Mark Bertrand quotes Melville’s Moby Dick on what great book should tackle: ” . . . Such, and so magnifying, is the virtue of a large and liberal theme! We expand to its bulk. To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it.” Read the rest of this short post and tell him what you think.
I’m delighted that you’re mentioning MOBY DICK frequently these days. Great, great book. But its theme is not the whale.
What do you mean? Is that a spoiler?! 🙂
(You know, I get the “How do you spell ‘anonymous'” question more often than any other.)
Have you ever seen the silent version of Moby Dick with John Barrymore? In the end Captain Ahab, played by Barrymore, successfully kills the whale and goes home to his young wife, his metaphorical manhood having been restored as if by Viagra. I kid you not.
I see the “anonymous” question floating before me now, like Macbeth’s dagger.
What’s the main theme of moby dick? I don’t know. What I do know, is that ONE of the themes is obsession. (And how obsession can lead to madness.) It’s a great read on that basis alone.