Well, I’ve come to the end! Let me state the usual for a project recap: I did not do as much as I wanted, and I still have lots more I want to read! (Even more Melville: I did not read every single poem or short story, and hardly any of his letters.)
But…I did pretty much read all of Melville’s work, in chronological order, between last Thanksgiving and now. So I will congratulate myself in a pretty serious way. Also, it was awesome, and all my readers were awesome for somehow liking it. I already did a recap of the first half of the adventure, from Typee through White-Jacket, so now for the second half:
- Moby-Dick was next on the list, and was a re-read for me, of one of my favorite books. I first addressed its alleged boringness, then its discussions of friendship and affinity. I talked a bit about its structure and Ishmael’s ideas about narration, then gushed about Ishmael some more. I wrapped up with the whiteness of the whale and links to many other bloggers’ excellent Moby-Dick posts.
- I started reading Pierre, and then announced the Unstructured Clarel Readalong (which is still “going on”!).
- Back to Pierre, I had to admit things got a little crazy, and not exactly reader-friendly, but certainly not offensive and also totally, in its own way, good (or even great).
- Then I came to the fun and adventurous Israel Potter, discussed Melville’s depictions of clothing and mutability, Israel Potter’s encounters with important historical figures, and Melville’s anti-myth-making.
- Melville’s break from the novel came next, represented here largely by The Piazza Tales. I wrote about “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and The Encantadas, as well as the non-Piazza Tale, “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids.” (I would also strongly recommend “I and My Chimney,” just for the record.)
- When I reached The Confidence-Man, I immediately thought of Mardi. Melville gets even slippier than usual in his language in this one. Of all the novels interlocutors, Pitch was probably my favorite (though who doesn’t love the cosmopolitan?). And I tried, a little bit, to write about confidence itself.
- Before getting into Clarel I wrote just a bit about Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War.
- Then came the monster: Clarel itself. I discussed beauty in the poem, and also weird, ugly weirdness, which may also be beautiful. I wrote about Mortmain, in the running for my favorite character (along with all the others!) and the lovely connection between Clarel and a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
- Suddenly, all that remained was Billy Budd, a novella heavy on the psychology and seemingly very mature though unfinished, and which pays some wonderfully Melvillean attention to the face.
Now, who’s next, and how many years until I do this one all over again? Because you know I will have to.
Well DONE, Nicole! I’ve enjoyed the whole series, and kudos to you for sticking with it to the end (not that it seemed like much of a slog, but that’s still impressive).
Thanks, Nicole. I enjoyed reading your series so much I don’t feel the need to read Melville myself. (Only joking).
Congratulations! That’s an impressive reading project. I admire you for being so focused. And now I want to know what’s next! :)
I admire your commitment! And I wish I’d been along for the ride much sooner…
I’m so pleased for you that you finished your Melville project. Nothing like setting an ambitious reading goal and fulfilling it!
Thanks everyone! I’m tentatively thinking of a Nabokov read-through for a 2011 author-based project, and I still want to get through some Latin American literature this fall. But right now I just feel like celebrating and reading at whim for a bit :)
Oh, a Nabokov read-through is equally daunting and thrilling.
More daunting, actually, I’ve been thinking. It’s an awful lot of novels. I was thinking the other day whether I could pick out some kind of subset. But that seems like getting away from the spirit of the thing. Well, I’ve got some time to think about it!
The obvious Nabokov split is the nine novels that were written in Russian and the nine novels that were written in English. Of course, that doesn’t take into account the short stories and the fantastic non-fiction.
True; I hadn’t actually worked out that the split was so even. That makes things a bit interesting. One motivation-killer, though: with Melville, my pre-project favorite came right in the middle (Moby-Dick). With Nabokov, I have to wait until almost the very very end for Ada. (But then, just imagine how worth it that would be! Oh dear.)
I must revisit Ada sometime soon. You know, with Nabokov, even the minor novels have a vastness that makes him perfect for a read-through. I don’t think motivation would be a problem – you’ve got me tempted by a nine and nine read-through.
Whew–congrats. That’s some pretty heroic reading…
Wow!! This looks like an awesome project, Nicole. I’m excited to see this because I am JUST NOW reading my very first Melville! I like him very much, already. :-)
I’m going to be returning to this often, and eventually read all of it. Thanks so much for sharing!
Any projects planned for 2012?
(PS – I’m also reading War and Peace right now. I hope to finish by the end of the year.)