As a person who had a hard time reading past the first chapters of Moby-Dick, I still feel uneasy about getting into this novel. This behemoth of a story has an absurd amount of chapters, way more than expected for a typical novel, and its 800-page count is very intimidating for people who like to read medium-length novels like me. However, reading Philip Hoare’s article What “Moby-Dick” Means to Me at least eased these feelings of discomfort of having to read a difficult book in a class about reading a difficult book. Here are my thoughts while reading through the article:
Hoare frames Moby-Dick as “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.” instead of an actual novel. As of writing this (I got through Chapter 1 and part of chapter 2), I’d probably agree with Hoare. A good portion of the first few chapters of Moby-Dick is Ishmael monologuing about the city and his preparations before his whaling journey–at least, that’s what it looks like to the amateur reader. The book is more than 170 years old, and the English language has changed since then, and that probably explains why the book was difficult for its time. Either that, or this generation is not used to reading books as much as older generations do.
Moving on, Hoare talks about what reading Moby-Dick feels like to him: it feels like a drug that, when “taken” (read), makes him travel backward in time to the point where reading it is like reading “something that was written before books were invented” despite being modern. Reading that part of the article makes me even more curious as to why this work of literature is so acclaimed and influential. The first two chapters seem like Ishmael’s stream of consciousness, describing his surroundings as if they were parts of a painting. My opinion of this book may change when we all start reading it as a class later on.
Moby-Dick was definitely the novel of novels at its time, and reading about how the book had such an impact on a person’s life clued me in as to what to expect from a novel that’s split into many chapters and pages. The book is difficult, yes, but it’s a good way to challenge oneself especially after not reading for so long. Maybe when we start diving into the novel (no pun intended), we’ll see what Moby-Dick means to us.
Hello, Jesmond! I also find myself to be intimidated by this book up until now. I agree with you that the article eased my mind at least a little bit. I always like understanding what other people find meaningful about a work of art because it means that it is human enough to cause an impact on a human being. This calms me because it means I can also find something of value in the book once I read it. I like your last sentence: “we’ll see what Moby-Dick means to us.” I think this is the whole point and even if we’re kind of scared, thinking like this can help us be more patient with ourselves and Melville’s work.
Great blog post and comment on it. We are getting a bit more comfortable, together, and I am glad to see/read it!
Hello, Jesmond! Much like you the idea of reading this novel has been extremely intimidating to me and even made me feel uneasy at times. However, the way that Hoare explains the affect this novel had on him made me more curious to start it myself. I like your ideas on the novel being difficult stating “or this generation is not used to reading books as much as older generations do”, this has never crossed my mind before but I think this could be a great conversation to have about the difficulty of this novel and the reactions from different generations. It has been a comfort to me that others seem nervous about reading this, but I am excited to start the journey and find out what Moby-Dick means to each of us!
Hello, Jesmond! Much like you the idea of reading this novel has been extremely intimidating to me and even made me feel uneasy at times. However, the way that Hoare explains the affect this novel had on him made me more curious to start it myself. I like your ideas on the novel being difficult stating “or this generation is not used to reading books as much as older generations do”, this has never crossed my mind before but I think this could be a great conversation to have about the difficulty of this novel and the reactions from different generations. It has been a comfort to me that others seem nervous about reading this, but I am excited to start the journey and find out what Moby-Dick means to each of us!
(forgot my name sorry!)
Jesmond. I find your post very relatable. It’s a very long book, and very hard to get into. But, as Sanderson would say, “Journey before Destination.” Maybe you won’t enjoy it at all, or maybe you will. But what matters is the journey. As an avid reader, I have read quite a few books in my time, meaning I have read one’s I have loved, and one’s I have hated. But their is one thing in common with every single book I have read :their is something to be learned and appreciated while reading them. I hope you enjoy your journey!