What went so right?

>>24574109 (OP)
It was exotic for its time.
Especially in exploring the mind/madness.
It's still holds up.

>English and French critics absolutely loved Moby-Dick and showered it with praise
>Melville never got a hold of their reviews
>he just read the American critics, who all hated it

There's a part of me that will never forgive the United States for what it did to Melville. This country, in general, has no use for great art. The artists it DOES elevate tend to be basically vaudville performers. Like fucking Mark Twain.

>>24574109 (OP)
He wrote what he knew. And he actually knew stuff worth writing about.

>>24574109 (OP)
biblical allusions

>>24576095
On that point, is it worth reading if I know zilch about Christianity? Are the biblical allusions a big part of its appeal?

>>24576157
read it and find out, midwit

>>24576164
Are you seriously retarded fuckwit? How can I find out whether a book has biblical allusions, especially subtle ones, if I can't even recognise biblical allusions?

the bible will drive a person wild

>>24576191
you can read it and find out if it feels worthwhile
what are you looking for? some anon to tell you that you need to study bible verses first? study bible verses then. some anon to tell you to go ahead and read it? just read it then. do you also want me to come to your house and fuck your wife for you?

>>24576157
Read it so you can also read Dante and Paradise Lost

>>24576206
No, my good nigger. All you say is whether I need to know anything of the Bible to get meaning from the book. I'm not going to waste my time on a book if the entire point of the book was that it was a metaphor for Sodom in the anus of Paul the Apostle or whatever the fuck.

>>24576222
its a book about a guy searching for a whale, describing the journey in detail
if that sounds good to you, go for it
thousands of people have read and enjoyed that book while getting filtered by any allegories (of which only a small part is biblical in nature)

>>24576226
Okay thank you

melville wrote pierre or also that really long poem about jerusalem the only thing people want to read is travel stuff about tahiti the north or south are about to go to war people are using whale oil to fuel lanterns are economies just made up could life entirely be just excuse for somebody s partner to take long sea journeys sometime to make it easier to put up with the follies of another the follies that person has maintained or accumulated through the years manifesting in bookcases that would be difficult to move in some of those narratives

>>24576244
you expect people to be able to read this