No novel has come close to how brilliant this is

I guess Dickens is more British inflected than Melville is. You probably wont have similar issues, or if you do then not for the same reasons.

Tolstoy, proust, Joyce, Nabokov.. The list is long.

Probably the best American novel ever though.

I'd say it's about the same difficulty. It can be hard to follow at times, but it's never too difficult.

Someone is mad they needed a thesaurus to get past chapter 1.

James fucking Joyce

proust and nabokov dont belong there, great as they are

give him a break, he probably sucks cock for gas money

top jej

>ass
Ass? As in, he is something beautiful you like to look at or poop out of, or even a donkey?

I bet you say "dickhead" too, you fool.

Chuckled/10.

Not sure if severe autism or comedic genius, or both, or neither

kek

How have you not seen this shtick a million times before? It's annoying in any case.

It's only annoying the dickhead getting roasted.

It doesn't roast anyone. It makes the "roaster" look like a fucking retard, even if they're taking on a role.

Whatever makes you feel less roasted, bb.

>he doesn't kneel before god as he reads Moby Dick

i was trying to think of a 19th century meme trilogy the other day, and portrait and moby dick were the two books i had in mind. no idea what the third would be.

anna karenina or war and peace

portrait of a lady is not famous enough, replace with Madame Bovary

Anna Karenina maybe.

That whale gets bigger every edition.

If I wanted to be a moron, I'd castigate you for calling me baby, as it's the same type of idiocy you're praising I could probably have you suck my dick too.

>muh dick

such divine eloquence

I agree with Karenina, I didn't see what was so outstanding about it, but war and peace was genuinely great.

i was trying to pick english language books but otherwise these are good suggestions

maybe Middlemarch? theres always austen/dickens/brontes but idk.

Pride and prejudice at the beginning of the 19th century, and Austen in general. Well written, but boring.

great expectations

Nope brainlet. Dickens is a god

it was a recommendation...

I was trying to figure out what you meant since I assumed that shadow to the right of the boat was the whales tail and it seemed to be about the size of your average whale but then I noticed the eye in the sky.

That's just spooky.

A misunderstanding, comrade.

I'll agree with you, in the sense that nothing I've read yet has come close in my opinion.

Meant to reply to OP

>mfw i expected the whale to swallow the whole ship, only to finish the book and dissapoint.

try Jonah, it might be more up your alley.

It wasn't that I was dissapointed in the ending because there was no great whale, but merely because all the covers and pictures and memes of Moby Dick depict a Leviathan of great magnitude.

It also doesn't help that the ending seems to feel like "The Stranger", missing key details.

I don't know how to spoiler tag, so I'll just write spoilers here:

I hate how in describing how Moby Dick attacks the Pequod, it only does so in one sentence, and then spends the next 4 paragraphs showing Ahab's reaction to it. It felt like I was robbed of imagery and given a soliloquy.

addendum: I really just wanted to see the whole ending be catastrophic. I wanted to read about lances glancing off the skin; boats thrown threw the air and landing capsized; men pulled asunder by the lines; the planks creaking from afar as the pequod sank; the hissing sound and boiled water that follows; the clamoring cries of sailors being pulled into the vortex; the clouds of blood from the sharks; the desolation wrought; the last glimpse of the whale as it carried on like an indignant god would if swatting at flies.

I didn't get that, at least, not in the prose.

Karamazov

Agreed. Maybe sometimes Nabokov comes close in Pale Fire but this is pure beauty.

well, you kind of get that experience from reading about the small boats on the chase. Ahab's boat specifically. He lances the white whale, and the death of his Asian comrade in the ensuing chase is pretty brutal. Also Melville does describe the ship sinking beneath the waves.

I think the ending was intended to be more reflective than jarring, there's a sense of detachment from the whole work given Ishmael's nature as a chronicler, writing years after the fact. I don't think there's really supposed to be that sense of immediacy. Personally I found the -actual- ending where Ishmael is rescued extremely powerful/touching.

Consider 9/11, most people now would be more moved by the still image of the falling man than video footage of the plane hitting the towers.

honestly this would have ruined the book

>nabokov
>even close to approximating Melville's level
this is ironic, right?

I would only put Ulysses and Absalom, Absalom! on its level.

>he hasn't read the greatest book ever written
embarrassing

It's pretty good (though I think my Penguin translation is the subpar one, so I've been meaning to reread it), but what makes you think it's one of the greatest works of all-time? His poetry is better IMO.

greatest novel* (not greatest work)
I find his particular poetic/artistic insights especially beautiful and unique.
His prose reads clean and smoothly and every description seems to serve a lot more than they tend to in other novels I've read
His general artistic message is really appealing and relatable to me

t. German native

I wouldn't be dismissive of Nabokov. Pale Fire is pretty strong

>corncobby chronicles

>implying you read russian... or french...
>nabokov
.. dude

as far as Joyce v. Melville.... lmfao. When you reach this point who is better becomes a pointless question. You're in the god tier.

I'm Russian, learned English in childhood, and taught myself French a few years ago( although admittedly I'm not very fluent.) you have failed.

>Pale Fire is pretty strong
do I have to read it in russian or is english translation acceptable?

i recommend the cantonese throatsinging audiobook

It was written in English

Love the book, especially the ending
>ship is sinking
>Tashtego nails a replacement flag on the main mast as a final 'fuck you'

Loved that part, going down without a fight

...

>old English

>as in he puts you in a state of awe
Actually, yes

>read Moby Dick
>1 year later get my first job on a tall ship

Thanks Melly

Only the Quixote, my friend.

But Stubb's supper!

>God

God? as in a superhuman being or spirit worshipped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity?

I bet you believe in the easter bunny to you christcuck

I've seen this pic a thousand times and I never noticed the whale there

sublime is perfectly legit adjective if you know what it means

How much of Plato should I have read to understand some of the later chapters? I feel like a lot was lost on me because Melville had many philosophical passages that would require some further reading.

Absalom is just watered down Moby Dick

How the fuck so, laddie?

>Not Don Quitxote

Wooooooooooow

Depends what you like about liturature

wow :) nevar thohought bout dis like dis

dictionary cucks need to go

as far as I remember probably just
Apology
Phaedo
Timaeus

but
Euthyphro
Crito
Meno
Symposium

probably wouldn't hurt. neither would Republic.

so i take it you never read a la recherche du temps perdu

Great post.

>so many anons praising someone pretending to be autistic
excellent board.

Oh don't worry, Stubb is in this chapter too.