Moby-Dick : or, The Whale (Modern Library Classics)

Rating:
Summary: Both interesting and boring
Review: Has a great theme or moral: people, through ignorance and insufficient independence of thought, allow themselves to be drawn away form the true needs of their own life, family, and community; often, by delusional leaders. This theme is undermined by the suggestion that too much reliance on reason can lead you away from common sense.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Moby Dick is that there are no heros, nor villains, in the usual sense. There is not even a natural disaster or danger they are forced to deal with. There is only a group of self-deluded men creating danger for themselves. Ahab is in error and his influence corrupts the others to his delusions, but he is not out to harm them or take advantage of them. This is analogous to supposedly benevolent leaders of religion and their followers. The whale (reality) is simply a dumb beast (objective fact) behaving according to its nature. Dealing with it requires science, not mysticism. The actual action of the story is much the same as for any whaling voyage, only pursued foolishly.

Sometimes the reader gets the feeling that Melville couldn't get to the point if it were at the bottom of a gorge and he were falling. I lost interest in the narrative. At times Melville is reminiscent of Shakespear with soliloquies and clever, insightful comments and metaphors, but with Melville these are too isolated from the action and fail to further the story. I never had any real interest in any of the characters or their fates.

There are a good deal of interesting facts and mini-essays related to whales and whaling inserted throughout. However, these have little to do with the story, making it boring. Melville is an insightful and powerful writer at times, but not every observation and incident is worth reading.

Ch.10, On Queeqeg's appearance: "You cannot hide the soul." While there is some truth to this, but it depends on who is observing and for how long.

Ch.16, On inconsistencies in one's life: "...pious Bildad...very probably he had long since come to the sage and sensible conclusion that a man's religion is one thing, and this practical world quite another." A good observation on the result of conflicts in many people's hierarchy of values and the fact that they renege on the effort of trying to resolve them.

Ch.36, "All visible objects are masks for reasoning minds behind them." Here the whale is depicted as the physical form of some "inscrutable malice." This false (religious oriented) view of the world allows for hatred of things that thwart or harm one, a desire for revenge against inanimate objects or dumb animals -- and hatred of reality itself.

Ch.45, It is necessary to present all the encyclopedic facts about whales and whaling, else people are apt to "scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more deplorable, a hideous and intolerable allegory." In other words, Moby Dick, the whale, is just a whale. But, of course, Moby Dick, the novel, is an allegory - a powerful one; which makes it interesting.

Ch.73, On balancing the ship with a whale hoisted on one side and then another on the other side: "...by the counterpoise of both heads, [the ship] regained her even keel; though sorely strained, you may well believe. So, when on one side you hoist in Locke's head, you go over that way; but now, on the other side, hoist in Kant's and you come back again; but in very poor plight. Thus, some minds forever keep trimming boat. Oh, ye foolish! throw all of these thunderheads overboard, and then you will float light and right." Lock (modern Aristotelian), a deist, championed empiricism, arguing that all knowledge must come from observation and experience, but ultimately relied on innate emotion as the source of the moral impulse. Kant (modern Platonist), deeply religious, championed rationalist-subjectivism, arguing that all experience is false and emotion/faith is your ultimate source of moral knowledge.

Ch.74, "It is not the size of the eye or ear that determines the keenness of sight or hearing. Why then do you try to `enlarge' your mind? Subtilize it." Suggests that it is a waste of time to expand your knowledge if you do not fully integrate and evaluate it.

Ch. 78, "How many, think ye, have likewise fallen into Plato's honey head, and sweetly perished there?" Keen insight on Plato's twaddle and influence - a seductive corruption of reasoning and morality.

Ch.90, A sarcastic comment: "And thus there seems to be reason in all things, even the law." The use of "seems to be" rather than "is" makes the point.

Ch. 99, Ahab, while looking at the images on the coin: "There's something ever egotistical in mountains and towers, and all other grand and lofty things; look here -- three peaks as proud as Lucifer. The firm tower, that is Ahab..." Here the author suggests that pride is Ahab's sin, but I would say it is that Ahab substitutes his emotions for objective reason.

Ch.124, Ahab, after fashioning a crude compas: "Look ye, for yourselves, if Ahab be not lord of the level loadstone!" "...you then saw Ahab in all his fatal pride." Accepts the Christian view that pride is the greatest sin.

Ch.135, Starbuck: "I disobey my God in obeying him!" [meaning Ahab] He has seduced them away from rationality and morality by his passion, charisma, and false view of the world. He leeds them, and they willingly follow, to their destruction. In the final battle, Moby Dick is seen to be simply a whale fighting for its life. It is Ahab's misdirected passion and misinterpretation of reality that has led to their destruction. Ahab can be compared to racists, religious leaders promoting superiority over others, political/social leaders promoting nationalism and collectivism over individuality. Melville suggests that cannibals, etc., are as moral as Christian civilization - both are kind to children and befriend strangers, yet are easily roused to killing and eating their neighbors.


Rating:
Summary: This very well might be literatures crowning work
Review: I just wanted to put in my two cents here. If you are perusing these reviews under Moby Dick in an effort to see whether or not it is worth reading (which is why I personally scan these reviews) let me just say emphatically that it is. But... I would suggest that you not pick this book up lightly. It is a very stubborn work that in many ways is a precursor to the 20th century's flirtation with high literature. In many ways this book can be compared to the more stubborn works of Pynchon and Joyce in that you can read it over and over again and find an entirely new perspective in which to appreciate it every time.
I picked Moby Dick up several times only to be frustrated with its seemingly antiquated cadence and structure. Luckily for myself I found a reading group a few years back that was delving into some classics and Moby Dick happened to be one of these works. It made all of the difference in the world to have a knowledgeable leader of a reading group opening up discussions after every few chapters to discuss what we had read. After undergoing this experience and finishing the book I was and still am in awe of the majesty Melville attained in these pages.
Please, even if you are sure of yourself as a reader and scoff at my suggestion to use a reading group or class structure to enjoy this work, find a copy that will have a comprehensive `readers guide' in order to cast light on some of the complex and arcane references. This will be helpful if only to note how uniquely Melville manipulates the focus of his story and the characters contained with in.

Enjoy this book, and please don't open its pages on a whim unless you have plenty of free time, patience, and a curiosity to uncover ideas or meanings that might not be so apparent at a first reading.

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Rating:
Summary: a great version of this classic!
Review: I'm still reading the book, but this version is quite helpful because in the back it has explanations for Melville's sometimes confusing allusions.

Rating:
Summary: Great text, not so great edition...
Review: One thing really bugs me about the Modern Library... edition, and that is the way the annotations are set up. The very helpful endnotes follow the text of the novel, but the text contains no indicators whatsoever. I at first was not aware that this edition contained any annotations; when I found them, I was somewhat dissappointed, as although they are rather helpful, they are set up clumsily. This probably is not the best edition of _Moby-Dick_ to choose.

Rating:
Summary: A Challenging Read But Worth It; Loaded With Symbolism
Review: The Story: The title refers to the name given to an enormous albino sperm whale who is being hunted by Captain Ahab, the ruthless, single-minded, driven master of a whaling ship. Ahab hunts Moby Dick because, in a previous hunt, Moby Dick amputated Ahab's leg in a failed attempt by Ahab to catch the white whale. The story is told in retrospect by a crewman, Ishmael, of the ship, who was a young, somewhat naive man at the time.

This is not a novel for everyone; it takes a patient and persistent reader to tackle the rich but complicated writing style of Melville, as well as the author's penchant for going off on detailed, descriptive tangents. However, the writing style almost becomes poetic at times, and symbolism and metaphor abound. The closest thing to Melville's style I've found amongst contemporary writers is Gene Wolfe ("The Book of the New Sun", "The Book of the Short Sun", "The Book of the Long Sun"). Wolfe also borrowed from Melville the device of telling the story from the viewpoint of young, naive observers, who report what they see with little bias or editorializing, which leaves the reader to interpret the story on his/her own. Melville drew a clear picture of life on a whaling vessel of that era.

To me, this story is a detailed and adventurous tale of obsession verging on insanity. Ahab is so focused on catching and killing Moby Dick that he loses sight of his own welfare and the welfare of his men. He never questions his own motives; he is out after revenge for losing his leg, as well as out to redress the insult of a simple beast not accepting the dominion of Man. Moby Dick's defiance of Mankind's superiority and sovereignty is seen as an outrage, a matter of honor for Captain Ahab to resolve. But, why did Moby Dick bite off Ahab's leg in the first place? Ahab sees it as an act of war by the whale, a refusal to bow down to the Master of the Earth (Mankind). Might it not just as easily be an animal naturally defending itself against a predator (Mankind) invading his (Moby Dick's) domain?

Jay Nussbaum wrote a book called "Blue Road to Atlantis" which is a gem of a story that retells Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" from the fish's point of view. Mr. Nussbaum could make quite a story out of Moby Dick's point of view of this puny maniac who keeps harassing him and trying to kill him.