Hi all:
As those of you who’ve been following me for a while will remember, recently I revisited my first post. I’ve also been thinking of some of the posts that I (and you, my readers) have enjoyed since I started blogging, and I’ve realised I really enjoyed the posts I created about authors that have become classics. I’m thinking of trying to feature one of those posts at regular intervals (if I can fit them in, once a month) and thought we could revisit some of the good oldies back first to kick it off.
This is the first classic I brought you almost two years ago, Herman Melville. (The original post follows)
I usually have a guest post on Fridays. Today isn’t going to be an exception. Only instead of bringing you one of the new writers I’ve met, I thought I’d bring you a dead author. He’s surely dead, but I didn’t think that should prevent me from having him as a guest. After all zombies and vampires are all the rage these days and they’re dead too so…
I’ve been corresponding with a friend and fellow author, Mary Meddlemore and talking about reading and classics. And as I love Melville, I thought, why not? There’s also the advantage that many of his works can be downloaded for free, so it’s a win-win situation.
I have a BA in American Literature and I must say that although I knew of Melville I became more familiar with him when I was studying for my degree. I read Moby Dick several times. I must admit it’s a bit of a peculiar read (and fairly long), but I fell truly in love with it. It is ambitious, wandering, deep, funny, moving, dramatic, elegiac, philosophical, adventurous, scholarly, and bigger than life. Good candidate to the ever sought after title of The Great American Novel. Its opening lines: ‘Call me Ishmael.’ are well known and as good first lines as I’ve ever read. Simple but…
I post you links to detailed biographies of Melville.
Link to Virginia Education biography on Herman Melville. Great page.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/bb/hm_bio.html
Another fabulous page on Herman Melville and his later recognition
http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/nature/
A brief summary: He was born in New York in August 1, 1819 and died in September 28, 1891, forgotten by most, to the point where his obituary listed him as ‘Henry’ Melville. He travelled the South Seas, he became known for his adventure/exotic novels (Typee, Omoo) but later deviated onto more serious writing and never quite recovered the popularity of his youth. Moby Dick (or The Whale as it was initially published) is his best known work and masterpiece, although he carried on writing, with less and less success, to the point that he stopped publishing, worked as a customs inspector in New York, and some of his works, like Billy Budd were published posthumously.
Why do I like him so much? I feel he was ahead of his time. He reminds me of the modernists (if somebody can remind you of people who came after him) and works like ‘Bartleby the Scrivener’ (that I can’t recommend enough) and ‘The Confidence Man’ are truly unique and out of keeping with the writing of his era. He didn’t shy away of asking the big questions, even when that meant loss of popularity. He pursued his poetry and his fiction beyond market and readers. Like his greatest character, Captain Ahab, he never gave up despite the hopelessness of his pursuit.
I thought I’d share one of the many passages I love in Moby Dick. This is from chapter 132 ‘The Symphony’ where Ahab is talking to his first mate, Starbuck (if you wondered about the name of the coffee chain…) about his life to that point. It’s a rare moment of self-disclosure that shows that indeed Ahab has his ‘humanities’.
“Oh, Starbuck! it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky. On such a day- very much such a sweetness as this- I struck my first whale- a boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty- forty- forty years ago!- ago! Forty years of continual whaling! forty years of privation, and peril, and storm-time! forty years on the pitiless sea! for forty years has Ahab forsaken the peaceful land, for forty years to make war on the horrors of the deep! Aye and yes, Starbuck, out of those forty years I have not spent three ashore. When I think of this life I have led; the desolation of solitude it has been; the masoned, walled-town of a Captain’s exclusiveness, which admits but small entrance to any sympathy from the green country without- oh, weariness! heaviness! Guinea-coast slavery of solitary command!- when I think of all this; only half-suspected, not so keenly known to me before- and how for forty years I have fed upon dry salted fare- fit emblem of the dry nourishment of my soul!- when the poorest landsman has had fresh fruit to his daily hand, and broken the world’s fresh bread to my mouldy crusts- away, whole oceans away, from that young girl-wife I wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow- wife? wife?- rather a widow with her husband alive? Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy, the boiling blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab has furiously, foamingly chased his prey- more a demon than a man!- aye, aye! what a forty years’ fool- fool- old fool, has old Ahab been! Why this strife of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the oar, and the iron, and the lance? how the richer or better is Ahab now? Behold. Oh, Starbuck! is it not hard, that with this weary load I bear, one poor leg should have been snatched from under me? Here, brush this old hair aside; it blinds me, that I seem to weep. Locks so grey did never grow but from out some ashes! But do I look very old, so very, very old, Starbuck? I feel deadly faint, bowed, and humped, as though I were Adam, staggering beneath the piled centuries since Paradise. God! God! God!- crack my heart!- stave my brain!- mockery! mockery! bitter, biting mockery of grey hairs, have I lived enough joy to wear ye; and seem and feel thus intolerably old? Close! stand close to me, Starbuck; let me look into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky; better than to gaze upon God. By the green land; by the bright hearthstone! this is the magic glass, man; I see my wife and my child in thine eye. No, no; stay on board, on board!- lower not when I do; when branded Ahab gives chase to Moby Dick. That hazard shall not be thine. No, no! not with the far away home I see in that eye!”
I hope you’ve enjoyed it and if you want to read more, here is the link to one of the free digital versions of the novel. There are more:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moby-Dick-White-Whale-ebook/dp/B004TRXX7C/
Check ‘Bartleby the Scrivener’ on line. You won’t regret it:
And a link to Melville organisation, for all things Melville:
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to CLICK! (They’re all free!) And SHARE
Related articles
- BBC Produces Film on Seafarer that Inspired Moby Dick (booksnreview.com)
- BBC start work on Moby Dick film The Whale, but there’s no Ahab in sight (telegraph.co.uk)
Of course, as I said then, thanks for reading, like, share, comment, and I’m interested in hearing suggestions as to classics (either authors or books) you’d be interested in seeing here. I try and go for the ones where there is a fair amount of material and links to free work but that’s not an exclusion criteria and I’m planning on some that might not quite fit there…Keep reading and clicking!
Excellent, Olga. Interesting and educational. It has always seemed strange to me, but in school I didn’t have to read very many classics. Except Shakespeare… I had a lot of “the Bard,” but not the rest. So I enjoyed this post. Hugs! 😀
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Thanks Teagan. I love Melville, whom I find an interesting thinker and a wonderful writer. And it goes to show that fame in writing has always been fickle, even in his time. Shakespeare is well-worth studying but of course there are certain themes that he didn’t go into. I am very fond of American writers although I had fun rediscovering some of the good oldies we don’t hear so much about these days.
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Great info. Fun to learn more about Melville. 💖
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Thanks Colleen. Some of his books are not that easy to come by, but on the other hand there are plenty free to read…
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I downloaded many free classics for my Kindle. Well worth it. I have read most of Dickens’ novels that way.
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Yes, there are other sites where they’re available too. If I had the time I’d be transcribing some too…
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You have to wonder if he actually took a trip aboard a whaling ship to get a feel for how desolate he paints it with his words.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
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He went awhaling as they’d put, for sure. He worked in the ships for 5 years or so. In ‘Whitejacket’ and even more in ‘Redburn’ you get a feel for what it was like at the time to embark as a young man in one of those ships (you had to take your own mug and any cutlery you might want to use as nothing was provided, and you were away from home for the first time, with no knowledge or idea of where you were going, surrounded by strangers). He was able to appreciate both, the beauty and the loneliness…
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Good morning, Olga. Love this post, and enjoy reading the American classics….maybe it’s because I lived in the States for 28 years, but I find the writing and content to be of great interest.
Have a lovely weekend. Janet:)
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Thanks Janet! One of my first loves was ‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott (I’ll repost the article about her soon) and her description of life and customs hooked me onto it from an early age. Moby Dick was one of these novels one always hears about but somehow seem too long and probably boring to read. Nothing further from the truth. Although his other novels and his shorter stories are amazing too. A very modern writer with a good handle on the psychological aspects of character (even before people thought on those terms).
Happy weekend!
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Sounds like a good idea to me Olga.
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Thanks Laurie and happy weekend. I enjoyed your pics yesterday…:)
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You’re welcome Olga, I’m visiting an open garden tomorrow and going to a birthday party. Phew, what a weekend. I’m running late on all my comments today and I’ve just answered your comment on the photos. I’m very happy with the offerings this week.
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I hope you’ll take the camera with you. Have a great weekend!
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I don’t leave home without one. 🙂
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Excellent!
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Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Excellent choice Olga for your Classis guest.. Herman Melville was part of my reading as a teenager…apart from Moby Dick I loved Billy Budd…One of my other much read books was Dr. Zivago by Boris Pasternak wonderful poetry a life full of as much intrigue as an book of fiction… If anyone has any classic authors they would like to suggest please contact Olga directly from the post..
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Thanks Sally. I take note. Boris Pasternak hasn’t been in one of my posts yet, so he qualifies. And you’ve made me think of a few French and Russian writers that could be great subjects…Happy weekend! 🙂
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Have a lovely weekend too Olga and no doubt see you in the usual hangouts…
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I hope so. I seem to be having problems connecting to some sites…I’m OK but connection might not be… Be well.
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Since I wasn’t following your blog when you began, this was new and really interesting information for me. Thank you! I read Moby Dick in high school, for which I thank my English teachers – they introduced us to so many classics. Did you cover Willa Cather or Sarah Orne Jewett? Two of my favorite classics authors…
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No, thanks! Great suggestions! I have read a few of Willa Cather’s novels and studied her but I’m not that familiar with Sarah Orne Jewett. Perfect chance to catch up…Thanks Noelle!
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Thank you for the reminder of Bartleby. I haven’t read it in years, but I remember being fascinated by the story long ago in high school. I’ve actually never read Moby Dick–embarrassing! I do know it’s based somewhat on a real incident with the whaler The Essex that Melville would have been familiar with.
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Yes. I think like many things that teachers insist on sometimes we resist just because… I remember being convinced that El Lazarillo de Tormes (a picaresque Spanish classic) was going to be terrible and didn’t read it until I was an adult. And it is a fantastic book. Bartleby is fascinating indeed. Benito Cereno is another one of his shorter works of fiction that leaves you pondering and unsettled (so does Billy Budd, although I think he lost the joy of writing in later life, or it was beaten out of him…). You’re right about the origin of Moby Dick, although the book is so much more than the whaling story…
Thanks Merrill!
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I think many of “the classics” I’ve read on my own, or just because I’ve run across them. I will get to Moby Dick one of these days. 🙂
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It’s a leisurely read for sure. No quick pace although it picks up… I read quite a few American ones when I did my BA in American Literature and mostly enjoyed them. Some I’ve read a few times and one can always discover new things…:)
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Hello Olga! Very interesting post. I’ve learned so much about Melville. You provided a fount of information––thanks for that. I’d love to read more on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Frankenstein & The Last Man) and Alexander Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers & The Man In The Iron Mask). 😀
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Hi Vashti! Your wish is my command. Here a post I did on Mary Shelley and her mum (I thought they both deserved a post and I find them fascinating, even if they hardly had time to know each other as Mary Woolstonecraft died when the little girl was only 11 days old. https://olganm.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/mary-wollstonecraft-and-mary-shelley-mother-and-daughter-guest-classic-authors/
I was thinking of Alexander Dumas for the list, so now he gets two votes! Mind you, of course you also have his on and The Lady of the Camellias. Mind you, not sure I’d managed to fit both in one post as Dumas was very prolific (and sometimes used others to take down his notes, complete his writings. I watched a movie where Gerard Depardieu played Dumas and it was about his relationship with one of those ghostwriters.
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You bring back memories of my college days…I studied Melville and “Moby Dick” – the section you chose was one of my favorites – the price Captain Ahab has paid for his great obsession with the great whale…
Also studied the so-called ‘Naturalists’ in American Lit – Jack London, Steven Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Jack Norris, et al. Do they fit your list?
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Thanks Billy Ray. I did write about the chapter on the doubloon, that it’s a fascinating study on interpretation and psychology.
Yes, yes, I take notes. I’ve read Dreiser more than the others but it’s good to rediscover authors. Have a lovely weekend.
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Thanks, Olga, for this interesting and entertaining post and all the links. Too bad he finally gave up on his writing and was forgotten. That shows it could happen to anyone. He did live to quite an old age for those days.
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Thanks Suzanne. It’s weird. He was one of those writers who after being famous was not appreciated in his time but in later years he has become recognised as a classic. The opposite is also true. Some writers who are very famous during their lifetime get forgotten after and nobody knows about them a few years down the line. I guess that’s not very helpful at the time though….
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Thanks olga so informative I enjoyed reading it
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Thanks Natasha. More to come!
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Reblogged this on theowlladyblog.
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