this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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I'm reading Moby Dick and i kind of hate it. The narrator switches at unusual points and the story is paused more often than not so that the author can go on long winded digressions about random things tangentially related to whaling. The only point in it's favor is that the prose is very pretty.
Some might suggest Moby Dick is, umm, not really about whaling.
It’s also 170 years old and was a commercial failure even then, so you’re not really alone.
Yes, the metaphor is impossible to miss and the story itself is actually enjoyable.
On the other hand, did we need a 60 page digression on the color white? What about on how whales are taxinomically classified? About how whales are cleaned/gutted? About how whaling is a noble profession fit for kings?
The list goes on.
As someone who has never read it, what exactly is it thought to really be about?
You gotta treat Melville as an experience rather than looking at his works as discrete stories. He was a master at conveying experiential prose.
Those tangents are where he really shines. The whaling parts are the fluff.