Read Moby Dick Again?

Having read "Moby Dick" once in the summer of 1974, I have often wondered: should I read it again?

Don’t Write Off Moby Dick by David Frum

August 28th, 2010 at 10:12 am David Frum | 4 Comments |Share
During the worst of my bout with Lyme disease this summer, Herman Melville was my constant companion. He entertained me on the walks that were the only exercise I could tolerate, kept me company through the insomniac hours of the night.

I’d read Moby Dick in college of course, then listened to it read aloud eight or nine summers ago, back when audiobooks still arrived on cassette tape. This third encounter was the most intimate yet, because I was spending so much time alone.

I won’t weary readers with a long essay of my thoughts on America’s most famous novel. What new is there to say about a book that has preoccupied the country’s greatest critics? But I will say this: it baffles and vexes me that so many people dismiss Moby Dick as dull. “Too much fish,” complains one normally astute and sensitive friend. If you are one of those, here’s my plea: If you won’t read the book, try someday to listen to it. You’ll discover that it’s not only profound and beautiful, but also … funny! I mean, laugh out loud funny. You’ll realize that many of the scenes that are most notoriously condemned as “fishy” are actually elaborate jokes and satires.

The book is long, true. But think of how much time you spend in the car. Talk radio hosts are always urging us to rediscover the founding principles of the nation. Why not shut them off – and liberate the time to rediscover your nation’s literature?