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The Maldive Shark
'No voice, no low, no howl is heard; the chief sound of life here is a hiss.'
Stories and poems by Herman Melville drawn from his years at sea Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
Herman Melville (1819-1891).
Melville's works available in Penguin Classics are Moby-Dick, Pierre, The Confidence-Man, Omoo, Redburn, Israel Potter and Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories.
Stories and poems by Herman Melville drawn from his years at sea Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
Herman Melville (1819-1891).
Melville's works available in Penguin Classics are Moby-Dick, Pierre, The Confidence-Man, Omoo, Redburn, Israel Potter and Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories.
56 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1854
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999 people want to read
About the author
Herman Melville
2,377 books4,514 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
February 15, 2016
Herman Melville’s poetry has come from his own personal experience as a seaman. The result is a choice of language that is precise, which really blends its self well to his poems. This, I think, is the strongest feature of his work. The Maldive Shark is a short poem that contrasts the shark, with its doting brains and superb killing ability, with the pilot fish that is alert and sleek, but is ultimately fated to end its life in the shark’s powerful jaws.
At least, that is what I thought it meant. This poem doesn’t have a clear cut meaning or quantifiable interpretation, and the last line threw me off completely. I don’t think the poem was the best in this edition. Indeed, this is another edition that I think should have been named differently. With many of the Penguin Little Black Classic it appears as if the names have been chosen at random or because they sound the most appealing, although they are not the entry with the most merit. It’s a shame really because poem titled “The Berg” was of a higher standard.
I only recommend this edition if you are a lover of Melville’s novels. I think his poetry id ok, but would be appreciated most by those that like his style. Having read the poetry in this edition, I have no interest in seeking anymore out by this author; however, I am most interest in reading Moby Dick in the near future.
Penguin Little Black Classic- 38
The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.
At least, that is what I thought it meant. This poem doesn’t have a clear cut meaning or quantifiable interpretation, and the last line threw me off completely. I don’t think the poem was the best in this edition. Indeed, this is another edition that I think should have been named differently. With many of the Penguin Little Black Classic it appears as if the names have been chosen at random or because they sound the most appealing, although they are not the entry with the most merit. It’s a shame really because poem titled “The Berg” was of a higher standard.
I only recommend this edition if you are a lover of Melville’s novels. I think his poetry id ok, but would be appreciated most by those that like his style. Having read the poetry in this edition, I have no interest in seeking anymore out by this author; however, I am most interest in reading Moby Dick in the near future.
Penguin Little Black Classic- 38
The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.
March 20, 2024
That’s the last Melville book for me I think. I DNF Moby Dick, and would have done the same on this one if not for being such a short book. On that note, I chose this book for the title. For that, I got one page of ‘The Maldive Shark’ and 55 pages of ‘And Other Stories’. Each page was equally boring and the best quote was, “The End”.
October 11, 2018
"Nothing can better suggest the aspect of once living things malignly crumbled from ruddiness into ashes. Apples of Sodom, after touching, seem these isles."
- Herman Melville, "The Encantadas: Sketch First"
Vol N° 38 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This book contains three poems (The Maldive Shark, The Berg (A Dream), The Enviable Isles, and a series of sketches (Eight in all) of the Encantada Isles (Enchanted Isles) aka the Galapagos.
The poems were fine. I was thrilled with Melville's sketches of The Galápagos Islands (The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles). The sketches were done by an anonymous narrator and each sketch starts with a bit of poetry from Spenser's The Faerie Queene. These sketches were all written AFTER Moby-Dick flopped financially and Melville was hustling money (these sketches were published in Putnam) In a couple of the sketches he seemed to be poking a bit of fun at Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle.
Anyway, I would have probably have given this book four stars, except it contained ALL the sketches but eight and nine (so for those keeping score at home: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10). Now, I have to go and find those two so I can say I've read them all. Perhaps, I'll save those two for my future bucket list trip to the Encantadas.
- Herman Melville, "The Encantadas: Sketch First"
Vol N° 38 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This book contains three poems (The Maldive Shark, The Berg (A Dream), The Enviable Isles, and a series of sketches (Eight in all) of the Encantada Isles (Enchanted Isles) aka the Galapagos.
The poems were fine. I was thrilled with Melville's sketches of The Galápagos Islands (The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles). The sketches were done by an anonymous narrator and each sketch starts with a bit of poetry from Spenser's The Faerie Queene. These sketches were all written AFTER Moby-Dick flopped financially and Melville was hustling money (these sketches were published in Putnam) In a couple of the sketches he seemed to be poking a bit of fun at Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle.
Anyway, I would have probably have given this book four stars, except it contained ALL the sketches but eight and nine (so for those keeping score at home: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10). Now, I have to go and find those two so I can say I've read them all. Perhaps, I'll save those two for my future bucket list trip to the Encantadas.
January 14, 2023
Bez większych emocji przeczytałam tę książkę. Mam wrażenie, że przeszła obok mnie i zaraz o niej zapomnę.
July 3, 2017
Another writer I feel bad about for not liking (in the same way as Dickens... I used to feel the same way about Hemingway but have since come to the conclusion that Hemingway is just objective bad...), mostly because my complaint is that I find myself incredibly bored while reading.
This short book mainly let me re-live my experience of reading Moby Dick and the sigh of relief I let out when I'd finished it.
This short book mainly let me re-live my experience of reading Moby Dick and the sigh of relief I let out when I'd finished it.
May 23, 2016
Turgid. Herman Melville is distinctly the most boring writer it has been my misfortune to read. When talking of any events or places he fails on description, you can tell he as no knowledge of his subject at all. He wastes words by the hundreds and an extensive ignorance shines through. This man does not deserve the accolades he as accrued thru the ages. Having been forced to read Moby Dick at school, I was hopeing in my maturity to appreciate his work better, but to no avail. He really is, based on other works of excellance at this time, mediocre.
Incompetent writer at best, there are greater writers of this period that should be looked at.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
Incompetent writer at best, there are greater writers of this period that should be looked at.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
April 2, 2018
Excellent although dark. So poetic that makes you want to jump on a ship and sail...
May 31, 2024
not very enjoyable. will NOT be reading moby dick
March 10, 2021
I started this book like "Well, I didn't like 'Moby Dick' or 'Billy Budd' or 'Bartleby the Scrivener,' but hey, this is travel writing, maybe that will be more interesting." But now I have to accept that I just *really* don't like Melville. I have three particular bones to pick with you here, Herman:
1. Each of these sketches starts with a thematically similar except from "The Faerie Queene," but guess what, the Spenserian poetry was easier to parse than the Melvillian prose that followed it. Like seriously, that's not good Herman. Spenser is difficult and deliberately archaic, but he's also following a strict meter, so there's rhyme and reason (literally) for all of his choices. Herman though isn't so much word soup as word concrete.
2. *On describing an impossibly wide vista* "Here at the summit you and I stand. Does any balloonist, does the outlooking man in the moon, take a broader view of space? Much thus, one fancies, looks the universe from Milton's celestial battlements. A boundless watery Kentucky. Here Daniel Boone would have dwelt content." "A boundless.... watery Kentucky?" Herman be like "The Man in the Moon looking down on the Earth doesn't quite sum up the sense of open space I'm going for. Milton's God looking down at the universe also doesn't capture that sense of boundless space. But Kentucky.... Kentucky is more open and vast than a God's eye view of the cosmos."
3. This heretical passage. "What outlandish beings are these? Erect as men, but hardly symmetrical, they stand all round the rock like sculptured caryatides, supporting the next range of eaves above. Their bodies are grotesquely misshapen; their bills short; their feet seemingly legless; while the members at their sides are neither fin, wing, nor arm. And truly neither fish, flesh, nor fowl is the penguin; as an edible, pertaining neither to Carnival nor Lent; without exception the most ambiguous and least lovely creature yet discovered by man. Though dabbling in all three elements, and indeed possessing some rudimental claims to all, the penguin is at home in none. On land it stumps; afloat it sculls; in the air it flops. As if ashamed of her failure, Nature keeps this ungainly child hidden away at the ends of the Earth."
Herman, that's just unforgiveable. You can bore me to tears if you want, I can handle it. But insulting penguins??? What did those harmless, adorable little pingwings ever do to you? There's no coming back from that. And let's not forget, I'm reading this in the Penguin Little Black series. I can't believe Penguin didn't censor this, for the good of their mascot.
1. Each of these sketches starts with a thematically similar except from "The Faerie Queene," but guess what, the Spenserian poetry was easier to parse than the Melvillian prose that followed it. Like seriously, that's not good Herman. Spenser is difficult and deliberately archaic, but he's also following a strict meter, so there's rhyme and reason (literally) for all of his choices. Herman though isn't so much word soup as word concrete.
2. *On describing an impossibly wide vista* "Here at the summit you and I stand. Does any balloonist, does the outlooking man in the moon, take a broader view of space? Much thus, one fancies, looks the universe from Milton's celestial battlements. A boundless watery Kentucky. Here Daniel Boone would have dwelt content." "A boundless.... watery Kentucky?" Herman be like "The Man in the Moon looking down on the Earth doesn't quite sum up the sense of open space I'm going for. Milton's God looking down at the universe also doesn't capture that sense of boundless space. But Kentucky.... Kentucky is more open and vast than a God's eye view of the cosmos."
3. This heretical passage. "What outlandish beings are these? Erect as men, but hardly symmetrical, they stand all round the rock like sculptured caryatides, supporting the next range of eaves above. Their bodies are grotesquely misshapen; their bills short; their feet seemingly legless; while the members at their sides are neither fin, wing, nor arm. And truly neither fish, flesh, nor fowl is the penguin; as an edible, pertaining neither to Carnival nor Lent; without exception the most ambiguous and least lovely creature yet discovered by man. Though dabbling in all three elements, and indeed possessing some rudimental claims to all, the penguin is at home in none. On land it stumps; afloat it sculls; in the air it flops. As if ashamed of her failure, Nature keeps this ungainly child hidden away at the ends of the Earth."
Herman, that's just unforgiveable. You can bore me to tears if you want, I can handle it. But insulting penguins??? What did those harmless, adorable little pingwings ever do to you? There's no coming back from that. And let's not forget, I'm reading this in the Penguin Little Black series. I can't believe Penguin didn't censor this, for the good of their mascot.
September 6, 2015
Meh. So I read this to encourage me to re-read Moby Dick, but on this basis, I need other motivation!
This was a strange, disjoined sort of book. The poetry was never going to fly for me, but I had hopes for the text.
This was a strange, disjoined sort of book. The poetry was never going to fly for me, but I had hopes for the text.
June 9, 2021
The Maldive Shark is a collection of pose and accounts detailing Herman Melville's many travels. I preferred the first half of this short book which focused more on the natural world and especially enjoyed The Maldive Shark poem.
August 4, 2022
هیچ چیزی نفهمیدم/ مطلقن هیچ چیز. خالی بود....
February 7, 2017
This is the second Melville work I've read in a few months, having previously never ventured into any of his at-sea ramblings. I felt exactly the same about this one as I did about his long famous rambling
Moby Dick
: underwhelmed and exasperated.
Not only did this edition reintroduce me to Melville's whimsical pointless sea life drivel, it also included words in the form of my academic arch-nemesis, poetry. He drones on and on in sentences the length of which Joyce would have been proud. I think I'd rather have read a fucking autobiography.
Bombasticness aside, his love of underwater creatures does not resonate well with an ichthyophobic like myself. Typing The Maldive Shark into a search engine almost sent my wine glass flying across the room, closely followed by my own vomit.
Why use one word when you can use twenty, Herman? Set me on fire and call me Ishmael.
Not only did this edition reintroduce me to Melville's whimsical pointless sea life drivel, it also included words in the form of my academic arch-nemesis, poetry. He drones on and on in sentences the length of which Joyce would have been proud. I think I'd rather have read a fucking autobiography.
Bombasticness aside, his love of underwater creatures does not resonate well with an ichthyophobic like myself. Typing The Maldive Shark into a search engine almost sent my wine glass flying across the room, closely followed by my own vomit.
Why use one word when you can use twenty, Herman? Set me on fire and call me Ishmael.
June 12, 2016
This is one is hard to rate, I liked most of the poetry and found some lacking depth or feeling. Overall Herman Melville is better known for his novels. I wish I could give a better review but honestly I am just not sure what to say apart form what I have said above.
December 18, 2017
A rather peculiar little collection of descriptive sketches and poems. Taken as such, it is fine, but readers expecting any more would be disappointed. I feel a bit sorry for Melville here, because I'm sure he never intended these jottings to stand alone as a text. I shall read Moby Dick to say sorry for my 'meh' at the end of this one.
November 14, 2018
Reading #classics always makes you nostalgic!!
I feel reviewing books is sometimes a drawback because I don’t hVe much time to read #classics and #bestsellers . #qotd - Do anyone here feel the same?
I love the language, description and wordplay used in this book. I guess there is nothing much to write for reviews for classics!!
I feel reviewing books is sometimes a drawback because I don’t hVe much time to read #classics and #bestsellers . #qotd - Do anyone here feel the same?
I love the language, description and wordplay used in this book. I guess there is nothing much to write for reviews for classics!!
February 5, 2022
I am almost emotionally done with this collection to the point that I can only portray my boredom through 😴😪💤😴😪💤 instead of words and the next one is a couple of short stories by Elizabeth Gaskell so I really REALLY 😃 HOPE !! that it doesn't bore me too !!
October 29, 2024
Bastante lleno de datos interesantes, por ejemplo el nombre de las Islas encantadas que recibía anteriormente las Galápagos, y los cientos de mitos y leyendas sobre piratas y navegantes que las visitaron.
May 18, 2025
i don't think i'll be reading melville again. his poetry is significantly better than his prose, but there is not enough poetry for me to enjoy this book. i dnfed moby dick a few years ago and this has just served as a reminder to not attempt reading it again.
June 4, 2023
disappointing :((
December 19, 2020
After Moby Dick I thought I would never pick up his books again, but here I am, and I still feel that I am not a big fan of his writing. Needless to say this was definitely a one time experience, however, I don't think I'd be interested in exploring more of his writings.
October 17, 2021
There’s always a peculiar interest evoked by seafarer’s tales of yore.
December 23, 2025
never buying a book based on it's title ever again. A whole lot of nothing accompanied by a whole lot of nonsense
March 18, 2020
جستارهایی کوتاه از نویسنده معروف موبی دیک. جلد کتاب جنس بسیار خوبی دارد
https://mag.nilsoo.com/%D9%87%D8%B1%D...
https://mag.nilsoo.com/%D9%87%D8%B1%D...
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February 4, 2017
Herman Melville was an American writer, best known for Moby Dick. Call me Ishmael, thanks.
This was an odd one to rate. I quite enjoyed the rhyme of the poetry; it flowed well though the subject matter and word choice were often rather mystifying. The notes, or sketches, he took of his journey around the Galapagos were full of wonderful things, but the way he wrote of them was just inane. He had no flow whatsoever, though I can't quite put my finger on my disdain.
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This was an odd one to rate. I quite enjoyed the rhyme of the poetry; it flowed well though the subject matter and word choice were often rather mystifying. The notes, or sketches, he took of his journey around the Galapagos were full of wonderful things, but the way he wrote of them was just inane. He had no flow whatsoever, though I can't quite put my finger on my disdain.
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August 6, 2020
Melville, best know for Moby Dick, has some of his work collected in this edition that was inspired by his years on sea. I think the best part of it was that I immediately got that he actually spent his time there. Descriptions of the life at sea seemed - as far as I could tell, accurate. The style however, I didn't like so much, so I wouldn't recommend it.
I'm conflicted as to whether I should try reading Moby Dick - I have heard opinions all over the spectrum and a little part of me wants to find out where I stand.
~Little Black Classics #38~
Find this and other reviews on https://www.urlphantomhive.com
I'm conflicted as to whether I should try reading Moby Dick - I have heard opinions all over the spectrum and a little part of me wants to find out where I stand.
~Little Black Classics #38~
Find this and other reviews on https://www.urlphantomhive.com
January 16, 2016
I quite enjoyed this little collection of poems and sketches although it wasn't inspiring or life changing or anything of that sort. The poem The Maldive Shark itself was a pleasure to read and it somehow reminded me of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. The other poems and sketches, though a little too wordy for my liking, had an enchanting way of making me feel like I was there in those mysterious places.
(Also a little side note, I'd never before thought of tortoises as warriors in armour but I find the analogy adorable - though I'm sure that wasn't Melville's intention)
(Also a little side note, I'd never before thought of tortoises as warriors in armour but I find the analogy adorable - though I'm sure that wasn't Melville's intention)
Read
September 15, 2020Melville fanboys about three tortoises, compares seeing them to seeing three Coliseums and then two pages later eats them 😳
April 2, 2025
[Rodondo's] aspect was heightened, and softened, by the strange double twilight of the hour. The great full moon burnt in the lower west like a half-spent beacon, casting a soft mellow tinge upon the sea like that cast by a waning fire of embers upon a midnight hearth; while along the entire east the invisible sun sent pallid intimations of his coming.
An incomplete mismash of poetry and prose by a guy that clearly loved the sea.
Surprisingly, the piece that gives name to the brief collection of writings feels like the less memorable part of it. In comparison, his slightly meatier The Berg expands on the grandiose imagery, while adding an extra layer of tactile drama that bleeds out of the pages. However, the true jewel of this 55 page collection is the [for some obscure reason] abridged Enchanted Islands, a collection of ten sketches that read like the retelling of an aimless conversation between sailors. Through 8/10 sketches, we learn about the mythical islands, it's place in the common imagination, and it's conflicting characteristics. Both an inhospitable crater and home to countless birds, the final cry of castaways and a bustling society.
The stories only come alive through Melville's pen, that creates tactile descriptions which can be felt, heard, seen and tasted. A true call to adventure, an a great companion to my little Turner collection tour at the Tate Britain.
An incomplete mismash of poetry and prose by a guy that clearly loved the sea.
Surprisingly, the piece that gives name to the brief collection of writings feels like the less memorable part of it. In comparison, his slightly meatier The Berg expands on the grandiose imagery, while adding an extra layer of tactile drama that bleeds out of the pages. However, the true jewel of this 55 page collection is the [for some obscure reason] abridged Enchanted Islands, a collection of ten sketches that read like the retelling of an aimless conversation between sailors. Through 8/10 sketches, we learn about the mythical islands, it's place in the common imagination, and it's conflicting characteristics. Both an inhospitable crater and home to countless birds, the final cry of castaways and a bustling society.
The stories only come alive through Melville's pen, that creates tactile descriptions which can be felt, heard, seen and tasted. A true call to adventure, an a great companion to my little Turner collection tour at the Tate Britain.
June 26, 2025
sent me into a rabbit hole of challenging american writing like this versus challenging european writing such as proust. both are hailed as tough authors yet i enjoy my time with proust so so much more. authors like melville or poe are so extremely challenging for me and i couldn’t figure out why. i think i came to the conclusion that much of this eras (white) european writing is based on life and the intricacies of it while american writing is a lot more gothic and layered, not to say european writing isn’t layered, layered in a much different way. american writing of this era seems to be about darker themes and philosophy of life while european is about social issues and politics. idk. still working it out. this was really hard for me. poe was hard for me. proust is hard but in a different way? can’t put my finger on it. bottom line, i enjoy proust, this i did not enjoy. was a slog to get through. put me to sleep. don’t even think i finished it. can’t remember. but i want to read melville because of all the great things ive heard about his works and i will but omfg this was so very hard.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews