English 3667F/G Lecture : Lecture 017 - Moby Dick
23 Dec 2011
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Structure hardly the impeccable organization of the scarlet letter! Nb the technique of assimulating narrative to drama quite original with melville in this book, i think: not just chapter 40, or chapters 36-40, but throughout: Ishmael & queequeg setting sail on christmas day. Chapters 41 42: moby dick, the whiteness of the whale chapters 46 72. Cetology chapters taper off to whale skeleton, whale fossil. On whales and whaling chapters 106 135 the search and chase. Second dramatic scene: ahab and the carpenter. Chapter 132: the symphony (calm before the storm) Destruction of ahab (in subordinate clause), of the prequod. Ishmael"s survival ( i alone have come back to tell thee. ) Punctuated by: the 9 gams meetings with the other ships give glimpses into normal life outside ahab"s mania the cetology chapters give analysis of whaling in natural history. Whaling as capitalist venture investors, labour force, commodity, profit. The pipe, the mast-head, the try works, squid, etc.
