Tag Archives: Philip Hoare

Maybe Moby Dick is for me? We shall see!

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Reading the article on “What “Moby Dick” Means to Me” made me think of myself and how I hope to portray it now in my life. I remember starting this book in high schol and just not getting it and probably only had read a handful of chapters before my teacher changed what we were reading. All I could remember was that it was boring then and all I knew was that there was a giant whale in the book that did things to the men in the book. I didn’t have such a great view of the book from back then but now that I am in college I hope I can see this book with a new mindset.

Philip Hoare the writer of this article was even put off by the book when he was a kid and he even said that the book was “difficult” which I can agree with as well as many others. And as we grow older, so does our knowledge so we can see things with a new view. Hoare stated that Moby Dick is neither a book or a novel but, “It’s more an act of transference, of ideas and evocations hung around the vast and unknowable shape of the whale, an extended musing on the strange meeting of human history and natural history,” which I can totally agree with. At first when I read that line, I thought I knew what is he talking about but after processing it a bit more, I think Hoare is trying to tell us that the story has a lot of depth of thought and history within which can be complicated to understand. He even says later on when he had picked up the book again, he did not want to put it down and he was fully invested. It must have clicked for him and I can hope it can be like that for me as well.

From what I know so far about this book, I can see Moby Dick as a fictional story which can teach us lessons as we read the 800 page book about man, a whale and nature. I know I might get bored through out the book with descriptions of whaling and sorts, but I am very interested to see how this book plays out to understand why so many people and our professor love this book so much. I am excited to see how this book plays out and to disect the book with everyone.

What “Moby-Dick” Can Mean to Us

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In Philip Hoare’s article, “What ‘Moby-Dick’ Means to Me”, he reflects on how his relationship with “Moby-Dick” has transformed over time and explains how a “difficult” text can transform into different meanings when approached at various periods of your life; he suggests that classic literature has less of a fixed meaning but instead has an evolving relationship between the text and reader. He admits, “I didn’t know then what I do now: that ‘Moby-Dick’ can be whatever you want it to be. It took me thirty years to discover what the book was – or what it was not.” (Para. 2) That is the beauty of literature; while words remain the same, how you perceive and interpret the text can change every time you read it, since you are constantly evolving. Hoare once dismissed “Moby-Dick” as “wordy worthiness” (Para. 2) compared to John Huston’s film, but later came to describe it as“an act of transference…a sui-generis creation, one that came into the world as an unnatural, immaculate conception.” (Para. 4) His transformation shows that the perception of the book can change depending on where you are in life. This is relatable to me. If you asked me to read “Moby-Dick” 5 years ago, I probably would not have batted an eye, but I feel like a different person than I was 5 years ago. I am more open to change and welcome new experiences and perspectives on life. Our life experiences are constantly changing us; classic literature has gained its enduring relevance by being able to be rediscovered at different times, offering a fresh meaning each time we reread it. As Hoare observes, “oceanic reach and perverse digression provide endless sources of inspiration and interpretation” (Para. 10) and that “Moby-Dick” “reads like something that was written before books were invented, yet it is utterly modern.” (Para. 9) As long as we constantly evolving as individuals, we will continue to gain new experiences and inspiration. This can be from nature or from the different forms of media that we are consuming. Like him, I see that great works are not static texts but companions that grow alongside us.