Ishmailites Google Group

Somewhat Unrelated, I Apologize in Advance

geoducky...@yahoo.com (geoducky545) — Mon, 22 Mrz. 2010 05:21:17 UT

Dear Ishmailites,
I have followed this group for years and am very inspired by your
scholarly study of Herman Melville, helping widen my rather limited
scope of his works. I am a senior in high school and I am required to
write a "seminar paper"-- a research paper on a topic related to the
material covered in class. I was challenged to write about something

Re: Probable cause

go.po...@libero.it (gordon poole) — Mon, 22 Mrz. 2010 00:05:35 UT

I'm glad to see Ismailites coming back to life.
While looking forward to what more may come of John Gretchko's
musings on "probable cause" and "friar" Eugène Vidocq's brief stint at
teaching girls in Faubourg, I would point out that button can indeed be a
clitoris, as John says, but in Chapter 91 of Moby-Dick it is assuredly a

Probable cause

stein.fin...@gmail.com (fin john) — Sat, 20 Mrz. 2010 14:23:54 UT

All,
The first sentence of chapter 88, "Schools and Scoolmasters," reads:
"The previous chapter gave account of an immense body or herd of Sperm
Whales, and there was also then given the *probable cause *inducing those
vast aggregations." The phrase "probable cause" seems used innocently
enough. But is it? It might easily pass, save for the next two chapters

Life in a whale

stein.fin...@gmail.com (fin john) — Fri, 19 Mrz. 2010 13:56:31 UT

All,
Philip Hoare in his new book, *The Whale*, recounts some incidents of
whales swallowing men who then survived Jonah-like. At a later date I will
have some unkind words for Hoare's interpretation of Melville.
"In the 1920s, an Oxford Professor named Ambrose John Wilson sought to prove
the possibility of Jonah's fate. He reasoned that only a sperm whale could

Re: Darmonodes as monody

stein.fin...@gmail.com (fin john) — Thu, 18 Mrz. 2010 13:39:55 UT

Nick,
Stayed tuned. Some of this may resolve itself several chapters hence.
John Gretchko

Re: Darmonodes as monody

acolder...@gmail.com (Ackin) — Wed, 17 Mrz. 2010 17:10:20 UT

Hardeman, John and All,
This poetical chapter is not an easy one and the name Darmonodes is
quite an enigma. However, I feel there's something hidden here. I do
believe that the "Damonidas hypothesis" is the most likely, but that
shouldn't exclude other hypothesis and/or puns.
Within my cock/tail of best guesses, I propose:

Amours

stein.fin...@gmail.com (fin john) — Wed, 17 Mrz. 2010 13:44:39 UT

All,
Note the amorousness of chapters 87 and 88, "The Grand Armada" and
"Schools and Schoolmasters." Chapter 87: "Some of the subtlest secrets of
the seas seemed divulged to us in this enchanted pond. We saw young
Leviathan amours in the deep." Melville then for this last sentence displays
a rare footnote where he discusses the breeding of the whale. The last

Re: Darmonodes as monody

lhp...@gmail.com (Hardeman) — Wed, 17 Mrz. 2010 13:04:11 UT

John,
Thanks for the tip to Harrison's essay. Hawthorne as shyest grape in
social settings must have been to Melville an overwhelmingly powerful
kind of writer, indeed another Bard. So Melville as the sad singer of
the monody to Hawthorne could be in the same "state of mind" he
created in the image of Darmonodes. The later association written of

Re: Darmonodes as monody

stein.fin...@gmail.com (fin john) — Tue, 16 Mrz. 2010 18:25:15 UT

All,
Thanks, Hardeman, for that tingling work. As you know, Melville wrote a
poem titled "Monody," which some believe he meant for Hawthorne, who died in
1864. Harrison Hayford has an illuminating essay on this poem in *Melville's
Prisoners.* John Gretchko

Darmonodes as monody

lhp...@gmail.com (Hardeman) — Sat, 13 Mrz. 2010 00:03:49 UT

“to any monomaniac man, the veriest trifles capriciously carry
meanings.” MD 52
Dear John and Stephen,
Thank you for your inspirational chorus on this long overlooked
trifle. This aside is meant as a monody of monomaniac speculation in
accord with your truly erudite song.
Since extensive searches have turned up no historical Darmonodes, it

Re: The Grand Armada

stephen...@yahoo.com (Stephen Hoy) — Fri, 12 Mrz. 2010 17:52:42 UT

Brief summary...what I noted a few years back is that certain aspects of the Grand Armada chapter are built around Francis Bacon's analogy of Scylla and Charybis, through which Lord Verulam illustrates the search for Truth as a middle way between the Universal and the Particular, which I take as Melville's main point in this chapter, if not the entire book.

The Grand Armada

stein.fin...@gmail.com (fin john) — Fri, 12 Mrz. 2010 14:57:25 UT

All,
"By these means, the circumnavigating Pequod would sweep almost all the
known Sperm Whale cruising grounds of the world, previous to descending upon
the Line in the Pacific; where Ahab, though everywhere else foiled in his
pursuit, firmly counted upon giving battle to Moby Dick, in the sea he was

Conservative Catholic literary criticism

clare.sp...@gmail.com (Clare Spark) — Thu, 11 Mrz. 2010 20:44:09 UT

Last Fourth of July I posted this:
[link].
As usual, I refer to Melville and Captain Ahab. Also on my home page, see my
critique of Jonah Goldberg's LIBERAL FASCISM, and mildly criticize History
News Network for not reading the subtext, which is not very sub-sub at all.

Re: Darmodes' elephant

stein.fin...@gmail.com (fin john) — Thu, 11 Mrz. 2010 14:20:28 UT

All,
Stephen makes a good case for Plutarch and Damonidas. There is another
Plutarch source in this chapter: "As Ptolemy Philopater testified of the
African elephant, I then testified of the whale, pronouncing him the most
devout of all beings. For according to King Juba . . ." The
Mansfield-Vincent edition accords this with Plutarch's *Morals*.

"mystery of iniquity"

lhp...@gmail.com (Hardeman) — Wed, 10 Mrz. 2010 05:36:51 UT

John,
Thanks again for the interesting questions. Consider if you will the
experience of iniquity.
Of all the mysteries of life the power of evil to attract and to repel
is perhaps the one that moved Melville the most. From the “frightful
anticipations of evil’ in the valley of the Typee to the Claggart’s