Brilliant! Having read Moby Dick for the first time only last summer (at 68) I was entranced by your analysis and transported by rereading the first chapter with you. Thank you for a great start to a Sunday.
Oy! Boy oh boy did I enjoy your dip into Moby Dick. I too loved all the sea adventure books you mentioned. As a boy, I haunted the Flatbush branch of the Brooklyn public library. Moby, Dick was a favorite.
My dad was a merchant, mariner, and I felt, the pull of the sea.
One Thousand and One Nights was another favorite. Call me Sinbad…
I love Moby Dick, but I admit I haven’t read it in about 25 years. The humor of it is the one thing I’ve always carried with me. Thanks for highlighting that part!
Whaling was such a profitable business that more than 34,000 blue whales were killed in the first half of the twentieth century. 🐋
Commercial whaling was banned in 1986. However, Japan, Norway and Iceland have killed nearly 40,000 large whales since then. Faroe Islands and Japan still kill pilot whales and dolphins. 🐬 🐳
Loved this piece Greg, remembrance of youthful days of sailing, the night lights of star filled skies... all inspired by this magnificent piece of literature!
However, the near extinction of such a marvelous ocean species due to shameful whaling is a horrifying reality!
I almost shared a different piece of Melville's, his account of visiting the Galapagos and marveling at the big turtles there. It's a gorgeous piece of writing, but it ends not so happily.
Whale oil was used in lamps until petroleum oil was discovered in PA around the turn of the century. Rockefeller family had an accident were a lamp caught fire and someone was seriously injured. I thought whaling was illegal now in Japan. Ugh.
It certainly is this day and age when the need for whale oil or blubber is nil. I understand why the Inuit still hunt and are allowed to but there is no reason at all for any further commercial whaling or for that matter, the god-awful slaughter of dolphins that Japan does both of still. That should be a Greg post one day?
Yes, I love dolphins. They cross the bow of sailboats and show off for sailors. I worked a couple of years for the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon, FL Keys and learned that everything beautiful is wild and free. 🐬
I read Billy Budd in high school, and it was tough slog at 14, and I was thus never motivated to read Moby Dick. But I paid careful attention to what you observed about the book and its author, and I knew we'd find correlating patterns in Melville's horoscope. Starting with the remarkable diversity of the ship's crew, a savvy astrologer immediately expects to see patterns involving Aquarius and/or Uranus. And in fact, Melville (8/1/1819 at 11:30 PM in NYC) was born with the Moon in Sagittarius conjunct Uranus, and Jupiter in Aquarius opposing Sun in Leo. Translation: Melville needed to be a maverick, respected for his opinions and pushing boundaries with his humanitarian whale of a tale. Ishmael's friendly, witty, conversational narrative is also reflected by patterns in Melville's horoscope. Additionally, we expect these themes (some or all may apply) expressed in extremes: intangibles, ideals, poetry, victimization, delusion, fantasy, oceans. There's a ton of other stuff that could be written about Melville's natal chart, which would aptly reflect why he needed to be who he was and when things happened in his life when they did.
One of the cool things about astrology is that horoscopes continue to function as accurate timing tools in life, even when you're DEAD. Looking at his horoscope, and knowing what patterns are activating it this year, it is clear that Melville is likely to command our attention over the next few years. When I Googled him, I expected to find news of significant adaptations of his work and honors soon to be bestowed -- and I was not disappointed. Last month, for example, the city of New Bedford announced plans to put up a statue of Melville in the city's Historic District (depicted in Moby Dick).
Thanks for another delicious, thought-provoking Sunday read.
Ar 82 years if age i read the Great Gastby because Greg insisted. The ending was the best part.
Only 20000 League's Under the Sea have i read of the novels listed here.
I cared not for High School or its reading offerings. At 12 i was past reading grandma's bible and into Science fiction.
At 14 i was reading paperbacks off the drug store rack while drinking a cherry phosphate and smoking a Lucky Strike while standing on the town side walk dressed in blue jeans and a white T-shirt with my cigarette package rolled up under my left sleeve.
And then i read Hawaii and have forever been in live
con los morenos.
My first girl friends Mary Ellen' last name was Moreno. We fell in love in the fields picking grapes and harvesting lettuce.
Since 1968 i reduced my NOVELS reading prefering more factual scribblings.
My favorite writers are dead but i re read a lot. My deceased friend and favorite scribbler to date is Charles C Bowden.
Currently re reading his stuff. Like, Killing the Hidden Waters and Dakotah.
Greg, what you posted is brillant writing by Melville.
There in lies an issue for me.
It took me 14 Days to read,
Sometimes a Great Notion and almost 7 days to read Convent of Water.
I read Sometimes a Great Notion at the insistence of writer Charles Bowden who read it in one sitting of 14 hours. He also gave me a copy of Peregrine. Which i have read twice.
Also i see great deserts as Oceans forever shifting sands. And i dont get on ships and seldom on airplanes. . In 56 i was on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico that sank.
You are right. The passages you’ve provided are marvelous and really color Ishmael’s character most brilliantly. I had no idea Moby Dick would be as exciting as these few excerpts indicate. The thing is, I’m 77, almost 78 and I can just see how this would have NOT been taught in my American Lit class in high school even if it had been on our reading list. I’m a southern girl and was brought up in a small, mountain city so most likely would never have appreciated the prose or the undertones you’ve mentioned that are there. I may have to take another look at this piece of American literature as a bit more enlightened person. Thanks Greg.
Right? It was such a nice surprise to read it. It does this thing where it starts off silly, almost madcap, and then the tone shifts. That's very very hard to pull off.
After writing this I listened to your interview with Frank Figliuzzi. I really like that man and a long time ago followed him on twitter-before my account got hacked, that is. If my walking abilities weren’t so bad anymore, I would be on that cruise of his and Glenn’s in a NY minute.
Back in the dark ages when I was a junior in high school Moby Dick--or perhaps an abridged version--was on the required Jr. English reading list. I evaded it because I opted for journalism that year instead. Even with an ABD in English lit, I avoided it because I only took the minimum of American Lit courses. I was into the English Romantics.
Then, also when I was in my middle thirties and on my husband's sabbatical after passing my PhD exams, I decided to try because we were, after all, in New England. And I was mesmerized. You are entirely right about the writing. Even the long bits about whales fascinated me.
I read War and Peace my senior year in high school because it was an Everest of Lit that was just THERE. At one point Donna Reed was shown madly reading it for her book group and I thought "I can beat Donna Reed any day." I have eventually tackled the other lesser peaks--
Anna Karenina, Ulysses (NOT Finnegan's Wake, so help me) etc. And enjoyed them all. But nothing other than War and Peace (which I've since reread) and Moby Dick kept me quite so glued to my chair.
It would be fun to read Moby Dick in New England. Nantucket, even better. I have read the first chapter of War & Peace four or five times. I think I need a better physical edition of it. My eyes are terrible these days. I did read Anna Karenina. As for Finnegan's Wake, Joyce said it ook him 18 years to write it, and it should take us 18 years to read it!
I have never read Moby Dick, so I appreciate this sharing of a generous piece of it by you, whom I consider the inspirational teacher of Literature that I never had. The passage about how most of us are drawn to the water moved me! From a farm in Ohio to my Colorado residence I’m a confirmed landlubber—except for five years in the 1980s when I worked in Boston and commuted to work by boat. I can right now smell the ocean and see the pilings in the harbor and the seagulls overhead! Some of the fondest memories of my life come from that flirtation with the edge of the ocean, and Melville knew how to tease it out of me!
Thanks, Earl. I'm a landlubber too. Although I love airports in the way he loves the sea. It's the same kind of feeling, a wanderlust mixed with technical marvel mixed with nature.
Having grown up in summers looking out over Vineyard sound, almost every night we could see the light buoy marking Coffin Rock that’s mentioned in Moby Dick. It’s still there of course;
Sailors beware.
My father remembered the strong odor from whaling ships as they passed through the sound. I’m guessing those were bound for New Bedford where Melville’s statue will find its final ‘berth.’
But whaling today is an outrage. Shame on Norway, Japan and others.
Yes, humans too often do kill for greed. And for a sense of power that’s
invasive abusive insane destructive and you can add more words better than I can! Thank you Greg. Next read, once again Moby Dick thanks to your wonderful review.
Brilliant! Having read Moby Dick for the first time only last summer (at 68) I was entranced by your analysis and transported by rereading the first chapter with you. Thank you for a great start to a Sunday.
Thank you! It's such a good first chapter in particular.
Oy! Boy oh boy did I enjoy your dip into Moby Dick. I too loved all the sea adventure books you mentioned. As a boy, I haunted the Flatbush branch of the Brooklyn public library. Moby, Dick was a favorite.
My dad was a merchant, mariner, and I felt, the pull of the sea.
One Thousand and One Nights was another favorite. Call me Sinbad…
Billserle.com
Thanks, Bill. That's so cool that your father was a mariner.
I love Moby Dick, but I admit I haven’t read it in about 25 years. The humor of it is the one thing I’ve always carried with me. Thanks for highlighting that part!
PS. It seems like February is some kind of unofficial Moby Dick month. The folks over at Defector also decided to read it and their group book report is worth a read. https://defector.com/from-hells-heart-we-blog-at-thee-lets-chat-about-moby-dick
Thanks! I will take a look...
Whaling was such a profitable business that more than 34,000 blue whales were killed in the first half of the twentieth century. 🐋
Commercial whaling was banned in 1986. However, Japan, Norway and Iceland have killed nearly 40,000 large whales since then. Faroe Islands and Japan still kill pilot whales and dolphins. 🐬 🐳
Protect wildlife! #BloodyIsles #Taiji
Loved this piece Greg, remembrance of youthful days of sailing, the night lights of star filled skies... all inspired by this magnificent piece of literature!
However, the near extinction of such a marvelous ocean species due to shameful whaling is a horrifying reality!
Animals kill for need. Human animals kill for greed.
I also owned several boats and loved hearing the dolphins outside my berth when falling asleep at anchor 🐬
I almost shared a different piece of Melville's, his account of visiting the Galapagos and marveling at the big turtles there. It's a gorgeous piece of writing, but it ends not so happily.
I love turtles too 🐢 and most of them are endangered too.
Thanks, PAtrick!
Whale oil was used in lamps until petroleum oil was discovered in PA around the turn of the century. Rockefeller family had an accident were a lamp caught fire and someone was seriously injured. I thought whaling was illegal now in Japan. Ugh.
Japan still kill and trade whales and dolphins.
Whaling in Japan 🐋🐳🐬
https://us.whales.org/our-goals/stop-whaling/whaling-in-japan/#:~:text=Japanese%20whalers%20continue%20to%20hunt,sold%20on%20the%20open%20market.
Thanks for sharing.
Watch The Cove 🎥
Have you read Dan Simmons?
Sickening..the Blue whales heart is the size of a Volkswagen💔They are sentient animals😣😓
Whaling is the worst animal abuse.
It certainly is this day and age when the need for whale oil or blubber is nil. I understand why the Inuit still hunt and are allowed to but there is no reason at all for any further commercial whaling or for that matter, the god-awful slaughter of dolphins that Japan does both of still. That should be a Greg post one day?
I’ve never liked Gatsby. I can’t get past the whininess of the privileged and the wannabes. 🥱
Sadly Kirsten, the world is littered with man’s greed!
Sleeping near rolling tides with dolphins sounds magical, as are the sounds of nights in the rain-forest! I truly miss them!
Yes, I love dolphins. They cross the bow of sailboats and show off for sailors. I worked a couple of years for the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon, FL Keys and learned that everything beautiful is wild and free. 🐬
Very well said Kirsten… the joys of being wild and free,appear fleeting in the days epoch!
I read Billy Budd in high school, and it was tough slog at 14, and I was thus never motivated to read Moby Dick. But I paid careful attention to what you observed about the book and its author, and I knew we'd find correlating patterns in Melville's horoscope. Starting with the remarkable diversity of the ship's crew, a savvy astrologer immediately expects to see patterns involving Aquarius and/or Uranus. And in fact, Melville (8/1/1819 at 11:30 PM in NYC) was born with the Moon in Sagittarius conjunct Uranus, and Jupiter in Aquarius opposing Sun in Leo. Translation: Melville needed to be a maverick, respected for his opinions and pushing boundaries with his humanitarian whale of a tale. Ishmael's friendly, witty, conversational narrative is also reflected by patterns in Melville's horoscope. Additionally, we expect these themes (some or all may apply) expressed in extremes: intangibles, ideals, poetry, victimization, delusion, fantasy, oceans. There's a ton of other stuff that could be written about Melville's natal chart, which would aptly reflect why he needed to be who he was and when things happened in his life when they did.
One of the cool things about astrology is that horoscopes continue to function as accurate timing tools in life, even when you're DEAD. Looking at his horoscope, and knowing what patterns are activating it this year, it is clear that Melville is likely to command our attention over the next few years. When I Googled him, I expected to find news of significant adaptations of his work and honors soon to be bestowed -- and I was not disappointed. Last month, for example, the city of New Bedford announced plans to put up a statue of Melville in the city's Historic District (depicted in Moby Dick).
Thanks for another delicious, thought-provoking Sunday read.
That is fantastic. Thanks for sharing! I love all this stuff, as you know. I'm ready for the great Melville revival!
Speaking of "exquisitely good writers," Thank You, Greg!
Thank you!
I would recommend to you Melville’s last novel, The Confidence Man, as an even more relevant commentary on our times.
Thanks, Bob. I'll have to check it out. I shudder to think...
Ar 82 years if age i read the Great Gastby because Greg insisted. The ending was the best part.
Only 20000 League's Under the Sea have i read of the novels listed here.
I cared not for High School or its reading offerings. At 12 i was past reading grandma's bible and into Science fiction.
At 14 i was reading paperbacks off the drug store rack while drinking a cherry phosphate and smoking a Lucky Strike while standing on the town side walk dressed in blue jeans and a white T-shirt with my cigarette package rolled up under my left sleeve.
And then i read Hawaii and have forever been in live
con los morenos.
My first girl friends Mary Ellen' last name was Moreno. We fell in love in the fields picking grapes and harvesting lettuce.
Since 1968 i reduced my NOVELS reading prefering more factual scribblings.
My favorite writers are dead but i re read a lot. My deceased friend and favorite scribbler to date is Charles C Bowden.
Currently re reading his stuff. Like, Killing the Hidden Waters and Dakotah.
At 84 im going pass on todays reading mentions.
At 84 i forget to check my postings prior to stabbing the Exciting SEND key.
Cal lash are you kidding? How were we never friends?
What
I'm not sure you'd like Moby Dick, Cal...although maybe you would. You'd know from the chapter here if it resonates with you or not.
Greg, what you posted is brillant writing by Melville.
There in lies an issue for me.
It took me 14 Days to read,
Sometimes a Great Notion and almost 7 days to read Convent of Water.
I read Sometimes a Great Notion at the insistence of writer Charles Bowden who read it in one sitting of 14 hours. He also gave me a copy of Peregrine. Which i have read twice.
Also i see great deserts as Oceans forever shifting sands. And i dont get on ships and seldom on airplanes. . In 56 i was on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico that sank.
But I'll pickup a copy and give it a Go.
Thsnks for your great writings.
The blue jeans, the white T-shirt, the cigarette pack -so evocative! I'm 82. Obviously.
There is no reality in which young Cal Lash wasn't cool.
Karen, red hair?
I'm a red head dude with three Karen's notched.
You are right. The passages you’ve provided are marvelous and really color Ishmael’s character most brilliantly. I had no idea Moby Dick would be as exciting as these few excerpts indicate. The thing is, I’m 77, almost 78 and I can just see how this would have NOT been taught in my American Lit class in high school even if it had been on our reading list. I’m a southern girl and was brought up in a small, mountain city so most likely would never have appreciated the prose or the undertones you’ve mentioned that are there. I may have to take another look at this piece of American literature as a bit more enlightened person. Thanks Greg.
Right? It was such a nice surprise to read it. It does this thing where it starts off silly, almost madcap, and then the tone shifts. That's very very hard to pull off.
After writing this I listened to your interview with Frank Figliuzzi. I really like that man and a long time ago followed him on twitter-before my account got hacked, that is. If my walking abilities weren’t so bad anymore, I would be on that cruise of his and Glenn’s in a NY minute.
He's terrific. I'm not a cruise guy, but that one looks super amazing.
Back in the dark ages when I was a junior in high school Moby Dick--or perhaps an abridged version--was on the required Jr. English reading list. I evaded it because I opted for journalism that year instead. Even with an ABD in English lit, I avoided it because I only took the minimum of American Lit courses. I was into the English Romantics.
Then, also when I was in my middle thirties and on my husband's sabbatical after passing my PhD exams, I decided to try because we were, after all, in New England. And I was mesmerized. You are entirely right about the writing. Even the long bits about whales fascinated me.
I read War and Peace my senior year in high school because it was an Everest of Lit that was just THERE. At one point Donna Reed was shown madly reading it for her book group and I thought "I can beat Donna Reed any day." I have eventually tackled the other lesser peaks--
Anna Karenina, Ulysses (NOT Finnegan's Wake, so help me) etc. And enjoyed them all. But nothing other than War and Peace (which I've since reread) and Moby Dick kept me quite so glued to my chair.
It would be fun to read Moby Dick in New England. Nantucket, even better. I have read the first chapter of War & Peace four or five times. I think I need a better physical edition of it. My eyes are terrible these days. I did read Anna Karenina. As for Finnegan's Wake, Joyce said it ook him 18 years to write it, and it should take us 18 years to read it!
I didn't even try. I read Ulysses in conjunction with a couple of books that explained as you go along. With that, it was pretty cool.
When the eyes go, Kindle rules.
As for Finnegan's Wake: enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5U2MH7xuKU
Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake! That's awesome. Thanks for sharing!
I have never read Moby Dick, so I appreciate this sharing of a generous piece of it by you, whom I consider the inspirational teacher of Literature that I never had. The passage about how most of us are drawn to the water moved me! From a farm in Ohio to my Colorado residence I’m a confirmed landlubber—except for five years in the 1980s when I worked in Boston and commuted to work by boat. I can right now smell the ocean and see the pilings in the harbor and the seagulls overhead! Some of the fondest memories of my life come from that flirtation with the edge of the ocean, and Melville knew how to tease it out of me!
Thanks, Earl. I'm a landlubber too. Although I love airports in the way he loves the sea. It's the same kind of feeling, a wanderlust mixed with technical marvel mixed with nature.
Having grown up in summers looking out over Vineyard sound, almost every night we could see the light buoy marking Coffin Rock that’s mentioned in Moby Dick. It’s still there of course;
Sailors beware.
My father remembered the strong odor from whaling ships as they passed through the sound. I’m guessing those were bound for New Bedford where Melville’s statue will find its final ‘berth.’
But whaling today is an outrage. Shame on Norway, Japan and others.
Yes, humans too often do kill for greed. And for a sense of power that’s
invasive abusive insane destructive and you can add more words better than I can! Thank you Greg. Next read, once again Moby Dick thanks to your wonderful review.
Oh, that's a great place to summer. I'm going to read it again, too, as soon as I have the requisite time...
Thanks a lot Greg-now I'm going to have to read Moby Dick. You hooked me!
Melville hooked you. I just helped. ; )