, the sport of throwing the harpoon and murdering a whale is enough. theyre the best at what they do. and they have no care for profit or the practicalities of whaling, or the sanity of societythe three mates, Starbuck, Stubbs, and Flask. Holy shit
(DIR) Post #9sDcYLyw37sqlXl4sa by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-05T15:09:58Z
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Starbuck (1st mate) is described as a man for whom courage is but a resource. he has no true moral fiber, but he can be brave when mortal danger necessitates. he is a practical whalerStubbs is easy going. completely unconcerned about the dangers of whaling. for him "the jaws of death" are "an easy chair."Flask is a man of "pervading mediocrity" for whom whales and the sea hold no majesty or grandeurand he sets these three officers up over the course of the novel. they are fine men. "momentous" men. and theyre the exact worst people to stand up to ahab. Starbuck has no real bravery to draw from to confront him. stubbs is too easy going to care. and flask doesnt have the intellectual capacity to recognize a bad situation
(DIR) Post #9sDcYMrWm9YJUrIfyK by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-05T15:12:58Z
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and then, as Ahab nails a gold doubloon to the masthead, and enlists all of these men in his doomed endeavor, Melville's work all snaps into place. a crew of renegades and castaways. bloodthirsty harpooneers. mates obedient through incompetence. and a mad captain leading them all to their doomit's a supernaturally perfect crew
(DIR) Post #9sDcYNY4Dza1cnCeHI by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-05T16:45:41Z
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it's so painstakingly well executed and brilliant that it exceeds my ability to tell you. you literally just have to read it imo
(DIR) Post #9sDcYOH5WbansQGbS4 by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-05T22:42:26Z
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one song that absolutely does not fit the tone of Moby Dick is "Come Sail Away" by Styx
(DIR) Post #9sDcYOijrni7GBCgYC by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-06T21:16:47Z
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this is...uhh timely? One thing that cannot be overstated is that Moby Dick (mentioned in this article) is maybe the most racist book i've ever read. in a 19th century sense, it treats racism as science. definitionally racist. there are story elements pivotal to the narrative, main characters, major plot points, etc. that do not function without racism. there is nothing anyone could ever do to lessen the racism of this novel. it is an inherent quality of the work. https://www.theroot.com/books-in-blackface-barnes-noble-celebrates-black-his-1841473226
(DIR) Post #9sDcYPgIINLiEt4FNY by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-06T21:19:12Z
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we're talking Heart of Darkness levels of racism. we're talking Rudyard Kipling levels of racism. Moby Dick might be the single best argument i've ever read fro throwing out the entire "cannon," with or without the bathwater
(DIR) Post #9sDcYQh2X5XXNUQMBE by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-09T18:14:12Z
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the saga...continuesmelville has decided that for the time being, everything will be very dramatic (he writes character entrances and exits into the chapters)
(DIR) Post #9sDcYROztehZZozShE by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:32:54Z
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Moby Dick by Herman Melville Livetoot 24/?Whaler's Trick
(DIR) Post #9sDcYRtU4J5X6NFoDQ by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:33:53Z
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Moby Dick by Herman Melville Livetoot 25/?you think Alan Moore read Moby Dick? I bet he fucking did
(DIR) Post #9sDcYSXte3Pl7iA5Cq by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:34:34Z
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tons of action in the last couple of chapters. We had "The First Lowering". Ishmael chases his first whale, and almost dies. this is described as "normal"
(DIR) Post #9sDcYTScFAmhxchNc8 by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:37:03Z
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Additionally, Ahab reveals that he's brought an extra boat's crew onboard. he hid them away from everyone else. Dark magic influences are heavily impliedWe get lots of cool, spooky foreshadowing in "The Albatross". Even the sea birds fly away from Ahab
(DIR) Post #9sDcYUGFGeU2RXv0yG by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:39:29Z
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We then get a very strange framed narrative in "The Town-Ho's Story"Really not sure why this is included except as a comedic distraction. Herman Melville really likes to do this bit where he says,"Okay so now I'm gonna talk about X...actually, youve probably never heard of X before, so here's a long story and/or encyclopedia entry on what X is."And that will be it's own chapter. And then he'll go, "Okay, so now that you understand what X is, I can talk about how X happened on this voyage. And you'll properly understand why the X that took place on *this* voyage was so fucked up compared to normal cases of X"
(DIR) Post #9sDcYVJ7NSNLgkGp5U by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:40:53Z
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"The Town-Ho's" story is maybe the most absurd instance of this so far. It doesn't really tell us a goddamn thing. It's just a story Ishmael swears is true, and is tangentially related to Moby Dick bringing bad luck...or being an agent of Providence or...something...
(DIR) Post #9sDcYW14k1XNt4pvbU by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:41:08Z
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fucking great chapter. 10/10 honestly
(DIR) Post #9sDcYWY2lRuPXKGFzU by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:50:08Z
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Oh wait! I have to go backwards. Chapter 47 - "The Mat-Maker" is so powerful. If there's one passage that sums the novel so far, it's from this. Ishmael is helping Queequeg to weave a sort of mat that will allow him to lash some extra belongings onto the side of the boat
(DIR) Post #9sDcYXCoJsWDZlKoXA by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:51:10Z
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"I say so strange a dreaminess did there then reign all over the ship and all over the sea, only broken by the intermitting dull sound of the sword, that it seemed as if this were the Loom of Time, and I myself were a shuttle mechanically weaving and weaving away at the Fates. There lay the fixed threads of the warp subject to but one single, ever returning, unchanging vibration, and that vibration merely enough to admit of the crosswise interblending of other threads with its own. This warp seemed necessity; and here, thought I, with my own hand I ply my own shuttle and weave my own destiny into these unalterable threads. Meantime, Queequeg's impulsive, indifferent sword, sometimes hitting the woof slantingly, or crookedly, or strongly, or weakly, as the case might be; and by this difference in the concluding blow producing a corresponding contrast in the final aspect of the completed fabric;
(DIR) Post #9sDcYXsHpfhBeOjwBM by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:51:44Z
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"this savage's sword, thought I, which thus finally shapes and fashions both warp and woof; this easy, indifferent sword must be chance- aye, chance, free will, and necessity- wise incompatible- all interweavingly working together. The straight warp of necessity, not to be swerved from its ultimate course- its every alternating vibration, indeed, only tending to that; free will still free to ply her shuttle between given threads; and chance, though restrained in its play within the right lines of necessity, and sideways in its motions directed by free will, though thus prescribed to by both, chance by turns rules either, and has the last featuring blow at events."
(DIR) Post #9sDcYYSnduu1Tdp65w by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:54:46Z
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this passage is the novel. It's a yarn. or rather..it's a whole tapestry. And a million little coincidences shape it. but it's all predestined. It's all moving to one, inexorable doom. Melville strives to write a story like our own lives: winding, circuitous, with many chance diversions and colorful insignificances that nevertheless give it meaning.
(DIR) Post #9sDcYZNAGLzOISC6wy by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-15T17:55:21Z
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or maybe they dont? he doesn't know. there's a dreamlike impossibility of knowing anything. it simply is. and then it's gone
(DIR) Post #9sDcYa5TbbR0VsvV1E by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-20T01:26:10Z
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Past the halfway point!Chapter 61 " Kills a Whale" requires a lot of Melville's typical technical buildup to be understood. but this time, instead of detailing every bit of equipment before the hunt, so as to give it away, Melville give us action followed by retroactive explanation. The whale chase is hunt, heart stopping, and brutal. the murder of the whale can only really be read as tragicthen what follows after is perhaps the most outrageously offensive and racist passage i think i've read so far. drunk from his conquest over the whale, Stubbs awakens a 90 year-old black cook in the middle of the night, forces him to cook a steak for him, and then forces him to talk to the sharks feasting on the whale carcass for amusement
(DIR) Post #9sDcYao8vXACkPpAdk by pounce@cmpwn.com
2020-02-20T05:08:58Z
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@Absolutely_Blakely wait was this not just a shitpost
(DIR) Post #9sEAxOWD9TwsJYR1N2 by Absolutely_Blakely@radical.town
2020-02-20T11:34:37Z
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@pounce lmao no i am actually reading moby dick