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in fiction, is offset by borrowings
from another literary genre: the
encyclopedia. As the suspense of
the story is ratcheted up through
a series of increasingly dramatic
whale hunts, the momentum is
deliberately frozen, at strategic
intervals, by chapters that present
a wealth of anthropological,
zoological, and other factual
information on whales and the
activity of whaling—for example,an account of the extraction of
whale oil, or a discussion about
the portrayal of whales in art. The
prodigious volume and density
of knowledge on display seem
appropriate to Melville’s experience
as a self-taught man: “I have
swam through libraries,” declares
Ishmael, and Melville did the same,
absorbing mountains of knowledge
through his own reading, often
while at sea himself. The content
and tone of the encyclopedic
chapters provide the novel with a
vastly detailed filling in of factual
realism. This helps to relate
Melville’s Dark Romantic world
view to the civilization inhabited
by the book’s readers, and taught to
them through science and history.A compelling mix
The strands of Shakespearean
drama and factual content give the
novel two of its characteristic prose
styles, and offset against both is a
third: conversational casualness.
This mode announces itself in
Ishmael’s second sentence (“Some
years ago—never mind how long
precisely—having little or no
money ...”) and surfaces frequently
in the midst of writing of elaborateimpressiveness and theatrical
exclamation. Genres and styles
are mixed to powerful effect.
Moby-Dick has an encyclopedic
depth and wide-ranging literary
styles; since the oceans occupy
two-thirds of the Earth’s surface,
it could perhaps be described as
a psychological drama conceived
on the largest imaginable scale.
With its consideration of good and
evil in an indifferent cosmos, and
its realization of a detailed social
world, this monumental epic of
fanaticism infused with a tragic
vision set a new benchmark for
fictional ambition. ■ROMANTICISM AND THE RISE OF THE NOVEL
The Great American Novel
Writing the “Great American
Novel,” as an expression of
nationalist pride and a challenge
to the European fictional canon,
became an explicit ambition in
the 19th century.
The phrase “Great American
Novel” was devised by the
novelist John De Forest in 1868.
An essential qualification was
that the book should capture
a distinctively American ethos.
A family saga addressing race
and other social tensions, such
as Uncle Tom’s Cabin (HarrietBeecher Stowe, 1852) and, later,
Beloved (Toni Morrison, 1987),
was deemed appropriate. Some
candidates for the label focused
on self-creation, which in the 20th
century became the cornerstone
of the American Dream; these
themes were scrutinized in The
Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald,
1925) and Invisible Man (Ralph
Ellison, 1952). Another suitable
type was the so-called mega
novel, with multiple characters
and plot lines presenting a
microcosm of contrasting socialand philosophical ideas. Moby-
Dick, the first Great American
Novel, belongs to both the
second and the third of these
categories; the next major
contender, The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain,
1884), largely to the second.
In the 21st century, the
Great American Novel remains
an ideal for writers and readers,
although the notion has lost
its swagger, and the idea of a
unifying “American” voice is
rejected by many critics.Queequeg, the tattooed Polynesian
harpooner, is part of the international
crew of the Pequod. Although said to
be a pagan and a cannibal, he is calm,
generous, honest, and loyal.How can’st thou endure
without being mad? Do the
heavens yet hate thee, that
thou can’st not go mad?
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