I don't know what it is about the book, and I have thought about it a lot lately, since so many people have asked, "what is it about that book?" What these dear friends mean is, "Four times? Seriously?" Seriously. I'm not kidding that the fourth time is the charm. The book is somehow funnier and also more profoundly tragic this time around. I was strongly drawn to the fatalism and attempts to mitigate the influence of the faceless forces that turn the wheel of the Pequod. Most surprisingly this time was what an exceptionally sympathetic character Ahab had become. At times the whole story seems to be an internal drama or dream played within the mind of a bedridden old captain who has just returned from a bad fight with an aquatic mammal many times the man's own size. As in Chapter 133:The Chase--First Day, when the crew keeps on the periphery of the second round of the fight between the white whale and the white-haired captain, we recognize that Ahab is surrounded by "the direful zone, whose centre had now become the old man's head." Ahab is, of course, still monomaniacal and pompous: "This lovely light, it lights not me; all loveliness is anguish to me... Continue reading at GOODREADS.com
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Places
Airports .
Ballard .
Bangkok .
Brasov .
Cal Anderson Park .
California .
Canada .
Chicago .
Columbia City .
Columbia River .
Crete .
Eastern Washington .
Ethiopia .
Germany .
Greece .
Green Lake .
Hawaii .
Home .
Laos .
Los Angeles .
Maui .
Myanmar .
Nevada .
Romania .
Seattle .
Seward Park .
Texas .
Thailand .
Transylvania .
Vashon Island .
Washington .
Wyoming .
Archives
March 2018
Categories
All
|