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/lit/ - Literature

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10591606 No.10591606 [Reply] [Original]

Am I just a brainlet or is Moby Dick really a struggle to get through? I'm only about six chapters deep, but god, it is just rambles on ceaselessly. The diction is really impenetrable at times too, while I've had no issue reading books significantly older.

>> No.10591615

The first hundred pages are the easiest to read.
It's not an easy read, but it's worth it imo.

>> No.10591725

>>10591615
>The first hundred pages are the easiest to read.

Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into.

>> No.10591760

i could never read long novels without some kind of a hypothesis against which to compare every page
>is melville gay?
>is the captain the demiurge?
>is the whale le Big Other?
and so on

just going in because you wanna "read a classic" is low energy

>> No.10591762

you're a brainlet, it's fun as fuck

>> No.10591788

>>10591760
Going in (for the first time) with preconceptions is low energy

>> No.10591819
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10591819

>>10591788
why should the first time be special? you never step into the same book twice. the disinterested neutral subject is a spook.

>> No.10591822

>just rambles on ceaselessly

Is it weird I like these sort of novels most?

>> No.10591827
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10591827

I selected a short paragraph at random from the book.

It doesn't require any inordinate effort to read, and is actually quite striking and evocative.

Whence the struggle?

>> No.10591831

>>10591819
Because your preconceptions come from your own mind and biases not the book itself. The second or any other subsequent readings can have preconceptions from the first reading.

>> No.10591842

the whole scene where theyre eating the clam chowder is really great

>> No.10591844

I got hard when Quugueg buttfucked him

>> No.10591845

>>10591725
It's one of those classics where if you're not until it at the beginning you might not like the rest. Have you read in the Heart if the Sea yet?

>> No.10591862

>>10591842
One of the most comfy scenes in literature. Also has one of the few women in the book.

>> No.10591892

>>10591827
I wanted to emphasize "sometimes" when it comes to the diction. Because there are great, beautiful passages, but the book, especially when it begins to meander and ramble, sort of loses the imagery in my head and my eyes begin to glaze over the page.

>>10591760
I love reading literary canon, and it has been a fine enough motivation for me so far. I think those sort of hypotheses should form naturally as one reads. Also, do not take my struggles as boredom or disinterest. I consider reading works like these a broadening, educating experience that lets me enter a time, culture, and mindset I would otherwise have no opportunity to experience. I wish to get the most out of the book as a possibly can, and I simply wonder if the density of the prose is prohibiting me from fully enjoying it's scope more so than the average modern reader.

>>10591845
I have not. Also, I'm not entirely sure what your first sentence is saying.

>> No.10591920
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10591920

>tfw to come to /lit/ in the current year is to see millenial pseuds bashing, belittling, and berating the all time great works of literature

>> No.10591924

>>10591920
Where has anybody in this thread bashed the book?

>> No.10591936

>>10591606
The diction and rambling is the best part, just come back to it

>> No.10592698

>>10591920

Don’t be such a cock about it... obviously we realize it is a miracle of a work, but anything that divine should challenge the brain. Help your brethren by adding something useful.

>> No.10592736

>>10591615
Not exactly true.
>>10591606
Wait until Ahab shows up. His speeches and the whale-hunting scenes are some of the most exhilarating passages I've ever read. Wait until the White Whale becomes more important in the narrative. Among other things Melville was a master at building suspense in an ebb and flow that trends upwards until the climactic final chapters of the novel.

>> No.10592775

>>10591606
He got paid by the word.

>> No.10593388

>>10592775
Not in the case of Moby Dick (which wasn't serialized), but some of his contemporaries (Victor Hugo) were indeed paid by the word.
Anyways I hope you're not >implying that Moby Dick is excessively long. Not enjoying the cetalogy chapters is the mark of a pleb. Ishmael fucking LOVES whales, and you can see it in how devoted he is to describing every aspect of whales.

>> No.10593545

>be brainlet STEM in college
>take american lit
>never read any of the books but actually read through moby dick
>try to marathon the last bit before the final
>don't read the last 50 pages
>that's what the essay prompt was on and when everything wraps up in massive action packed whale fight

i do recall enjoying it quite a bit but i'm so mad about that test 10 years ago i don't know if i can ever go back.

>> No.10595244

It's difficult.

It's also totally worth it.

>> No.10595255

>>10591725
The first pages are comfy, how could you find those hard? What's hard about the book so far?

>> No.10595258

>>10591827
>I selected a short paragraph at random from the book.
To je fair, this paragraph is one of the more famous ones

>> No.10595731

>>10591892
>sort of loses the imagery in my head
Books aren't movie scripts. The idea isn't to read and to make a bunch of moving images like a movie. Not to say that you don't also do that sometimes depending on what's happening but a lot of great books will have parts, even lengthy parts, where nothing physical is happening and there is nothing to visualise.

>> No.10595763

>>10591606
It's a natural reaction, especially today when media is shortening attention-spans. Nevertheless, if you persevere, you'll both be rewarded with reading a great book and a great story, and probably increasing your attention-span and vocabulary along the way.

>> No.10596062

>>10595255
I think it was just a matter of adjusting myself to the author's style. It isn't that I was finding the book hard, I was just frequently losing concentration and my sense of the physical narrative.

>>10595731
I have no problem with reading abstracted, non-physical elements of a narrative. I think it was moreso with how Melville weaved the physical story within Ishmael's internal one. Sometimes I'd lose track of where one starts and the other ends.

>> No.10596208

>>10591606
Keep at it, the scenes with Ahab and Co. make it all worth it

>> No.10596272

>>10591842
Ishmael describing the pleasure of a frost-tipped nose, while under warm covers, and pitying nobility's inexperience of such pleasure.

>> No.10597837

Since this is a moby dick thread, can we talk about how intensely homo Ishmael's relationship with Queequeg is? Almost every interaction of theirs is basically an antiquated "n-no homo" moment

>> No.10597878
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10597878

>>10591760
>is melville gay?

>> No.10597889

The first few chapters of Moby Dick are hilarious.

>> No.10598059

>>10597837
Sod off

>> No.10598122

>>10598059
Sorry, I'm straight. It's not you, it's me. Really.

>> No.10598309

It does have some beautiful passages, and the first hundred or so pages were quite engaging, but it loses it's momentum soon after that and the ending was shit.

As a work of literature it has some value. As a story, it's shit.