I'm halfway through Moby-Dick and holy shit is it good
>A vast pulpy mass, furlongs in length and breadth, of a glancing cream-colour, lay floating on the water, innumerable long arms radiating from its centre, and curling and twisting like a nest of anacondas, as if blindly to clutch at any hapless object within reach. No perceptible face or front did it have; no conceivable token of either sensation or instinct; but undulated there on the billows, and unearthly, formless, chance-like apparition of life.
This is just par for the course on this book.
How did Melville do it?
>>8211604
Lots of interesting life experiences, natural talent and help from Hawthorne
>>8211604
yeah I'll never be as talented as melville anyways so why bother
By reading lots of Shakespeare and Milton, duh
Moby Dick is definitely top ten
i'm glad they were almost driven to extinction
>>8213568
Are you saying Hawthorne didn't influence Melville's writing?
Some say he improved it, some that he wrecked it; but, it's undeniable that he influenced him. Compare Moby-Dick to Typee and see the effect for yourself.
>>8213649
Influenced him intellectually and artistically, sure. I thought you wanted to say he actually had a hand in writing the book itself.
>>8211640
Wasn't there some gay shenanigans between Hawthorne and Melville?
>>8213669
Oh, no that's not what I meant. Just influenced him.
>>8212212
>By reading lots of Shakespeare and Milton, duh
This.
He probably had a natural talent for metaphors and imagery and, by feeding on the nutritious writings of Shakespeare, was able to realize what his natural inclinations might achieve if he fermented it with great effort.
Also, he had the courage to follow his gut and instinct. Today many young writers, by reading writing suggestions, and books like “The Elements of Style”, and sharing their works for other colleagues to critic, would be flooded by “advices” like “Your prose is too purple”, “You need to cut adjectives and simplify your writing”, “you need to learn with the moderns like Hemingway”, “Your writing is too pretentious; make it simple”, and other shitty and topic suggestions.
>>8213702
i honest-to-god take "too pretentious" as a sign i'm on the right track.
90% of people are plebs and therefore think anything that makes them feel less smart must be pretentious
some stuff without style legit is pretentious, but it takes a person with actual taste to judge it so.
>>8213702
My scriptwriting teacher used to bitch that I was "too descriptive, and poetic" she said it was "fluffy".
>>8213781
Same with my 10th grade English teacher.
Let's just agree that the average schoolteacher is an anal-sadistic prig, I think "refine" should be used as opposed to "simplify". The trend of dumbing things down and spoonfeeding is why screenplays in the United States once averaged a 10th grade reading level in the 40s and 50s to a 4th grade reading level today.
