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The book does have a special importance for Americans, as the great American epic, but you don't have to be American to be knocked out by it. I suppose its special importance for me is as a precursor of modernism and metafiction - among many other things it's an extraordinary exploration of the nature of meaning, in which Ahab's pursuit of the whale and Ishmael's attempt to write the story are two halves of the same quest. The book it most reminds me of is another of my all-time favourites, _Tristram Shandy_, so if you like that you will probably be at least as enthusiastic about _Moby-Dick_. It's certainly worth sticking with for more than a page, though you don't say whether the page was the 'Call me Ishmael' one, or those wonderful prelims in which he digs out just about every reference to whales in literature and sends himself up for doing so. Best wishes Matthew ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jill Jones" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2001 2:00 PM Subject: Re: Book Review- Moby Dick > on 10/8/01 10:06 AM, Joseph Duemer at [log in to unmask] wrote: > > > I read Moby Dick every few years just to keep my mind working right. But > > then I'm American. > > > How so? Is there something I'm missing then? Don't give a tinker's cuss > about PC (the best things in life aren't) but think I've only ever read the > first page of MD and just couldn't get past it. Ought I or is life too > short? (Seriously.) > > Cheers, > Jill > > P.S. Nice to hear the whale won, however. > > _________________________________ > Jill Jones > 50 Ruby Street > Marrickville NSW 2204 > AUSTRALIA > > [log in to unmask] > http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones >