>reading moby dick >before I go on with the story I must

If you can't get into multipage descriptions of the buttons on Ahab's jacket you're not a real nigga

I enjoyed the unneccesary backstory on les miserables more than the plot

>>8801869
Incredible, this is the first time I've heard this point of view on this website. I wonder what will other anons have to say to your worldview-shattering opinion.

>>8801894
Fight me irl

Can we put this meme to rest? J.A. Ward ended this discussion in 1956 in the pages of American Literature. The cetology chapters always come just before scenes where that knowledge becomes relevant. Also, whales were hard to get a read on, especially for Melville's audience. So if Melville wants to write a novel about whaling, he needs to explain whaling and whales to people who don't know about those things in order for them to be able to get and visualize the events of the book. The cetology chapters also break up tension that would have been otherwise unbearable. Without them, Ahab becomes less of a Biblical figure and more of a nagging, narcissistic egotist.

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>tfw when I enjoyed the descriptions of whaling more than the plot

>>8801869
yeah, nowadays prints of Moby Dick should just include an address to
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetology lmao amirite

>tfw writing a 15 page paper due by midnight on Starbuck's relationship to Ahab
>tfw been working for over 12 hours and only have five pages
should I kill myself bros

first, you are moron to write a paper due by midnight, second, 5 good pages in 12 hours is decent.

>>8802156
No. That only means your more succinct than a bullshitter, which is what your professor wants.

>>8801930
I remember being sad that the cetology chapters didn't have anything about Blue Whales. They hadn't been discovered which is a shame, was waiting for an epic description

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>>8801869
I actually think stuff this would make for some fantastic film material using modern CGI. Imagine the narrator breaking in to intone about cetology while whale anatomy montages scrolled by in the background over classical music.

A lot of those passages involved the narrator debating himself over aspects of the apparent intelligence of the whales as opposed to other indicia of their animalistic instinctual mania, and the general incapacity for mutual understanding between species.

It's actually interesting stuff in that sort of existentialist context.

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>>8802370
>/lit/ makes a movie
>slideshow of diagrams played over classical music

>It's a chapter about tennis shit again

>Actually defending "le whales is fish!!!!" man

God damn this book is a masterpiece.