Tattoo Idea?

from Chapter 102:

The skeleton dimension [sic?] I shall now proceed to set down are copied are copied verbatim from my right arm, where I had been tattooed as in my wild wanderings at that period, there was no other secure way of preserving such valuable statistics.

That Blackness of Darkness

This excerpt, describing the ship during the late-night try works session, is one of the most compelling dark things I've ever read.

As they narrated to each other their unholy adventures, their tales of terror told in words of mirth; as their uncivilised laughter forked upwards out of them like the flame from the furnace, as to and fro, in their front, the harpooners wildly gesticulated with their huge pronged forks and dippers; as the wind howled on, and the sea leaped, and the ship groaned and dived, and yet steadfastly her red hell further and further into the blackness of the sea and the night, and scornfully champed the white bone in her mouth, and viciously spat around her on all sides; then the rushing Pequod, freighted with savages, and laden with fire, and burning a corpse, and plunging into that blackness of darkness, seemed the material counterpart of her monomaniac commander's soul.

See also Conrad, Heart of Darkness:

He lived then before me; he lived as much as he had ever lived -- a shadow insatiable of splendid appearances, of frightful realities; a shadow darker than the shadow of the night, and draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence. The vision seemed to enter the house with me -- the stretcher, the phantom-bearers, the wild crowd of obedient worshippers, the gloom of the forests, the glitter of the reach between the murky bends, the beat of the drum, regular and muffled like the beating of a heart -- the heart of a conquering darkness.

The Abandoned Narrator

I just finished the book, and I liked the way it ended. Except for the Epilogue. Does everyone have the epilogue in their books? Apparently it was only included for later versions of the book.

I'm not going to give anything away in regards to the end, but I've been irked by the writing in regards to the missing narrator, Ishmael. The book starts off with a personal, first-person account of Ishmael's reasons to venture into the ocean on a whaling ship, and his steps taken to do so, including our favorite recountings of the bed he made with Queequeg.

However at an early point Ishmael as a self-aware narrator was entirely abandoned in the writing, or if you believe that Melville was still including him, he suddenly became omniscient and omnipresent -- hearing all conversations between Stubb, Flask and Ahab, present with the blacksmith and cook for their mutterings, and in the boat with Ahab -- yet perhaps NOT in the boat with Ahab.

I appreciated the knowledge gained by understanding why someone would suddenly decide to join up with a whaling ship, but was it really necessary in the writing to include Ishmael at all -- or Ishmael as first-person narrator? The book would only have to be slightly re-written to omit Ishmael and instead have a bodiless narrator--a telling sign on its own. The narrator does not mention much that would show the reader that he had self-awareness after the first couple of chapters. There is no mention of any of Ishmael's needs, desires, or sensations, though we hear about those of the other characters in the books (particularly Ahab towards the end).

So my question is, why include Ishmael at all? What was the point? Was Ishmael himself part of a later revision to the book, as was theorized for Ahab's missing leg? A note in my book on the critical excerpts has an interesting point that I will save until everyone has finished the book, so as not to give anything away. But when you get to the Epilogue, you'll start to see.

Thoughts anyone? I feel like I might have had more interest in the book and more attachment if Ishmael had been more present throughout, but then we wouldn't have gotten the whole story. So why did Melville include Ishmael at all?

Moby-Dick in the News

You know when you learn a new word, and suddenly you seem to see that word everywhere you look? Well, that's started happening to me with Moby-Dick. Today, for instance, I read this Andrew Sullivan post about an editorial in the Anchorage Daily News:

Gov. Palin and her husband were obsessed with [Palin's ex-brother-in-law, State Trooper] Wooten the way Capt. Ahab was obsessed with the Great White Whale. No Wooten, no peace.

Sunday night on my plane ride home from NYC, there was something wrong with the Virgin America seat-back TV, to where I could not watch The Real Housewives of New York City marathon. This was very disappointing, because Ramona is kind of hot and kind of reminds me of a cross between a middle-aged Kathy Lee Gifford, a skittish deer in the woods, and Britney Spears' mom, the White Oprah. It turned out alright though because I used the time to read the Esquire Big Black Book of $3,000 briefcases that you would be an imbecile to not buy immediately. {I just checked and the watch I wanted in there - The U-Boat - is $3,850. I haven't worn a watch since about 2004.} I also watched the TED talks of Brian Cox (the Large Hadron Collider) and Paul Stamets (6 ways mushrooms can save the earth), which were extremely fascinating. I started watching Amy Tan's TED talk, but had to quit when she said

And so I'm going to use, as the metaphor, this association -- quantum mechanics, which I really don't understand, but I'm still gonna use it as the process for explaining how it is the metaphor. So, in quantum mechanics, of course, you have dark energy and dark matter. And it's the same thing in looking at these questions of how things happen. There's a lot of unknown, and you often don't know what it is except by its absence.

(photo of four rubber ducks, arrow associating them with Warhol-esque 4 panel portrait of Tan- "the metaphorical universe: synenergy (sic) and what matters")

because this is just really dumb. Look, I don't understand quantum mechanics either, but the THING of using the fact that it is weird and hard to understand to try to bolster and justify any kind of ridiculous, anti-scientific New Age mumbo jumbo is one of the most annoying things going in the modern world of ideas. (See e.g. Oprah favorite Gary Zukov's The Dancing Wu Li Masters - A Bantam New Age Book - from 1979. Oprah loves mumbo jumbo.)

I also watched an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm from whatever season is happening or just happened. The downside was that I found out a major plot twist that happens between the last episode I had seen (season 4?) and now, but sometimes you have to spend money to make money. One of the jokes was that Larry was depressed, and one of his friends was telling his manager that he was like Mopey Dick. Moby Dick? The whale in the Melville book? No, Mopey Dick, like he's depressed and he needs to get laid.

I managed to spend the weekend in NYC in the apartment of two girls who had colds, drinking and staying up till the wee hours, and I didn't get sick until Monday morning. But when I went to bed last night I knew my fate was sealed. Today I cancelled my physical therapy session at 8:30 (that is, I didn't go to it). My calf is fine and I think I'll be ready to play in the kickball playoffs this weekend. But my motorcycle is in the shop and I decided not to take the hour-long bus ride to the refinery in order to infect my coworkers and get nothing done.

Instead, I got an amazing fruit danish at La new Boulange de Polk, and picked up a New York Times, the new National Geographic, and the New Yorker. As my friends all know and preemptively cringe at, I'll probably be a little obsessed with New York City for a couple of months, followed by at least five years of fond memories and vague travel plans. What a great town.

The National Geographic has an article on the Right Whale, the principle other whale, besides the Sperm, that was hunted by whalers in the 1850's. Its numbers in the North Atlantic have dwindled to about 350 adults, from 10,000 in the 1600's.

The New Yorker has a lot of good stuff in it, but (at left) was the only Moby-Dick related thing I saw on my first perusal. "Day 247, still no fingers."

-Hip E., p.399

On the Plane Ride Homes: Quotes

After re-reading Julius Caesar, I returned to reading Moby-Dick on the plane ride from Atlanta to SF and the read the following quotes, which struck me as awesome:

In the case of the Sperm Whale the brains are accounted a fine dish. The casket of the skull is broken into with an axe, and the two plump, whitish lobes being withdrawn (precisely resembling two large puddings), they are mixed with flour, and cooked into a most delectable mess, in flavor somewhat resembling calves' head, which is quite a dish among some epicures; and every one knows that some young bucks among the epicures, by continuing dining upon calves' brains, by and by get to have a little brains of their own, so as to be able to tell a calf's head fro their own heads; which, indeed, requires uncommon discrimination. And that is the reason why a young buck with an intelligent looking calf's head before him, is somehow one of the saddest sights you can see. The head looks a sort of reproachfully at him, with an "Et tu, Brute!" expression. (Chapter 65)

How wonderful is it then-- except after explanation-- that this great monster, to whom corporeal warmth is as indispensable as it is to man; how wonderful that he should be found at home, immersed to his lips for life in those Arctic waters! where, when seamen fall overboard, they are sometimes found, months afterwards, perpendicularly frozen into the hearts of fields of ice, as a fly is found glued in amber. But more surprising is it to know, as has been proved by experience
that the blood of a Polar whale is warmer than that of a Borneo negro in summer. It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter’s, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own. (Chapter 68)

As in general shape the noble Sperm Whale's head may be compared to a Roman war-chariot (especially in front, where it is so broadly rounded); so, at a broad view, the Right Whate's head bears a rather inelegant resemblance to a gigantic-toed shoe. (Chapter 75)

Kraken! Kraken! Kraken!

Did anyone pick up the reference to kraken?  I can't remember which chapter it was in (somewhere in the 50s or 60s) but the annotation in my book said something about Melville going on to write a book about the kraken later--I can't figure out if he actually did or not.  

I was amused to see the reference to kraken and realize that it's a common theme, not just some completely bizarre plotline for Pirates of the Caribbean (not that they would come up with something so original anyway...).  

Here's a clip from Youtube that talks about the monster from the deep that is the Kraken, as shown in Pirates of the Caribbean. Sorry it has little to do with Moby the whale, but I hope you enjoy. 

Teh Gheyest Book That Ever Sailed

"Of erections, how few are domed like St. Peter's!"

-Melville, Moby-Dick

-Hip E.

Craptastic

I was at the beach for 3 full days and did not read a single page of Moby Dick. That was dumb and teh ghey.

I ate some chowdah

It was okay.

What's the deal with the name "Moby-Dick"?

Turns out Melville based the name on a true story about a ferocious albino sperm whale named Mocha-Dick!!! The name originates from the whale's location off the Chilean island of Mocha and Dick was apparently selected as a random male name, like Tom or Jack, but Moby-Tom doesn't have the same ring to it.

Riddled with dozens of harpoons from his numerous escapes from whalers, Mocha Dick often attacked ships with premeditated ferocity. One of his battles with a whaler served as subject for an article, Mocha Dick: or The White Whale of the Pacific by explorer Jeremiah N. Reynolds in the May 1839 issue of The Knickerbocker, New York Monthly Magazine. The article recounted the capture of a giant white sperm whale that had become infamous among whalers for its violent attacks on ships and their crews. Melville was familiar with the article, which described "an old bull whale, of prodigious size and strength... [that] was white as wool". Significantly, Reynolds writes a first-person narration that serves as a frame for the story of a whaling captain he meets. The captain resembles Ahab and suggests a possible symbolism for whales in that, when his crew first encounters Mocha Dick and cowers from him, the captain rallies them thus: "'Mocha Dick or the devil,' said I, 'this boat never sheers off from any thing that wears the shape of a whale.'

Mocha Dick had over 100 battles with whalers. First noted (because of his color, and later for his wounds) in 1810, he battled whalers on a regular basis until 1859. He was described as being giant (even for a whale). He was covered in barnacles.

So Melville stole the name and the plot line from a true story recounted by Jeremiah Reynolds, but who's famous now, Jerewhatshisface?

The Present Status of Things

I am currently on Chapter 40 and, therefore, a bit off schedule. It appears that the second surge of my Shakespeare obsession is poorly timed: I spent the last week reading Antony & Cleopatra, watching two fulls versions of Hamlet, and one version of Julius Caesar instead of reading Moby-Dick. But, perhaps it was not all for naught! I'm sure you noticed too, but right after the informational chapters about whales and whaling ships, the style shifts to theatrical and the writing, in several places, all but certainly intentionally emulates Shakespeare. Take for instance, Ahab's "aside" in Chapter 37. When broken into iambic pentameter, it could double in tone and sound for Lear on the hearth, or Macbeth discussing "vaunting ambition" in his bedchamber:

This lovely
Light, it lights not me; all loveliness is
Anguish to me, since I can n'er [FN1] enjoy it.
Gifted with high perception, I lack the
Low enjoying power; damned, most subtly and
Most malignantly!

...

They think me mad--Starbuck does, but I am
Demoniac, I am madness maddened[FN2]!
That wild madness that's only calm to comprehend
Itself! The prophesy was that I
Should be dismembered; and-- Aye! I lost this
Leg. I now prophesy that I dismember
My dismemberer[FN3]. Now, then, be prophet
And fulfiller one.

___________
FN1: Contracted words like "n'er" were often used by versified dramatists to fit sentiments and words into the metered line.
FN2: "I am mad north by northwest" -Hamlet
FN3: "O, that we then could come by Caesar's spirit,/ And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,/ Caesar must bleed for it!" -Julius Casaer (II, i). Comparisons between slaying Caesar and slaying Moby-Dick?

John Bunyan

"Bear me out in it, thou great democratic God! who didst not refuse to the stalwart convict, Bunyan, the pale, poetic pearl..." (Chapter 26)

A Christian writer and preacher, was born at Harrowden (one mile south-east of Bedford), in the Parish of Elstow, England. He wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, arguably the most famous published Christian allegory.... In 1658 Bunyan was indicted for preaching without a licence. He continued, however, and did not suffer imprisonment till November 1660, when he was taken to the county gaol in Silver Street, Bedford. There he was confined at first for three months, but on his refusing to conform or to desist from preaching, his confinement was extended for a period of nearly 12 years (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666). It was during this time that he completed his allegorical novel: The Pilgrim's Progress. He was released in January 1672, when Charles II issued the Declaration of Religious Indulgence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bunyan. yo

Cook, Vancouver, and Krusenstern

"She has explored seas and archipelagoes which had no chart, where no Cook or Cancouver had ever sailed.... They may celebrate as they will the heroes of Exploring Expeditions, your Cookes, your Krusensterns; but I say that scores of anonymous Captains have sailed out of Nanucket, that were as great, and greater than your Cooke, and your Krusenstern." (Chapter 24)

Captain James Cook (1728 - 1779) was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy. Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Captain George Vancouver (1757 – 1798) was an officer in the Royal Navy, best known for his exploration of North America, including the Pacific coast along the modern day Canadian province of British Columbia and the American states of Alaska, Washington and Oregon. He also explored the southwest coast of Australia. He was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, in England.

Adam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern (1770 – 1846) was a Baltic German admiral and explorer in Russian service, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth. In Russia, Krusenstern is known as Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern.

Wikipedia. Also: Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are dead.

The Caves of Elephanta

"...What deadly voids and unbidden infidelities in the lines that seems to gnaw upon all Faith, and refuse resurrections to the beings who have placelessly perished without a grave. As well might those tablets stand in the cave of Elephanta as here...." (Chapter 7)

The Elephanta Caves are the focal point of Gharapuri Island, which was renamed the Elephanta Island by the Portuguese, located in the Mumbai harbour off the coast of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), India. The caves are thought to date back to the Silhara kings of the 9th through 13th centuries (810–1260).[citation needed] Some of the sculptures of this site are also attributed to the imperial Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta (in present day Karnataka), the Trimurti of Elephanta showing the three faces of Shiva almost akin to the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh. This was also the royal insignia of the Rashtrakutas.... Other Rashtrakuta sculptures here are the reliefs of Nataraja and Sadashiva and the splendid sculptures of Ardhanarishvara.... Most of the sculptures here were defaced by the Portuguese, who used the sculptures as target practice in the 17th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephanta_Caves

The Eddystone Lighthouse

"...Get out your maps and look at Nantucket. See how it stands there, away off the shore, more lonely than the Eddystone lighthouse...." (Chapter 14)

The Eddystone Lighthouse is situated on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, some 9 statute miles (14 kilometres) south west of Rame Head, United Kingdom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddystone_Lighthouse.

Czar Peter

"...But like Czar Peter content to toil in the shipyards of other countries, Queequeg disdained no seeming ignominy..." (Chapter 10)

Alexeyevich Romanov (1672– 1725) ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May [O.S. 27 April] 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V. Peter carried out a policy of Westernization and expansion that transformed the Tsardom of Russia into the 3-billion acre Russian Empire, a major European power.

Although failing to complete the mission of creating an anti-Ottoman alliance, he still continued to travel across Europe. In visiting Holland, Peter learned much about Western culture. He studied shipbuilding in Zaandam and Amsterdam. Thanks to the mediation of Nicolaas Witsen, mayor of Amsterdam and expert on Russia par excellence, the Tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in the largest shipyard in the world, belonging to the Dutch East India Company, for a period of four months. The Tsar helped with the construction of an East Indiaman especially laid down for him: Peter and Paul. During his stay the tsar engaged many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights and seamen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czar_Peter

Chowder, anyone?

from Chapter 15, "CHOWDER"

Oh sweet friends! harken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt.

Does reading this book make anyone else crave chowder?

I tried to make Reid go find some with me last night but we couldn't find any places that had it that weren't in the wharf.

Anyone want to go find some chowdah?

Cetology

"I am aware that down to the present time, the fish styled Lamantins and Dugongs (Pig-fish and Sow-fish of the Coffins of Nantucket) are included by many naturalists among the whales. But as these pig-fish are a nosy, contemptible set, mostly lurking at the mouths of rivers, and feeding on wet hay, and especially as they do not spout, I deny their credentials as whales, and have presented them with their passports to quit the Kingdom of Cetology." (Chapter 32)

Figured Ishmael was talking about manatees here, but was thrown off track by that picture of the pig-fish and by that punk band. I haven't finished Chapter 32 yet, but Ishmael's so-called Cetology is off to a misguided start. Hadn't he ever heard of MAMMALS before? He should have listened to Linnaeus, who believed that whales had some distinctly unfishlike characteristics and to his other contemporary naturalists, who were on the right track grouping manatees with whales. Nevertheless, I LOLed when Ishmael deported manatees from the "kingdom" of whales and declared that whales are fish. People were stupid in the 1850's. They even confused manatees for mermaids (but maybe they were drunk and/or lonely). Makes me wonder what stupid things we believe to be true right now that turbo-bloggers in the year 2158 will think was really stupid.

The first manatee I ever saw was at SeaWorld Orlando and it ate iceberg lettuce. In college I adopted a manatee named Howie as a member of the Save the Manatee Club. For a mere $20, they fed Howie heads of iceberg lettuce and sent me a cookie mix with a manatee-shaped cookie cutter. I think I just might renew my membership.

There is a bar called Moby Dick that is Teh Ghey

And it's in SF. What are the chances? We could meet up there when we finish the book. Meet me at the gay bar.

I am still in the first chapter, eeps.

"No, When I go to sea, I go as a simple sailor...

...right before the mast, plumb down into the forecastle, aloft there to the royal masthead." (Chapter 1, Loomings)


I started reading this book last week while I was sitting on the beach. I have found looking up at the water, while reading, to be an amazing experience. I recommend everyone try this.

There are so many poetic passages that just make you want to grab your harpoon and head out to sea. The title of this post is my favorite passage, it is how I feel about doing things in life, but put into the perfect sentence. My second favorite is from the first chapter as well...

But here is an artist. He desires to paint you the dreamiest, shadiest, quietest, most enchanting bit of romantic landscape in all the valley of the Saco. What is the chief element he employs? There stand his trees, each with a hollow trunk, as if a hermit and a crucifix were within; and here sleeps his meadow, and there sleep his cattle; and up from yonder cottage goes a sleepy smoke. Deep into distant woodlands winds a mazy way, reaching to overlapping spurs of mountains bathed in their hill-side blue. But though the picture lies thus tranced, and though this pine-tree shakes down its sighs like leaves upon this shepherd's head, yet all were vain, unless the shepherd's eye were fixed upon the magic stream before him. (Chapter 1, Loomings)

I agree with the Turd on everything from his post below. And I think Shark you may need to change the title of this blog, because there sure is a lot of man-love going on. I seriously believe that Ishmael may have a slight crush on Queequeg, for example,

"I had felt such a strong repugnance to his smoking in the bed the night before, yet see how elastic our stiff prejudices grow when love once comes to bend them." (Chapter 6 Nightgown)

Ishmael talks in great deal about his growing respect for Queequeg and their blossoming friendship, but by the way he recounts staring at him from a afar without him noticing or by all the references to trouble sleeping and rolling around in bed, I seriously think something else is going on. It is not uncommon for men in some cultures to hold hands while walking down the street, especially if they are friends. This may seem weird to us but it is part of their culture, but I think Melville may have gone a little far showing how close they are getting to each other.

What do you guys think?

That analogy in chapter 13 was fantastic! I especially liked the whole story about him saving the ship and that one sailor. The theme of how prejudice can just be forgotten when someone does something extraordinary.

and on that note I leave you with a proverb that I used yesterday when a drunk, not so attractive, girl approached me at a bar...

"Better sleep with a sober cannibal then a drunken Christian"
(Chapter 3 Spouter-Inn)

Yeah it went over her head, but I got a good laugh!

I'm on Chapter 16. Or 15. I Can't Remember.

Johnny D, please explain this quote from chapter 2: "Euroclydon! says old Dives, in his red silken wrapper-(he had a redder one afterwards) pooh, pooh!"

Chapter 3-Ishmael-homophobe much? I loved this line though: "No man prefers to sleep two in a bed". Thanks Ishamael
It was also pretty entertaining to see him go from homophobe, to a little curious, to full on sheep cowboy (not that there's anything wrong with that). It reminded me of an email Hip E sent me about him and Shark once. Anyway, with these thoughts I kept laughing out loud at such passages as "At first he little noticed these advances; but presently, upon my referring to his last night's hospitalities, he made out to ask me whether we were again to be bedfellows. I told him yes; whereat I thought he looked please, perhaps a little complimented." Get some.


Chapter 7-I really hate the word "methinks".

Chapter 13-I liked the analogy about the wheelbarrow and the ship captain.

Chapter 15-This chapter made me really want some clam chowder.

The Land of Nod

"...At last I slid off into a light doze, and had pretty nearly made a good offing towards the land of Nod, when I heard a heavy footfall in the passage...." (Chapter 4)

The Land of Nod (Hebrew: ’eretz-Nod) is a place in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, located "to the east of Eden", to which Cain chose to flee to after murdering his brother Abel. The Hebrew word nod means "wandering".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Nod

Hyperborean

"...It's a Hyperborean winter scene...." (Chapter 3)

In Greek mythology, according to tradition, the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. The Greeks thought that Boreas, the North Wind, lived in Thrace, and that therefore Hyperborea was an unspecified nation in the northern lands beyond Scythia. Their land, called Hyperborea or Hyperboria — "beyond the Boreas (north wind)" — was perfect, with the sun shining twenty-four hours a day. [Melville is using it to contrastingly portray a nice winter.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperborean. See also, Nietzsche, The Antichrist:

Let us look each other in the face. We are Hyperboreans -- we know well enough how remote our place is. "Neither by land nor by water will you find the road to the Hyperboreans": even Pindar, in his day, knew that much about us. Beyond the North, beyond the ice, beyond death-- our life, our happiness...

Wheelbarrow

"Gaining the more open water, the bracing breeze waxed fresh; the little Moss tossed the quick foam from her bows, as a young colt his snortings. How I snuffed that Tartar* air! --how I spurned that turnpike earth! --that common highway all over dented with the marks of slavish heels and hoofs; and turned me to admire the magnanimity of the sea which will permit no records."

Tartar: wild (from the nomadic Tartars, or Tartary, a region in Siberia)

Euroclydon Winds

"...where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling than it ever did about poor Paul's tossed craft...." (Chapter 2)

The name of the wind from the Adriatic Gulf, which wrecked Paul of Tarsus's ship on the coast of Malta. (Acts 27:14)

Wikipedia.

Orchard Thieves

"...the most uncomfortable infliction that the two orchard thieves entailed upon us...." (Chapter 1)

Ochard Thieves = Adam and Eve

The New England Journal of Duh.

The schedule.

Okay dudes, here is the breakdown of weekly reading requirements. Technically we started on the 19th, which, as you may or may not remember, was a Tuesday. However, since some (most) people had already started the book before that point, for our purposes we will consider the weekly assignments to begin on Monday, to be completed the following Sunday, under penalty of … something nautical. (Thrill, if you suggest waterboarding in the comments, I swear to God …)

Since we're all reading different versions, assignments will be by chapter, not by page, but the assigned chapters will approximate 75 pages of reading per week, or 10.7143 pages per day. If you're like me, you can knock that out in one trip to the bathroom, so no excuses, although if you're the highlighting type, I recommend a lanyard* of some sort. Here's the breakdown:

WEEK 1 (8/19-24): Chapters 1-13 (optional: etymology and excerpts sections)
WEEK 2 (8/25-31): Chapters 14-32
WEEK 3 (9/1-7): Chapters 33-45
WEEK 4 (9/8-14): Chapters 46-60
WEEK 5 (9/15-21): Chapters 61-81
WEEK 6 (9/22-28): Chapters 82-99
WEEK 7 (9/29-10/5): Chapters 100-121
WEEK 8 (10/6-12): Chapter 121-Epilogue

*NAUTICAL TERMINOLOGY ALERT
LANYARD: 1: a piece of rope or line for fastening something in a ship; especially : one of the pieces passing through deadeyes to extend shrouds or stays**

** I hereby decree that every post on this blog should incorporate one nautical term! Actually, fuck it. Here's a glossary.

The Pythagorean Maxim

"...In this world, head winds are far more prevalent than winds from astern (that is, if you never violate the Pythagorean maxim)...." (Chapter 1)

The Pythagorean injunction is to avoid eating beans, which cause flatulence.

Norton Critical Edition of Moby Dick.

Cato the Younger

"...With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship...." (Chapter 1)

Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (95 BC–46 BC), known as Cato the Younger (Cato Minor) to distinguish him from his great-grandfather (Cato the Elder), was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy. He is remembered for his legendary stubbornness and tenacity (especially in his lengthy conflict with Gaius Julius Caesar), as well as his immunity to bribes, his moral integrity, and his famous distaste for the ubiquitous corruption of the period. ....

In Utica, Cato did not participate in the battle and, unwilling to live in a world led by Caesar and refusing even implicitly to grant Caesar the power to pardon him, he committed suicide. According to Plutarch, Cato attempted to kill himself by stabbing himself with his own sword, but failed to do so due to an injured hand. One of Cato's slaves found him on the ground and called for a physician to stitch up and bandage Cato's wounds. Cato waited until they left him and then tore off the bandages and the stitches with his fingers and pulled out his own intestines, thereby ending his life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_the_Younger. See also, the Cato Institute.

CHAPTER 1: LOOMINGS

Now that you've reading chapter one, maybe this post will make more sense to you:

http://jo-tel.com/b2b-roundup-1-shark-dick-or-the-b2b/

Start date and pace?

Purchased my copy this weekend: Herman Melville: Moby Dick, Billy Budd and Other Writings (Library of America College Edition) (Paperback). It was the only one they had at that stupid bookstore on Polk.

Four questions: Are we supposed to start reading on Tuesday or Wednesday? Will there be a pace? How should we reference passages or will chapters be sufficient? What is the point of this blog?

I am already on Chapter 9 - The Sermon. This is my first blog post ever.

Spoiler Alert

Oh, that's fucking great Shark. I go to read the blog whose main topic will surely be me being pissed off at people for giving away shit that happens in Moby Dick before I have read that part, and before the first post has even been scanned, the sidebar has given away the god damned name of the ship! Seriously though, how are we not going to spoiler ourselves? What about a weekly page number, events happening beyond which we will be forbidden to comment on?

"In this supurb edition ... Bryant and Springer make palpable the distinctions between the two Moby-Dicks, and they encourage and equip readers to consider the meaning of those differences. It is a major acheivement."
-SAMUEL OTTER, University of California, Berkeley

Hyphen Comma Colon

Let's start with the title. Does or does not the actual title of "Moby Dick" have a hyphen? It does. Hi, I'm Wayne Blasingame:

The title of the book, as it appears on the title page (and divisional title page), contained the hyphen; but the name of whale, in its many appearances within the body of the book, was not hyphenated (except once as commented below). The title, of course, was "The Whale," but the subtitle "or, Moby Dick" appeared on the half-title page, and the name had no hyphen there, or anywhere else. The question whether the hyphen should be retained in the title is not an easy one. The numerous occurances of the unhyphenated "Moby Dick" within in the text would seem to offer conclusive evidence that the name of the whale was not hyphenated in the manuscript and that Melville did not intent it to be hyphenated; but that fact does not automatically answer the question about the title of the book. As the Historical Note explains, the title page and divisional title page were set at a late stage, since the title was altered from "The Whale" only after the American proof sheets had already been sent to the English publisher; if it could be shown that the hyphenation of titles was a common practice among American publishers at this time, one would have a conceivable explanation for the presence of the hyphenation of titles was a common practice among American publishers at this time, one would have a conceivable explanation ... However, one should hesitate to assume that the hyphenation of Moby-Dick resulted merely from carelessness of the part of a compositor ...

--G. Thomas Tanselle