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Thursday, June 07, 2012

On Reading Moby Dick



Reading Moby Dick once again.
It seems obvious this time 'round that Ahab is obsessed by the whale, Moby Dick, not for revenge, but to touch the God-figure that gives life and destroys, maims and makes whole. Everything Ahab does is a metaphor for how we all seek to persuade and co-opt God into our causes and schemes. Ahab seeks not to destroy, but to "consume" and be "consumed"; to become "one", but Ahab does this in a self-defeating and futile way: Ahab seeks to bend the world to his will.

Ahab is everyman: a wounded Fisher-King, seeking the healing touch of the Holy, yet seeming more to want to exploit the power of the Holy.
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2 comments:

Reading the Signs said...

Still haven't read this - but always like when I read someone speaking about it.

Bloomsday next week.

Montag said...

There is a group that meets for a reading of "Ulysses"...

Gadfry! A Joyce Test Match!