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Moby Dick, Lecture Seven: Treatise on Eternity (Ch. 42-101) (Patreon)

Published:
2022-04-25 18:05:10
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

"For God’s sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of man’s blood was spilled for it."

Today we're talking about narrative, temporality, allegory, omens, and reading Moby Dick as ecological literature.

And we're bringing Walt Whitman, Henri Bergson, Aristotle, Wittgenstein, Joseph Conrad, John Keats, John Locke, Cervantes, and Shakespeare into the discussion.

Lecture Timestamps:

  • 0:00 how to reread Moby Dick
  • 3:30 Melville’s strange temporality
  • 5:30 Ishmael’s conspicuous absence
  • 6:30 objective vs subjective time
  • 8:00 narrative, Cervantes & modernism
  • 10:20 Aristotle’s peripeteia & Bergson’s durée
  • 12:10 deep reading ‘The Fountain’ (ch. 85)
  • 16:00 Wittgensteins’ lion & contemplating God
  • 18:00 Ahab’s chart (ch. 45)
  • 20:30 the significance of lines in Moby Dick
  • 22:00 tallying Ahab’s hamartia
  • 24:20 Ishmael & Queequeg weaving (ch. 47)
  • 26:10 the marvel of sea narratives
  • 27:00 Walt Whitman’s ‘multitudes’
  • 29:30 the humour & empathy of Ishmael
  • 33:00 Moby Dick as ecological novel
  • 34:30 the importance of ‘The Line’ (ch. 60)
  • 36:00 ‘The Monkey Rope’ (ch. 72)
  • 39:00 Iago’s ‘I am not what I am’
  • 40:30 the power of allegory
  • 43:00 working through trauma with fiction
  • 45:00 Melville, Ahab & pasteboard masks
  • 46:30 ekphrasis & painting without canvas
  • 48:20 Hemingway’s ‘Old Man and the Sea’
  • 49:20 Louis Garneray’s painting
  • 50:00 the theatre of the mind
  • 52:00 Ishmael on Jonah (ch. 83)
  • 54:00 orienting our lives around meaning
  • 55:20 the blowhole of the whale
  • 57:30 a treatise on Eternity
  • 58:10 “In the beginning…”
  • 1:00:00 the omens of Moby Dick
  • 1:02:30 the first stoving/capsizing (ch. 48)
  • 1:06:00 ‘The Albatross’ (ch. 52)
  • 1:08:00 ‘The Town-Ho’s Story’ (ch. 54)
  • 1:11:00 God as man and woman
  • 1:12:00 midwife Queequeg’s dive
  • 1:12:50 the doubloon (ch. 90)
  • 1:13:00 descriptions of whale-killing (ch. 61)
  • 1:18:00 Fleece’s sermon to the sharks (ch. 64)
  • 1:20:00 the pregnant whale (ch. 87)
  • 1:22:00 connection between man & whale
  • 1:23:00 Hamlet on man as “piece of work”

Questions to consider:

1) Is Moby Dick an ecological novel? How did the descriptions of whale-hunting and killing sit with you? 

2) How have you found the slow reading and rereading approach for Moby Dick? Has the work played upon your unconscious? Has it entered the world of your dreams and the other books you’re reading?

3) Did Melville succeed in writing his own treatise on eternity? 

Bonus: Please do share with us your favourite chapter from this selection, and any thoughts you've had during your reading.

Happy sailing, everybody. Brace yourself for the chase !

Files

Previews only

Moby Dick, Lecture Seven: Treatise on Eternity (Ch. 42-101)

0:00 how to reread Moby Dick 3:30 Melville’s strange temporality 5:30 Ishmael’s conspicuous absence 6:30 objective vs subjective time 8:00 narrative, Cervantes & modernism 10:20 Aristotle’s peripeteia & Bergson’s durée 12:10 deep reading ‘The Fountain’ (ch. 85) 16:00 Wittgensteins’ lion & contemplating God 18:00 Ahab’s chart (ch. 45) 20:30 the significance of lines in Moby Dick 22:00 tallying Ahab’s hamartia 24:20 Ishmael & Queequeg weaving (ch. 47) 26:10 the marvel of sea narratives 27:00 Walt Whitman’s ‘multitudes’ 29:30 the humour & empathy of Ishmael 33:00 Moby Dick as ecological novel 34:30 the importance of ‘The Line’ (ch. 60) 36:00 ‘The Monkey Rope’ (ch. 72) 39:00 Iago’s ‘I am not what I am’ 40:30 the power of allegory 43:00 working through trauma with fiction 45:00 Melville, Ahab & pasteboard masks 46:30 ekphrasis & painting without canvas 48:20 Hemingway’s ‘Old Man and the Sea’ 49:20 Louis Garneray’s painting 50:00 the theatre of the mind 52:00 Ishmael on Jonah (ch. 83) 54:00 orienting our lives around meaning 55:20 the blowhole of the whale 57:30 a treatise on Eternity 58:10 “In the beginning…” 1:00:00 the omens of Moby Dick 1:02:30 the first stoving/capsizing (ch. 48) 1:06:00 ‘The Albatross’ (ch. 52) 1:08:00 ‘The Town-Ho’s Story’ (ch. 54) 1:11:00 God as man and woman 1:12:00 midwife Queequeg’s dive 1:12:50 the doubloon (ch. 90) 1:13:00 descriptions of whale-killing (ch. 61) 1:18:00 Fleece’s sermon to the sharks (ch. 64) 1:20:00 the pregnant whale (ch. 87) 1:22:00 connection between man & whale 1:23:00 Hamlet on man as “piece of work”

Comments

Daniel Minton

Holy Melville! This book is amazing. It took me a while to really truly see it. The first part of the book moved quickly and then it starts to be less linear and the plot is so single minded that you can lose interest. I did. I started to labor through it and then there was a transition in my mind where I stopped waiting for the plot to progress and accepted the encyclopedic, mystical, submarine poetry. The book is a Leviathan itself, massive and full of meaning. I am up to Chapter 101 now and I'm feeling all of the story wash over me as I read. The chapter Brit is one of my favorite... "That same ocean rolls now; that same ocean destroyed the wrecked ships of last year. Yea, foolish mortals, Noah's flood is not yet subsided; two thirds of the fair world it yet covers."

Dani

Yet another lecture that smacked me upside the head, in a good way. I would agree that this is an ecological novel in the sense it's a reminder for to stay aware of our impact and that being in a state of love for yourself and others is acting temperately. I listened to the Aristotle Ethics lecture last week and I'm reminded of the importance of temperance in living well and morally. The whale-killing descriptions in "Stubb Kills a Whale" and "The Grand Armada" are heart-breaking and the imagery has kept me up. Try as I might, I can't find kinship with Stubb as I have with the other characters. I find him thoughtless and cruel but I know my strong reaction means there's something undone; perhaps I'm supposed to look at him more carefully and contemplate my own episodes of thoughtlessness and cruelty? Yikes. There were so many passages that I underlined but I'll be returning again and again to Chapter 68, The Blanket: "It is by reason of this cosy blanketing of his body, that the whale is enabled to keep himself comfortable in all weathers, in all seas, times and tides." "It does seem to me that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep they blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome dome of St Peter's, and like the great whale retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own." Magic. Power. What a book. It is constantly on my mind. In the simplest of terms it's simultaneously comforting and frightening. It's perplexing and abrasive. I feel recognized but also exposed to the elements. I agree that if there were one novel that supports the value of re-reading it would be Moby Dick. How could I not have known the multitudes that this book contains for so long? I guess I wasn't ready. Thank goodness I am now.