cosmosandlogos.com

[cosmosan]

I have yet to read an American novel that rivals Melville's Moby Dick. This is not a slant on any other American other as it is just a great praise of this wondrous epic. Over the next few days I will type in some of my favorite quotes and maybe ruminate. Please hop in if you wish.

One thing may help those reading through the rather lengthy novel, several chapters of the book were written as an encyclopedic entry of whales and whaling and have less to do with the story that Melville crafts. These chapters can be skipped without loosing any of the story. Of course for purists this is an outrage, and the encyclopedic chapters have some great philosophy in them, so I read them with delight. Nevertheless, if any would like to skip over these chapters, they are as follows:

7, 8, 24, 32, 37-40, 52-53, 55-57, 74-77, 79-80, 82-83, 86, 89-90, 95, 101-105.

These chapters can be omitted and the reader will still get the full plot.

[cosmosan]

You must read this article, it is an eye opener:
http://researchmag.asu.edu/stories/mobydick.html

I have noticed several cosmological connections in Moby Dick, including the zodiacs found on Queequeg, the Dabloon, and the description of the white whale itself as the Milky Way. Numerous such references in Moby Dick show that Melville was highly versed with astronomy, which is no surprise as old sailors used the stars to determine latitude, time, and season. In fact, there are many old sailors maps with beautiful figures drawn and painted into them. You all have seen them: ships, whales, dragons, fish, archers, etc. Even today many in academia believe these to be artistic illustrations to beautify these old maps. However, these figures are nothing else but the constellations marking certain latitudes.