/lit/ - Literature

>>22812226
Have you read any of his other books?

>>22812231
No I just finished Moby Dick there.

>>22812226
This book is only 4$ on Amazon and I bought it because a lot of people have been shilling for it on /lit/, I hope I didn't make a bad decision.

>>22812249
Read Bartelby.

>>22812226
one of those rare books that's just as good (if not better) than everyone says it is
>>22812287
you won't be disappointed. hope you got a good edition. Penguin, Oxford Worlds Classics, and Norton Critical are all good

>call me ishmael
>i will recount for you a tale of woe
>a tale of loss
>a tale of redemption
>but ultimately a tale of how my crew and I had a whale of a time
Are we serious with this prose?

>>22812350
I'd prefer not to.

>>22812367
Wordsworth Classics is what I got. Are there different versions? Why would that be, if the original text is in English? Sorry if that's retarded to ask I just started reading books a few mos ago.

>>22812367
>one of those rare books
if Frankenstein like this?

>>22812367
I have Norton Critical. Plan on starting it this year. Have read this first couple pages. Font may be small for some but I have good enough eyesight to parse it comfortably.
>>22812510
>Wordsworth classics
Please cancel the order anon. There’s still time. At least get the Dover if you want to cheap out.

>>22812558
Oh no ... it's too late. How can different editions of the same book be so different? Like how do they butcher a story written in the same language as all the other editions makes no sense.

>>22812558
I don't know what got into me when I ordered my penguin edition. You get the impression it's a YA novel. I actually might have to order a new one or else I won't read it because it's so ugly.

>>22812226
>This is the most gripping and lucid prose I have ever read. Shakespeare is the only other writer to make me feel like this.

>>22812684
Usually the text is almost identical, except for things like introduction and notes, and small edits for things like typos. The edition you bought is still Moby-Dick. Different publishing companies have different cover design choices, paper quality, pricing, typeface, introductions (or lack thereof), or extra material (Norton adds essays about the book to the end). Wordsworth Classics will have an edition that probably has subpar cover design and physical book quality, but will still present you with the text of the novel. If you don't care about the physical feel and look of the book, there's no need to cancel an order or anything. The reason there are multiple editions is partly that Moby-Dick is public domain, meaning any company that wants to can print an edition of it and make some money if people decide to buy it from them. Thus, cheap companies like Dover and Wordsworth, and expensive ones like Everyman's Library, Folio Society, and Library of America will often carry the same books in different physical forms.

Hope you enjoy your reading journey -- God bless!

>>22812367
It should be ''...that's just as good (if not better than) as everyone says it is''. No?

>>22812226
I think Melville, especially in Moby Duck, resembles Shakespeare in how he can shape-shift, inhabiting very different characters fully in the same scene. The variety in Moby Dick is what keeps me coming back, the tone from chapter to chapter can be wildly different, but it's not jarring, it just that a story that is true to life will be sad and funny and interesting and so on all at the same time, depending on your perspective, and Melville can show you every angle. His other books are good, but Moby Dick is really transcendent, it's the only American novel that can have any claim to real Greatness or Genius, and the claim is very very strong. It mogs novels from all genres on their own terms, it's just extraordinary.

I'm going to go read Moby Dick again, dammit.

>>22812510
>>22812684
as >>22813865 said, the text of the book will be the same; but a good edition will add explanatory material such as footnotes, prefaces, critical essays, indexes of criticism, etc, that help explain references that Melville makes in the book. like a lot of the time Melville will just hit you with a tidal wave of sailing terminology -- Wordsworth won't tell you what they mean, but Penguin or Norton will add a footnote that explains the term. or Melville will include a line or a paragraph that doesn't seem to make much sense, but a good edition will explain that the segment is a reference to Hegel, or to Plato, or to Shakespeare, or whatever. a good preface will also alert you to the book's preoccupations, themes, ideas, whatever. lets you know that you should read with Plato's theory of Forms in mind, or lets you know that when Melville gets the facts of marine biology wrong he's doing so on purpose, or tells you that this scene or that scene is based on a real-life event, you get the idea.

don't worry about it too much. you'll still be able to read the book just fine. you'll miss out on some stuff but the overall effect will be the same. when you reread it, try and get a better edition.
>>22813925
you're right but also I don't care
>>22813972
mostly agreed. Moby-Dick is the greatest American novel ever written. truly titanic genius. it's also just so much fucking fun to read
>>22813003
you seem tedious

>>22812516
frankenstein isn't as good as moby-dick, but it's still good. depends on your personal taste. time spent reading it isn't time wasted, but you could go your life without having read it and not be poorer for it -- you couldn't say the same for Moby-Dick.

I was excited to read this one, heard so much about it. Started out good, then it got pretty homo and decided to stop reading.

>>22814602
it's not homo, just camarederie

>Ishmael
>Lucid
Are you joking?

>>22814559
Based on your description of all the stuff included in the book, this sounds like a really cool read.

>>22813003
>i-is that someone CARING about and having a POSITIVE and explainable OPINION on something? Oh my science!