Chapters 83 through 93

[Lily]

Well, I finally made the milestone of Chapter 93 (this section). With Nietzsche bearing down upon us, I am wondering if I will finally manage to make it through Moby Dick, or will suspend it one more time. I just enjoyed the comments and insights here and found one or another of you has picked up thoughts I might have shared. I will say I am fascinated often by Melville's turn of a phrase or comparisons -- my kindle (read by following the audio "BigRead" recordings) has many, many highlights. Melville seems able to move from SNL-type political humor to sweet reveille in the presence of nature to gentle/tough insight as to the character of a fellow traveler (Pip, Stubb, ...). I agree much with whichever of you highlighted the essay-like nature of the chapters, although some leaned toward being short stories more than treatises.

[Susan]

Lily wrote: "Well, I finally made the milestone of Chapter 93 (this section). With Nietzsche bearing down upon us, I am wondering if I will finally manage to make it through Moby Dick, or will suspend it one mo..."

Thank you for highlighting Melville’s use of language, Lily, and his variety of tones. He is so quotable! Also just want to say in encouragement that the rest of the book went very quickly for me. The next set of chapters pretty much finishes up the essays/digressions/background on whales and whaling, and Ahab is on the hunt!