tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7196813830708036159.post2058806888874968575..comments2023-01-21T12:14:17.714-08:00Comments on Miserable Pile of Secrets: What I've Been Reading #2Henryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10826787550676541006noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7196813830708036159.post-10027067101323393882012-01-28T14:26:25.605-08:002012-01-28T14:26:25.605-08:00Actually, now that I think about it, being less de...Actually, now that I think about it, being less decent still didn't help you to survive in White-Jacket; it just hardened you inside, so that you would be less disappointed when they took everything from you. Yes, pretty miserable.Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10826787550676541006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7196813830708036159.post-4229340119416859762012-01-27T23:11:53.495-08:002012-01-27T23:11:53.495-08:00From my high school reading, it seemed to me that ...From my high school reading, it seemed to me that Melville's view basically boiled down to "the world will take a decent man and break him utterly." The moral of White-Jacket then was "if you want to survive, be less than decent, and only partially broken." By the time he wrote Billy Budd, it was apparent that he didn't think survival under those terms was meaningful or worthwhile.<br /><br />I expected Moby-Dick to proceed along similar lines, but I was surprised by how comparatively unassuming it was as argument, while still being ambitious/pretentious in content and composition. As an example, I found it more ambiguous, compared to Billy Budd, whether Ahab's life was to be pitied, revered, or neither, or both. For me, I suppose that made Moby-Dick more realistic, those other works more pat by comparison.Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10826787550676541006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7196813830708036159.post-56672057733556399972012-01-23T23:05:18.780-08:002012-01-23T23:05:18.780-08:00I read Billy Budd well after my third reading of M...I read Billy Budd well after my third reading of Moby-Dick, expecting an emotional keel-hauling and an orgy of language. I didn't like it. It seemed like a miserable story of misery for its own sake. I haven't read White-Jacket, but I've read Bartleby, the Scrivener, and it's the same nihilistic view of life, taken to the extreme. <br /><br />I think Billy Budd and Bartleby are Melville bemoaning the hopelessness he saw in life. Moby-Dick, though it contains misery and hopelessness, is merely a reflection of these and myriad other experiences and emotions that buffet a person's life. It is not a dirge devoted to the worst possible outcome of humanity. Which is part of why I find Moby-Dick much more palatable as a work of art, the economy of those other books notwithstanding.Czardozhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15328299312884380446noreply@blogger.com