Higgledy-Piggledy Whale Statements

We forge ahead now with the Grand Armada - when Ben stops talking about semi-related matters, anyways. In this wild and piratical chapter, the Pequod pursues and is pursued, Starbuck’s crew witness the secret hidden bowers of the whale, and we learn of the forbidden flavor. After all that, of course, Ishmael needs to take a break to talk entirely about conceptual matters, yet somehow gets even wil...

This week we’re reading Chapters 85 and 86, The Tail and The Fountain - we are not reading 87, The Grand Armada, because there was just too much there to add on after we talked about two of the whale’s most noble attributes (according to Ishmael, who doesn’t seem to find much ignoble in the whale). There’s some amazing sentences, some more whale anatomy, and some important injunctions about what a...

As is not unusual, we had a hard time making these chapters into a coherent lump - once again, Ishmael is all over the place. However, that’s to our listener’s benefits, as Ishmael is petty about rival whalers, somewhat overstates the historical and mythological importance of whale-slaying, gets into questions of Biblical exegesis, and then mostly fails to explain how to pitchpole. Ben thinks he’s...

It’s time to finally get inside a whale’s head. It’s a dangerous place, and we have some swashbuckling to save a crewmate from getting too deep into it. We’ll also travel around one, compare some, and apply the caliper sciences to them. There’s a surprising amount of geometry, some swordplay, and references to great moments in the history of science (primarily to be dismissed by Ishmael). Join us,...

We’ll have no gam this time, friends - this episode, we try to figure out what thread goes through the three chapters we read, which cover a pretty wide variety of topics and forms. First, we hear the story of the Jeroboam, a distinctly unlucky ship. Not only do they have an epidemic aboard, which is why there’s no gam, they also have a prophet, who causes a lot of trouble. Then Ishmael remembers...

Time to dismantle a whale, dear listeners. Time to dismantle a whale. Be warned, it gets quite gory. In this episode, we first listen to Stubb harangue the cook (and, while reading it, we try to dodge quoting some extremely dodgy eye dialect) before Ishmael gets on his high horse about eating whale-meat. Then we have The Shark Massacre overnight as the sailors fight to keep the sharks away from th...

This episode, Ishmael keeps it brief with a number of short chapters touching on a variety of topics. In Brit we see right whales eating, and this inspires him to rhapsodize about the horrors of the deep. Then, in Squid, the Pequod witnesses what sperm whales eat and science has yet to understand. The Line is inserted, to explain how the rope coils about the whale-boat, which Ishmael considers a g...

Ishmael has decided we need a primer on the various images available of whales, before we return to the ongoing narrative. First, he gives us his scorching takes Of The Monstrous Pictures of Whales, and explains how science doesn’t know what it’s looking at, whalewise. Then he grudgingly admits to some accuracy, giving the nod Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales etc., before getting to chapte...

Sit down with us, and hear Ishmael spin a yarn in later years with his friends in Lima, Peru: In Chapter 54, The Town-Ho’s Story, Ishmael shares what he learned at a gam with the crew of the Town-Ho , off the Cape of Good Hope. For the duration, we’re on a ship very unlike the Pequod , though she’s also a whaler, and will eventually encounter the White Whale. With mutiny, Midwesterners, malice and...

Strange signs have begun to dog the Pequod, and we’re just thrilled. In Chapter 51, the crew are enthralled by The Spirit-Spout as it floats eerily before them in the night. The language is beautiful and the sights strange as the Pequod rounds the Cape of Good Hope. In those cold seas we cross wakes with The Goney (which is why the chapter is called The Albatross, it’s another name for it), who se...

This episode, the crew of the Pequod launch the whaleboats! In The Mat-Maker we join Ishmael and Queequeg as they lie around on deck not doing much, until - THAR SHE BLOWS! - whales are sighted for the first time. Then we follow along through the frenzy as foreshadowing is fulfilled, new characters introduced, and the boats lowered in The First Lowering . This chapter carries us through storm, sur...

We're back, again! We start out with Hark!, an exercise in pure foreshadowing: is there an unknown person on the Pequod? The Chart introduces us to Ahab's enormously detailed efforts in tracking Moby Dick through the entirety of the world's oceans. We also learn about his metaphysically complicated night terrors. In The Affidavit, Ishmael makes the best argument he can that Ahab's quest, and there...

Today it's all about the singular attribute of Moby Dick that, to Ishmael at least, most powerfully invests him with terror: the color white. Ishmael spends a whole lengthy chapter doing his best to explain what's so scary about whiteness and therefore about a white whale, and ultimately can't quite make the connection for us. We do our best to delve into Ishmael's layered revelations on the true...

Taking a slight detour from Moby Dick and from whaling (mostly), for this episode we watched the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Ben and Mark are both captivated by the minutiae of the world of tall ships. We also both shake our heads a bit at how right Stephen Maturin gets to be about everything relating to science, and how much this movie believes in the concept of a Jonah....

In this episode, we discuss Moby Dick. Finally. Ishmael does his best to sort fact from fantasy and give as full an accounting as he can of the white whale, and Ahab's obsession with it. This provides the basis for a free-wheeling, nearly three-hour discussion which I hope you enjoy but which I can't really summarize. Next episode we zero in on one particular quality of Moby Dick's, in chapter 42,...

The narrative is back at full sail, as Ahab calls a meeting to discuss whaling and philosophy with the crew, and the Whale Statements team finds our new sign-off. He explains his purpose and the crew are on board, literally, except for First Mate Starbuck who thinks it’s stupid to try to get revenge on a whale. Ahab does not agree. We are extremely excited about how hard he does not agree. After t...

Today we have another grab-bag of a reading, getting us up to speed on a number of different topics relating to daily life on the Pequod. Ishmael introduces us to the role of the "specksynder", or chief harpooneer, and stakes out a clear Harpooners' Rights position. He characterizes Ahab as an ideal Kantian absolute monarch and also as The Divine Inert, whatever that is. A typical dinner (i.e. lun...

This time, we talk about whales. Next episode, it's back to daily life on the Pequod in chapters 33-35.

This episode gets off to a leisurely start with some chitchat about video games and sailing, then we settle in for a nice long introduction to Ahab. The man who commands the Pequod makes his first appearance on deck and on the page, cutting an extremely dramatic figure. His ivory leg and mysterious mark fascinate us just as they do the crew of the Pequod. Poor Stubb meets with the wrath of this te...

Ben's favorite chapter, in less than a page, exalts Bulkington unto divinity, prompts us to go deep on the sublime, and begins a section of uncertainly defined time on the Pequod that will continue for our next several episodes. Ishmael puts on his lawyer hat and presents a comprehensive defense of whaling as a cool and good thing to do with your time, including one and only one claim he will admi...

Queequeg takes a fast day, to Ishmael's increasing consternation. We settle the "is Ishmael a universalist?" debate. Queequeg's job interview with the captains of the Pequod goes much better than Ishmael's. A mysterious stranger named Elijah gives vague warnings while Ishmael tries and fails to ditch him. We speculate on the dramatic exploits Ahab is suggested to have had. The crew of the Pequod o...

Ishmael and Queequeg, now united by the bonds of matrimony, set out for Nantucket and thence to sign on to the Pequod. On their way to Nantucket, Queequeg relates a couple of funny stories and pulls off some heroic feats of strength. Ishmael gives us a brief introduction to Nantucket. The two stay at an inn where they enjoy multiple delicious chowders. The next day, invested with Queequeg's faith...

It's time to hear the good word! The good word is, as it turns out, mostly about whales. Wikipedia informs us that the book of Jonah has a setting, characters, a plot, and themes. We debate the moral points and the effectiveness of Father Mapple's sermon. Ishmael admires the contours of Queequeg's skull and the two of them get married. During the honeymoon, Queequeg tells his life story and explai...

Sometimes it takes five whole chapters to cover one Sunday morning. Ishmael wakes up in bed with Queequeg and explains his feelings on this with possibly the worst analogy in the book. Queequeg uses his harpoon for everything he possibly can. We get a little tourism pitch for New Bedford, which of course segues right into a meditation on death. Ishmael arrives at a whaling-themed church, where he...

This episode, we're reading the jumbo-sized Chapter 3: The Spouter-Inn. Ishmael comes in from the cold and instantly zeroes in on a chance for some art appreciation. Ben's favorite character makes his first of two appearances. We meet Queequeg, the mysterious harpooneer whose bed Ishmael must share, and discuss his awkward role as both central sympathetic character and racist caricature. Things ge...