Prologue
my beloved 1937 copy of Moby-Dick illustrated by Rockwell Kent, whose illustrations will be scattered throughout these posts
Some years ago—never mind how long precisely (three)—I finally read Moby-Dick. I've read it every March since then per Melville's penchant for reading ship's logbooks in March:
“White-Jacket has them all; and they are fine reading of a boisterous March night, with the casement rattling in your ear, and the chimney-stacks blowing down upon the pavement, bubbling with rain-drops.”
My first read was strictly reading through it. No notes, no literary analysis until the book was done. My second read was comprehension: catching what was missed on the first go, enjoying the prose without trying to untangle the minutiae of it all. The third read has been for analysis, hence the blog. I've listened to Hubert Dreyfus's lecture series; read Call Me Ishmael by Charles Olson, Why Read Moby-Dick? and In The Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, and some of Melville's short works (Benito Cereno, Bartleby the Scrivener, The Encantadas, The Paradise of Bachelors & The Tartarus of Maids, Billy Budd); gone over posts from The Beige Moth (a fantastic resource, by the way); ruminated over it all; rekindled a love for Jimmy Buffett, etc.
Per Melville, Moby-Dick is not meant to be solved. There's no singular interpretation, no best meaning, no right way to read it—it exists. And, to me, that is a major part of the intrigue: it's an endless riddle, and every time you read it is an opportunity to discover another coral insect.
All this said: I will—albeit slowly—work on sharing my thoughts & interpretations here, as this book is at its best when it's allowed room to be queried over, and northwest Montana is unfortunately short on multi-part courses on the book.
I do not profess to be an expert (nor will I ever be caught doing so; remain a student, always) or to be a be-all-end-all source of information here. These are my ramblings on an old, fantastic, hilarious, earnest, soul-crusher of a book. I’m an artist, a writer, and a niche fact-gatherer (it will also, in due time, become evident how much I love whales). In this case, Moby-Dick is the perfect book.
—M
