Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Tuesday, February 18. 2020

I wish I had written this

I wish I had written this short essay about the one Great American Novel, Moby Dick.


To me, the story is like the Iliad, or some parts of the Bible. It destroyed Melville to write it, it seems. Destroyed him, or changed him. I blame the Transcendentalists although I might be sort-of one myself.


Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 13:44 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

I have read Moby-Dick many times over the years. It is a magnificent book, but not an easy one. It is full of many meanings. I can agree with the author of the essay that Melville put much of his spirit into the book, but at the same time I find the comparison with the present-day state of the country to be a little strained.

For me, one of the meanings I take from the book is of the nature of humanity, and how men can relate and deal with each other on an individual basis (Queequeq/Ishmael), on a social basis (The crew in general) and on a spiritual basis (Ishmael's quest to find himself, Ahab's quest for vengeance).
#1 The Neon Madman on 2020-02-18 18:22 (Reply)
A little strained, yes. I'd probably have appreciated it better if he'd equated the President with the White Whale than with Ahab.

These people fretting their hearts out over Trump do like to think of themselves as tragic, heroic figures: Beowulf fighting Grendel, and the like. They could use a little more prosaic self-knowledge. Not everyone is grateful for their monomania.
#1.1 Texan99 on 2020-02-19 10:24 (Reply)
For some reason my college girlfriend didn't take kindly when I told her I felt like Ahab in my quest to get her.
#2 gpc31 (Link) on 2020-02-18 23:22 (Reply)
She was a whale of color?
#2.1 Hairless Joe on 2020-02-19 08:52 (Reply)
She was just making fun of your harpoon.
#2.2 Aggie on 2020-02-19 09:03 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.