Ahab to Mr. Starbuck in "MobyDick"

[William]

I know of their work, I just have never had the occasion to read either.

william

[Aedes]

Anyway, retribution is the main plot mover, but the story is about the relentless darkness and monomania of Ahab

[William]

Yes, I do agree and why all who followed his madness to survive perished, save 1, who was there to record it all. Melville is Ishmael.
william

[Aedes]

The narrator is Ishmael, but he's as much a character in the story as anyone. I think Melville created Ishmael's voice with a lot of irony, so I wouldn't call them the same.

[William]

Originally Posted by Aedes

The narrator is Ishmael, but he's as much a character in the story as anyone. I think Melville created Ishmael's voice with a lot of irony, so I wouldn't call them the same.

I can agree with that. We didn't exactly live with the guy, but his mind is clearly available which allows us to examine it, so to speak. That is one of the great puzzles that has often evaded me and that is where they gather the thoughts that enable them to so freely offer a narrative of such magnitude, such as Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind, or Ryn's Atlas Shrugged , and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (I still have no idea of what that was about) Ha. They are definitely "plugged in" to something.

Thanks,
William

PS; Just had a thought; "The literary Musical" alludeing to the mystical "MUSE". Hmmm?

[Didymos Thomas]

Originally Posted by William

That is one of the great puzzles that has often evaded me and that is where they gather the thoughts that enable them to so freely offer a narrative of such magnitude, such as Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind, or Ryn's Atlas Shrugged , and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (I still have no idea of what that was about) Ha. They are definitely "plugged in" to something.

If you are ranking Atlas Shrugged among such classics as The Canterbury Tales then I highly recommend you find the time for Dante's Inferno and Milton's Paradise Lost. Rand's book has to be one of the most monstrously awful texts ever penned. The only thing she was plugged into was a misunderstanding of Nietzsche and arrogance.

As for Ishmael - is that the character's actual name? As I recall, the book begins, "Call me Ishmael" which is quite different from "I am Ishmael". If with go with the Biblical reference, taking the name Ishmael would signify that the character is cast out from what he feels to be his home, abandoned.

[Aedes]

He says to call him Ishmael, but he also relates stories in which others call him Ishmael (and as I recall he never intimates that he has any other name). As for being cast out and abandoned, he seems to choose that for himself -- except in the very last line of the book he calls himself an orphan.

Haven't read any Rand. The Canterbury Tales is a work of ungodly brilliance. You've got to read it in the original Middle English, and preferably out loud, to really sense the irony and color.

[Didymos Thomas]

Okay - see, I've never read Moby Dick, so I had no idea.

Don't read Rand. Seriously. In fact, if you began Atlas, my guess is that you would abandon the effort before the halfway mark and pity, for the rest of your days, all who have trudged through that mammoth waste of ink and paper.

Sorry, William, I don't mean to disparage your tastes - I know a great many people who rank it as their favorite. It is wildly popular, after all. It's just that I cannot find any redeeming literary qualities in the work, and the underlying outlook on life strikes me as juvenile.

[Aedes]

William is a big fan of many of the 19th century novels that are on my short list to read, so we've enjoyed comparing notes lately.

DT, if you're interested in Moby Dick, the free audio recording of it on librivox.org is outstanding. It took me about 2 weeks to finish it.

[Didymos Thomas]

I am very much interested in Moby Dick, but this pile of books next to my bed precludes my beginning that text. A good portion of it is re-reading - the resulting of poor reading habits as a youngster.