Moby-Dick from 1851 is a novel by Herman Melville about a teacher turned sailor who witnesses the desperate attempts of the captain of a fishing ship to catch a white whale. I've never read the book (which is quite the achievement) but I've been told the story and especially the whale is a huge metaphor for... something.
In Parks and Recreation (the TV show), the character Ron Swanson, after declaring the book is just a book, starts to speculate if the whale is actually a metaphor for the meaninglessness of life. Then there is Hubert Dreyfus whose YouTube lecture declares the whale is actually life itself; you're trying to catch it, but it's hard because it lives in another world (underwater), and you can't go into the world of life - you can't see anything there. And if the creature does emerge above water, you won't see it in its entirety - you'll just see a lump of flesh that does not resemble a whale even remotely. The only way to catch it and see it in its full form is to kill it. And then you've killed life.
What kind of a person comes up with a story that has such a deep psychological meaning?!
I mean, what the hell! I need to read this book ASAP!
I'm totally into books that have these kinds of metaphors and under-the-surface psychological meanings. Also I haven't really read any books since reading Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life and I desperately crave something other to do in the evenings besides watching movies.
So I'll tell you what. I shall buy and read Moby-Dick and make a video series about it for the WIP YouTube channel. The book is over 600 pages long so it might take a while but what the hell. This sounds wayyy to interesting to pass.
If you have any other book recommendations for me, email them to me at rk@worthinprogress.com, please!
RK
