Althouse: "I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody's religious obligations, never mind how comical..."

October 21, 2012

"I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody's religious obligations, never mind how comical..."

"... and could not find it in my heart to undervalue even a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool; or those other creatures in certain parts of our earth, who with a degree of footmanism quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before the torso of a deceased landed proprietor merely on account of the inordinate possessions yet owned and rented in his name."

Herman Melville, "Moby Dick: or, the White Whale," Kindle Locations 1181-1189.

ADDED: From the next paragraph: "... Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians and Pagans alike— for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending."

18 comments:

slumber_j said...: Maybe the least-discussed of the many, many virtues of that book is that it's very funny.; 10/21/12, 8:16 AM
Astro said...: The line you pulled reminds me of:
The Train Locker People; 10/21/12, 8:23 AM
RazorSharpSundries said...: Moby Dick is not an overrated book. I think it was a flying brain attacking the Earth on Futurama who called it a "dense, symbolist, tome." Which is a cool line, but I enjoyed it on many levels. Someday I'm gonna get around to reading more of Melville. He was an interesting 19th century hep-cat.; 10/21/12, 9:10 AM
Ann Althouse said...: The whole beginning of "Moby-Dick" is about a disaffected young guy getting massively turned on by sharing a bed with another man — an exotic, tattooed "cannibal." It's not to everyone's taste.; 10/21/12, 9:15 AM
edutcher said...: I didn't get it quite that way.

I do remember how he loved the island girl in "Typee".; 10/21/12, 9:20 AM
wyo sis said...: I have a friend who insists Moby Dick is the great American novel. I don't see it that way, but as Melvil himself would probably see it.; 10/21/12, 9:48 AM
edutcher said...: Ironically, "Dick" (more irony, it was a girl whale, after all) was one of the last things Melville I read (although I do seem to remember my father trying to read it to me when I was very young).

Most of my contact was through stuff like "Billy Budd", "Bartleby", "Benito Cereno" (NBC did a dramatization at the time we were reading it, with Roscoe Lee Browne as the duplicitous Babo), and "The Nigger of the Narcissus".

Given that was followed by a heavy dose of Joseph Conrad, the fall and winter of 1965 could be called my sea-faring phase.; 10/21/12, 10:08 AM
Wince said...: I Believe

“I believe in equality. Equality for everybody.

No matter how stupid they are or how superior I am to them.”; 10/21/12, 10:12 AM
Mumpsimus said...: I love the word "footmanism." It seems to be original to Melville -- it's not in the OED.; 10/21/12, 10:13 AM
Ralph L said...: The whole beginning of "Moby-Dick"
The hyphenated version is a modern gay porn novel. You down lowed the wrong book.; 10/21/12, 10:30 AM
Geoff Matthews said...: I watched the movie "Damsels in Distress" last night, and there was a funny line in it:

"I could never respect a religion that has its holy day on Tuesday."; 10/21/12, 10:30 AM
Sam L. said...: I tried to read "Billy Budd, Foretopman". Per Yoda, I 'did not".; 10/21/12, 10:40 AM
Dante said...: The whole beginning of "Moby-Dick" is about a disaffected young guy getting massively turned on by sharing a bed with another man — an exotic, tattooed "cannibal."

What? That's not the way I remember it. I remember the guy was terrified. Insofar as bed sharing, I think it was relatively common back in the day. I understand when a man and woman had to share a bed, they would wrap up the woman (or man) so there was no opportunity for any slipping.; 10/21/12, 10:40 AM
Christy said...: I find the wait for The Great Pumpking heartbreaking. He believed! Belief is never funny.; 10/21/12, 10:44 AM
Robert J. said...: "Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian."; 10/21/12, 11:06 AM
Robert J. said...: > The whole beginning of "Moby-Dick" is about a disaffected young guy getting massively turned on by sharing a bed with another man

Actually, the whole beginning of Moby-Dick is a brilliant essay on mankind's fascination with water and the sea.; 10/21/12, 11:09 AM
edutcher said...: Dante said...

The whole beginning of "Moby-Dick" is about a disaffected young guy getting massively turned on by sharing a bed with another man — an exotic, tattooed "cannibal."

What? That's not the way I remember it. I remember the guy was terrified.

Thanks for saying that. It seemed to me that was the way I remembered it, but 1967 was a long time ago.

Insofar as bed sharing, I think it was relatively common back in the day. I understand when a man and woman had to share a bed, they would wrap up the woman (or man) so there was no opportunity for any slipping.

A practice called bundling.

And, in the days before central heating, absolutely necessary for survival in many climes.; 10/21/12, 11:34 AM
Robert J. said...: And M-D also has some wonderful long discourses on the law. The chapter "Fast fish and loose fish" should be taught in law school. Search the text for "Blackstone" to find more, I think.; 10/21/12, 11:42 AM