This grey and dreary morning, Mardi was conquered! Brace yourselves for a week of that then, as I may have the same problem as Melville—not being able to shut up about it.
As I mentioned last week, Mardi is long. At this point, I feel like it is loooong. In other words, it’s really put a kink in my Melville momentum. I have not yet decided whether to continue with Redburn or take a break with something else. It is feeling a bit masochistic to go on but I’m not sure just what I’d take a break with anyway. Well, I have some time to think about it; big house-cleaning plans for today, plus a bunch of Mardi writing.
Oh, speaking of writing, that reminds me of what I would read: Emerson. Picked up some essays a few weeks ago to go along with my little “project.” Here’s a post about Emerson on writing. “Why should any of this worry me? I’m not a writer,” asks Amateur Reader. Yeah, I’m not a writer either—I’m something like the polar opposite of a writer in fact—but you wouldn’t believe how much I write all the same. That’s what’s really terrifying. Anyway, maybe we’ll try him out this afternoon; taking a break with some nonfiction sounds like just the ticket.
I know what you mean. I didn’t even like Mardi, and I ended up mentioning it in seven posts. It’s pretty intensely interesting. Redburn will seem like a stroll in the park now, although it seemed to kill my own momentum. I think I’m going to skip White-Jacket for now, and take Moby Dick with me on vacation.
As for that writer business – well, I’m not sure what I meant by all that. What’s the opposite of a writer?
An editor ;)
I was going back looking through your series and since I remembered you as hating it (an exaggeration) I was surprised at how much not-super-negative attention it got.