Awesome Book....
I wonder if the movie is good. Hmmmmmmmm......
shareAs far as I'm concerned the movie is superior to the plodding (although informative) novel.
"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.
@ heyouactor ยป Wed Feb 26 2014
You claim, "As far as I'm concerned the movie is superior to the plodding (although informative) novel."
I respond: The novel is anything BUT plodding if you read it intelligently. It is Melville's masterpiece; it is also The Great American Novel, if there is such a thing.
Many people find the book difficult because Melville, who had immersed himself in Shakespeare, deliberately wrote it in Shakespearean poetic prose--to which readers in the 21st century are unaccustomed, to put it mildly.
"... it is also The Great American Novel, if there is such a thing."
Yes!
...if you read it intelligently.Well, I'm fairly intelligent and like to read, and try to apply my intellect when I read, but this novel was plodding (as in 'laborious') to me. It included too much detailed description of whaling and whale oil processing and too little exciting (as in 'interesting') narration.
I do like 'poetic prose', but didn't find that much, overall, in Moby Dick.
To each his own...
"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne. share
Well, I'm fairly intelligent and like to read, and try to apply my intellect when I read, but this novel was plodding (as in 'laborious') to me. It included too much detailed description of whaling and whale oil processing and too little exciting (as in 'interesting') narration.
I agree. Although it's been almost 40 years since I read the book, I recall it being plodding with all the details about the history of whaling, etc.. share
I enjoyed the movie and Peck's performance, but it did not compare with the book. I recently finished the book and I am still astonished by how good it is. If I had read it in high school, I might well have found it plodding, but I am long past that. I found Melville's prose beautiful and actually enjoyed all the strange tangents he goes off on.
I doubt anyone could have truly captured the novel. The scene with the Pequod meeting the Rachel is much more meaningful the way it is spelled out in the book, and the irony of Ishmael being rescued by the Rachel does not come through in the movie.
Movies and novels are simply different art forms. Rarely are they of comparable quality. I thought Elmer Gantry was a much better movie than the book which inspired it. Peck's great performance in To Kill a Mockingbird came close to matching the book, but it is hard to imagine anyone coming up with a script that would truly do justice to Melville's novel. But as a movie, I enjoyed it. It captured at least a part of the majesty and complexity of the novel. And it was a lovely movie to watch.