The 2nd reading is far better than the 1st; you are fully aware of what you are in for / up against, can sit back and savor the details better than in the headless slog of the 1st reading. The reading is not unlike the progress of the 80 foot leviathan; slowly, deliberately through the ocean swells, then dive deep, then come up for air.
Its like reading a hundred short stories, or maybe like a thousand ideas that could be turned into short stories.
Hint for you aspiring Writers, take any one page and create a story from the depths of insight that little Herman provides free for the taking.
The Rockwell Kent illustrated version is more pleasing than the previous version I read. The illustrations are more woodcut like and invoke the earlier time being portrayed. Kent also illustrated one of my other readings Candide
One quote that spoke to me:
I try all things; I achieve what I can.
The reading is a wild experience in that there are so many complex statements that if you stopped at each of them to ponder the depth you might never finish.
This is typical of the 19th cent. heroic language that Melville loved to use:
The wind that made great bellies of their sails, and rushed the vessel on by arms invisible as irresistible; this seemed the symbol of that unseen agency which so enslaved them to the race.
Kent took a more realistic (in most instances) look at MD than in Candide because MD one being pure fantasy and the other not so much.
No comments:
Post a Comment