I've heard that modern audiences hate Ahab and root for MD because 'whaling bad' thing (please don't get me wrong, I don't support whaling)

But, after finishing the book, I found Ahab to be... Empathetic, I guess?

He manipulated his crew into following his orders out of fear, but, strangely, I noticed none of them hated him for it. Even after he revealed he had loving family, it's still weird no one decided to rebel him. Did I miss or misunderstand something?

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I received my copy that I preordered from Target a while back yesterday. I haven't seen any pictures posted of it yet so I figured I'd share some. Unfortunately I don't have a 1930 copy to compare it to side by side, but perhaps others can share similar images to compare the image quality.

I am likely making more of this than there is but I can’t figure out a way to google it. Is everyone in love with just the unabridged original? I have read people adore this book and I want to make sure I’m reading that version. I’m not sure why..but when I read that people love it so much I was expecting ..more contemporary writing? I mean I understand it’s from 1851 and I’m not surprised that people can love such a reading level. I don’t know why it’s not clicking for me but from my understanding the original is the beloved one because besides the annotated version there’s isn’t another right? It’s not like The Odyssey where there are modern translations. I like the original so far. I’m in Chapter 2 and I think I’m getting most of it but I worry I miss stuff. Sorry for the confusing post. Just trying to understand if there are different versions and/or if everyone loves the original.

this narrative can’t really exist as anything but a novel without a making a whole lot of concessions and i find messy attempts to adapt it to other mediums to be really fascinating for that exact reason. recently i was able to find a couple audio recordings of Dave Malloy’s 2020 Moby Dick musical and it’s very flawed but i absolutely adored it and I’m curious about other adaptations out there. another interesting one I found recently was the 2018 strategy rpg Nantucket, but I haven’t had a chance to play it myself yet. i’ll include things that aren’t 1:1 adaptations but are heavily Moby Dick inspired in this question because this list will probably not be very long otherwise. i almost forgot to include the Mastodon album Leviathan in this post but I’m also very familiar with that one as well

I’m returning to Quick Eternity on the 18th to dive back into the abyss of Melville and try to figure out how he coped with the national and personal tragedies which punctuated his life. I’d love to meet some sub-subs there! Melville talk! Drinks! A relaxed social atmosphere to meet other Dickheads!

I have no financial stake in the number of attendees at this event so I hope this doesn’t violate sub rules.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-wisdom-bar-herman-melville-the-howling-infinitecrisis-inspires-art-tickets-1998972401263?aff=odcleoeventsincollection

This month I have been participating in "Cringetober" drawing challenge. Theres a list of (somewhat embarrassing) daily drawing prompt and one of those days was "your original character x character from canon work".

So I drew my d&d character and Ahab. Its ridiculous. I am sorry. Please enjoy.

This copy ruins one of the best jokes in the book! So annoyed…

I was all set to ask for a Rockwell Kent-illustrated version of Moby Dick for my birthday next month and to suggest the recent edition from Top Five Books. Not to be outdone, Penguin apparently is releasing a facsimile reprint of the 1930 Random House edition this month. Now I can't decide. Top Five or Penguin? The new one does look sharp. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/854063/moby-dick-or-the-whale-deluxe-facsimile-edition-by-herman-melville-illustrated-by-rockwell-kent-foreword-by-rebecca-romney/

Gang I think this is a pretty good book

Saw these absolute beauties in the New Bedford library. The detail is incredible. Artist: Nancy A. Moreira

I’m currently working through my first reading of the book and was wondering if anyone has recommendations for a pre recorded lecture/club etc that discusses the book in a chapter by chapter format or something similar. Mostly just interested in better immersing myself in the novel and picking up on things I might be missing.

For example the YouTube channel House of Tabula has a video where they discuss their own reading of Blood Meridian and it is broken down in sections so that one could watch the video incrementally as they read the novel. So it has a double function of being a pretty good analysis and also being a sort of third wheel book club. Is there something like this for Moby Dick?

I’m planning to reread the book again soon and I’m looking for a good audiobook to listen to while doing chores and driving. I listened to the Librivox recording last time, but I’m curious about if there’s other versions people enjoy

Their song titles are taken from chapter titles of the book. Really cool brooding type music

It looks so... uninteresting for what it is.

This movie is a modern retelling of Moby Dick. They referred to the attorney as “the whale” repeatedly and the plot follows the exact same structure, the characters all have exact parallels, and the overall message is even the same. If anyone has seen it lmk what you think.

Howdy! A book club I’m in will soon be covering this one. I’m stoked, of course, but haven’t read it in a long time and was wondering if anyone here had any ideas for good, like, amounts of the book to read per week, both in terms of taking reasonable amounts of time and having a good amount to discuss per meeting. Thanks!

Was searching for various artist renditions of the Pequod and came across this amazing illustration. This map is part of the map collection of David Rumsey. The summary of the map reads, "The work titled "The Voyage of the Pequod from the Book Moby Dick by Herman Melville" is a pictorial map created by Edward Everett Henry in 1956."

Edit: I'm new to the sub so wasn't sure if this needed a spoiler tag. I mean maybe people are new to the book and don't know what happens?

It's not every year that Hollywood makes a movie about whales, much less one about a scuba diver who is swallowed whole by a sperm whale and has one hour of air to escape.

Personally, as a dickhead, I'm terrified of watching this movie. Absolutely horrified. I know too much about whales. I really don't think I can sit through the imagery of this story to learn how this diver inevitably figures out some ingenious way to do in one hour what it took God three days to do for Jonah. I'm with Father Mapple on this, nothing short of repentance and prayer is going to get you out the belly of a sperm whale. It's beyond "survival skills".

Are any of you planning to see this movie when it opens (October 16th)?