January 2012
5 posts
MOBY DICK, reading #11, Chapters 31-33:
Or, three chapters that have nothing at all to do with one another. And don’t transition well. In “Queen Mab,” Stubb recalls a dream where he gets kicked in the tuckus by Captain Ahab, and then a merman (yes, a merman) shows up to tell him that being kicked by Ahab is an honor, because Ahab is a “great man.” K. Next chapter, “Cetology,” is an utterly maddening Melvillian...
3 tags
MOBY DICK reading #10, Chapters 28-30:
It only took 120 pages, but we finally catch a glimpse of Captain Ahab. We’ve been told that he has a peg leg, but it’s really a whale-bone peg leg (arhhhh!). Ahab also possesses one hell of a scar, origins seemingly unknown, “right down one side of his tawny scorched face and neck.” Once Ahab starts making appearances on the deck, he does so late at night, and he PACES with that whale-bone...
“Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less man has...”
– Herman Melville, MOBY DICK
MOBY DICK reading #9, Chapters 25-27:
One last thing about how great whaling is! British coronations are conducted with whale oil! [Does Kate Middleton know this? Does QEII smell like a sperm whale?] Next up: the chief three mates on the Pequod. The first mate is Starbuck[s] – possibly lacking in the balls department - or so his introduction hints with a literary sledgehammer. Second mate is Stubb – some balls; just a little...
1 tag
MOBY DICK reading #8, Chapters 22-24:
Or, “Merry Christmas, Bulkington! Can I interest you in a brief history of whaling?” So the Pequod pulls out to sea on Christmas day, piloted - or more like helicoptered - by clingy Captains Bildad and Peleg, who leave a WIFE SWAP-styled To-Do list before finally returning to shore. Briefly, we are reintroduced to a fellow named Bulkington (who previously appeared at the lodging in New...
December 2011
8 posts
“He was going on with some wild reminiscences about his tomahawk pipe, which, it...”
– Herman Melville, MOBY DICK
MOBY DICK reading #7, Chapters 19-21:
When Ishmael and Queequeg leave the ship after their meeting, they are stopped by a bit of a loon named Elijah, who seems to know something salacious about Captain Ahab’s past. The problem is that he is so weird about revealing this information that Q and I grow frustrated with him and move along (really; what the hell is a “silver calabash” anyway?) Over the next days, the ship gets loaded and...
MOBY DICK reading #6, Chapters 16-18:
Ishmael is dispatched to sign up for a three-year whaling voyage while Queequeg observes a day-long religious fast. Ishmael interviews at the Pequod, a ship rigged with souvenirs of whale-kills (nice!) and captained by a guy named Ahab (which, Ishmael points out, is a really unfortunate name for someone in authority; see the Bible for 1 Kings 16 29-34). The ships owners, Captains...
MOBY DICK reading #5, Chapters 13-15:
After pawning the shrunken head at a barbershop, Ishmael and Queequeg take the proceeds and catch a schooner to Nantucket. On the way over, Q single-handedly rights a stray boom and rescues a drowning lubber/bumpkin (a guy who had previously been making fun of him, no less!) Once on the island, our boys head to the Try Pots, a boardinghouse known for its awesome chowder (which is served ...
MOBY DICK reading #4, Chapters 10-12:
In which Ishmael and Queequeg become BFFs. Q offers Ishmael his “wild pipe,” makes a gift of an embalmed head, and the pair are off like Waldorf and Statler. Ishmael learns some background information on his tattoo-faced bestie: Q grew up in the royal family of his South Pacific island, but longed to hop a boat and see what the rest of the world was like. In doing so, he learned ...
MOBY DICK reading #3, Chapters 7-9:
This triad of chapters fortuitously deals with church. Like any town where lots of people die doing the same dangerous job (coal mining, commercial fishing, Vietnam), there is a marble mausoleum in town where some church is also happening. The preacher as a former harpooner, the pulpit is rigged with rope ladders, and the sermon is about Jonah (of course). When the harpoon-preacher tells...
MOBY DICK reading #2, Chapters 4-6:
Ishmael awakens the following morning and discovers that a.) Queequeg is totally spooning him, and b.) there is a tomahawk in the bed. Again, Ishmael devotes time in silent observation of Q’s personal routines (he shaves with his harpoon!). At breakfast, Ishmael notes that none of the lodgers engages in conversation (but Q eats rare meat without coffee! Or rolls!). Later, Ishmael...
MOBY DICK reading #1, Chapters 1-3:
So Ishmael decides that he needs to spend some time on the sea, so he leaves Manhattan and sets out for New Bedford (!), where he looks for the cheapest place to stay while waiting for a whaling gig (and it’s a gross place, because this is whaling-era New Bedford, of course). Ishmael checks in and spends the next several hours mentally preparing himself for the arrival of his new roommate,...
