instead of drama, this might even fall into melodrama, because of melville's discursive, self-referencing paragraphs (still without the architectural finial though by god). i was surprised how slim the actual story accounted for, being prefaced and interrupted and foreshortened by historical anecdotes and naval zeitgeist. Billy himself as represented in the story is both historical and a prop, but I didn't mind the legal tragedies. the wikipedia article mentions i think a law professor who waded through actual maritime policy at the time and claims vere's motives to be opposite how they're usually read. good stuff to know i suppose. i haven't read moby dick so i feel that's all i can say about this book for some reason.