# Should I read Herman Melville? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763 "2005-11-26T02:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/1 "2005-11-26T02:32:43Z")
I’ve spent quite a bit of my reading time this year on longer works. I’m considering reading some works by Melville. However, I’ve heard that they are boring and overrated. Obviously, _Moby Dick_ would be the place to start. I read excerpts in high school I’ve heard nothing but scorn for\* Billy Budd.\* Should I invest the time in Melville? Or, should I finish the works of Dickens/Hugo/Tolstoy/Dostoevsky which have been my reading for most of this year? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/2 "2005-11-26T02:35:18Z")
\*\*Moby Dick \*\* is far from boring; at the very least, the long essays on whaling are fascinating from a historical standpoint. I’d also recommend “Bartleby the Scrivener.” ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/3 "2005-11-26T02:49:38Z")
Yes, you should definitely read _Bartleby_. Bartleby is one of the great, unforgettable characters in fiction; I had a professor who was fond of saying, “You don’t ‘read’ Bartleby; you ‘get infected with’ Bartleby.” Some of Melville’s poems are wonderful as well; his [Shiloh](http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem2854.html) is one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/4 "2005-11-26T04:55:51Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > \*\*Moby Dick \*\* is far from boring; at the very least, the long essays on whaling are fascinating from a historical standpoint. But not from an accuracy standpoint. The long “essays” are folklore about “giant fish,” and they make up 97% of the book. And if by “far from boring” you mean excrutiatingly boring, then I agree. Here’s a digested version: Call me Ishmael. Fish fishy fishy fish McFishy Fish O’Fishiness; the fish fishy fish fish fish, and fish the fish–or “fish”–of fish, fish, fish, fish, and fish. Indeed, fish fishy fishness, of fish, to fish the fish, and fishy fishing fish fish, fish, fishy fish, fishier fish, and fish. Even fish, if fish is to fish what fish is to fish, then fishy fish is fishier than fishy fishy fish fish. Unless of course fish is fish, in which case fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fishfish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish fish. _We’re going to need a bigger boat._ Glub, glub. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > I’d also recommend “Bartleby the Scrivener.” Me too. But if you have any last minute chores you need to do, like stabbing your gums with a fondue fork, you might want to get those out of the way before you turn to Moby Dick. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/5 "2005-11-26T05:04:16Z")
And by the way– I started a “Nobel Prize” book group a few months ago, because I too wanted to read some books that had stood the test of time. Using the Nobel Prize list as a starting point, we’ve discovered some masterpieces: \* Independent People\* by Halldor Laxness \*Hunger \*by Knut Hamsun \*The Dwarf \*by Karl Lagerkvist _The Lost Steps_ by Alejo Carpentier _Snow Country_ by Yasunari Kawabata Coming up: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undsett Molloy by Samuel Beckett . . . and some non Nobels, but time tested, like Woolf, Joyce, Proust, etc. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/6 "2005-11-26T05:11:48Z")
I think people exaggerate about Moby-Dick’s boring parts. There’s a lot in it about life and people. It’s the type of book you can read over and over and read out of order and you can skim boring parts and still get a ton out of it. What more can you ask from a book? I think everyone should at least try it. ---
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/7 "2005-11-26T06:22:47Z")
I read _Moby Dick_ out of a sense of duty…I had a vague idea that I ought to be reading “improving” literature. I thought it was a bit tedious and flowery to be honest. I then read _White-jacket_ , which was also flowery but for some reason not as tedious. I pick up _White-jacket_ quite often to re-read it but have not touched _Moby Dick_ since the moment I put it down saying “Thank God that’s finished.” Note that my two experiences mentioned above have not inclined me in the slightest to sample any more of Melville’s _oeuvre_. I’ve done my bit! ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/8 "2005-11-26T08:42:21Z")
I don’t think I have the longest attention span in the world when it comes to literature, but I read _Moby Dick_ for the first time a few years ago (probably in my late 30’s), and I loved it. I think whatever investment of attention you have to put into it pays off by the end. The only parts I found boring were a few philosophical ruminations by the narrator that you can easily skip without hurting your enjoyment of the book (assuming you’re not reading it **for** the philosophical ruminations). If you have enough of an attention span for Dickens, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, you probably won’t have a problem with _Moby Dick._ ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/9 "2005-11-26T09:17:25Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > - Independent People\* by Halldor Laxness I’d love to see that as a headline: **Nobel Prize Won By Laxness** PS I like Dostoyevsky, Dickens, Tolstoy, all the Brontes, Thackeray, Eliot and even bits of Hardy. I have read and enjoyed _Silas Marner_ and _Middlemarch_. And I would rather drink paint than read Melville’s _Typee_ again. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/10 "2005-11-26T12:18:16Z")
Definitely worth reading Moby Dick. Its one of those books whose characters and symbolism have entered the popular consciousness, everyone has heard of the white whale. If nothing else, its interesting to see what all the fuss is about, what’s so special about Melville’s writing that his story has attained mythic status? Its also a good book to read if you’re American. Its a ‘great American novel’, probably one of the earlier examples, its always interesting to read the great books of your own country’s literary heritage. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/11 "2005-11-26T12:27:22Z")
Only if you want to. I doubt you get Brownie points for doing so, but then again, it’s always a good idea to broaden yourself. If you think that reading Melville will do that-go for it. Let us know how it goes-then I won’t have to read it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/12 "2005-11-26T13:51:38Z")
By all means, read Melville. Even Billy Budd, which I had to read in high school but learned to appreciate. ---
**Author:** ![PerditaX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@PerditaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerditaX)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/13 "2005-11-26T14:09:33Z")
I second (or is it third or fourth by now) **Bartleby the Scrivener**. That one was enjoyable. **Billy Budd** has a special place in my heart, as an essay on it got me a 5 on the AP English exam. I’m not saying I _like_ it, exactly, but I’m glad I read it. I’ve attempted **Moby Dick** no less than 4 or 5 times, and could just never get into it. I’ve heard it posited that Melville is a “guy’s” author, like Hemingway - that men like his writing, and “get” it, but women don’t. FTR, you don’t get any “brownie points” for reading Literature as an adult. Read for enjoyment, not punishment. There’s lots of good stuff out there! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/14 "2005-11-26T16:37:53Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > Yes, you should definitely read _Bartleby_. Maybe, but I’d prefer not to. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/15 "2005-11-26T16:49:14Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > But not from an accuracy standpoint. The long “essays” are folklore about “giant fish,” and they make up 97% of the book. The essays are mostly nonfiction descriptions of the process of whaling, written by someone who worked on a whaler (and who was a good writer). If you were researching any book about whaling, **Moby Dick** is the best original source out there. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/16 "2005-11-26T19:12:34Z")
Moby Dick I’m torn about. The stuff about mad captain ahab was very, very good. The stuff about the whaling industry was interesting, but the long biolgical essays about whales, whales and more whales was just boring after a while. It reminded me of what somebody once said about dumping a lot of information about something in a novel just because you did all this research. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/17 "2005-11-26T19:17:04Z")
That, is: Don’t. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/18 "2005-11-26T19:26:25Z")
Even if you do not read Bartleby, there is a recent film that is fairly faithful to the short story. I’d recomend both, but would go for the film since it features a theremin score. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/19 "2005-11-26T21:22:07Z")
The only book I found more tedious than _Moby Dick_ was _Anna Karenina_. _The Brothers Karamazov_ and _Robinson Crusoe_ are close behind. That’s not to say I don’t like the classics; there’s plenty I enjoyed immensely. What about some Steinbeck? Or, if you must stick with the transcendentalists, some Hawthorne? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763/20 "2005-11-26T21:27:26Z")
Count me in among those who find it boring. I’ve read and quite enjoyed _Ulysses_ and _The Brothers K_, but I had to force myself to finish _Moby Dick_. Rent the movie instead. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-read-herman-melville/332763.md?page=2)