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Tom Ronca - 2005-02-20 11:44:32
I have to vote yea on this one; it's truly a great book, and if you liked that passage then you're in for many more like it. The 'main' story of the book (as dramatized by the John Huston/Ray Bradbury cine-adaptation; which is about as a good a movie as I think can made from the book, by the way) takes up maybe one quarter of its total length; the rest of it is comprised of asides, ruminations and other stories of the sea. It's my second favorite novel centered around the sea; I'm thinking I ought to re-read it right now.
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Paula - 2005-02-20 11:53:55
It's my second favorite novel centered around the sea...
What's yr first favorite?
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Tom Ronca - 2005-02-20 12:25:05
The first favorite holds that position for sentimental reasons; it was one of the very first novels I read and captured my imagination as a child (and to a degree to this very day), Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Seas" -- you know, Captain Nemo and such. Verne was the most popular author of his day (world-wide) and a better writer than America gives him credit for (in part because most of his books are only available in poorly translated, even bowdlerized editions in this country, even to this day). The Walter Miller translation seems to be the best, as he is something of a Verne-ophile. I'm not saying that "Leagues" is a better novel than "Moby Dick" (it's not), but Verne knows how to write a good adventure yarn and gives considerable psychological depth to the character of Nemo (assuming you're reading one of the better translations). Given the significance that "terrorism" now seems to have in our lives, this book seems more relevant than ever.
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Paula - 2005-02-20 12:38:05
Very cool...I love hearing about novels/movies/albums that informed people's tastes and visions.
Side note: I've conflated Jules Verne and HG Wells in my mind, to the point where I thought JV was British...It didn't occur to me that reading him depends on finding a good translation..."Sacre bleu, le squid gigantique!"
�
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2fs - 2005-02-20 23:32:25
Put me in the pro- Moby-Dick camp. Do find a good, unabridged version - many of them out there are heavily edited. The flavor of the book is better conveyed by those ruminative chapters like "Whiteness of the Whale" than by the "story" as such. The problem for me is finding the time, and focus, to read longer, heavy-duty books. It's very much necessary to reconfigure one's sense of time, I think - and that's hard given the demands on most people's time. But worth it...
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Paula - 2005-02-21 00:04:03
Put me in the pro- Moby-Dick camp
Alright, but Rose will have to sew nametags in your underwear first.
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Bob - 2005-02-21 03:22:00
What I find interesting about the Hermster is that his descriptions of the sea tend to be much better than Conrad's, even though I like Conrad much better overall, and even though Conrad had plenty of experience with the sea himself. Maybe Melville (sp?) was exposed to the sea at an earlier, more "informative" time than the ol' Pole. But I'd still encourage you to read "King Leopold's Ghost" instead, cuz it's much timelier, given the current administration's saintly similarity to the way that buttery Belgian bastard did bidness. ("Heart of Darkness" couldn't have been written without his impact, and was actually a moderate take). [And while there was indeed an upswing in blowjobs among youth partly because of our last president, is that as bad as an upswing in deceitfullness?] You can always read "Moby Dick" during the next administration, but "King Leopold's Ghost" is a fascinating, frightening, exhilarating account of the power of lies and how some people managed to expose Leopold's lie-machine and the brutal rape of the Congo, that is particularly gripping this century. (And it can make one more tolerant of Bush as bastids go, and yet less prone to tolerate a lie-machine.)
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2fs - 2005-02-21 14:34:52
"an upswing in blowjobs among youth partly because of our last president, is that as bad as...": okay, anyone else having trouble with this being "bad" at all? I was going to phrase that as "I can't get my head around that" but realized that phrasing had it exactly backwards. Thank you, thank you - I'll be here all week. Tip safely, and drive your waitress.
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Bob - 2005-02-21 15:05:34
2fs, r-u by any chance a fan of the punk era Canadian band Teenage Head? They're fans' slogan wasn't as pretentious as Clash fans' "The only band that matters" was. It apparently was simply "Head's the best, fuck the rest".
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Bob - 2005-02-21 15:31:22
Excuse my punctuation;; I think it was "Head's the best... fuck the rest".
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2fs - 2005-02-22 00:44:17
Bob: nope, don't know 'em - but I'm guessing that band took their name from the Flamin' Groovies song, right? (Note also: I realized that the phrase I mentioned before is perfectly apt regarded from the other party's perspective - how (hetero)sexist of me.)
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Paula - 2005-02-22 10:30:05
The only reason I know Teenage Head (as I am only an honorary Canadian) is that NYC's own Dave Rave (of Agnelli & Rave and other acts) was a member. And thus completes my knowledge of Canadian garage punk. Except for that band from Vancouver who had that great song on the first IRS compilation. Wow, now I'm just rambling, quick somebody buy me Moby Dick.
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Bob - 2005-02-22 23:45:18
Yes, they cadged their name from an F.G. song. And, by the time Dave B? joined 'em, Head had fallen out of favor. (But their Canadian gold record, Frantic City, was quite the peppy album, before they subsequently blew it by letting a U.S. distributor change their name to The Teenage Heads for one album.) And Paula, I'll buy ya King Leopold's Ghost if you wanna give IT a shot. Guarantee you'd be kind of astounded....
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Chris T. - 2005-02-24 00:42:43
Also a great instrumental from Led Zeppelin, lest we forget.
That aside, you MUST read MD. What a wonderful book!
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