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AmericanExile
Joined: 04 May 2009
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 Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:17 am Post subject: A response to peppermint |
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| peppermint wrote: |
| AmericanExile wrote: |
| ThingsComeAround wrote: |
| Call me Ishmael |
Absolutely not. No. It's terrible. I tend to believe people say this because their teacher said so in High School, but it's boring. This gets my vote for worst opening line ever, and anyone who thinks it is great should be nominated for the conformist of the year award. |
Someone's got issues when it comes to Moby Dick apparently. |
I thought it was fairly clear I have issues with a lack of independent thought.
It also annoys me that it's about a 90% shot that when an Oscar Wilde play is produced it will be Earnest which is a silly trifle. Salome is the grand work of a great poetic mind. When was the last time you saw that produced.
People just go along with whatever bad decision was made by some half wit decades ago. Our forebears did not always know better.
Everyone thinks they would tell the emperor he has no clothes. Most wouldn't. I don't blame that on Moby. He has enough harpoons in him already. |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:20 am Post subject: |
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| Moby Dick's not for everyone, and I prefer Benito Cereno, if we're talking Melville, but I still think you overreacted. |
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MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:18 am Post subject: |
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Being a Wildean scholar, I too have to agree that Salome was his best play.
However, I do love a good winter reading of Moby Dick. |
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Koveras
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:35 am Post subject: |
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| I think it's pretty good. Most of the interest lies in the name. |
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aboxofchocolates
Joined: 21 Mar 2008
Location: on your mind
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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| But I think we can all agree the most important thing is peppermint made an immature weener reference. And it was funny. |
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MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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| aboxofchocolates wrote: |
| But I think we can all agree the most important thing is peppermint made an immature weener reference. And it was funny. |
You mean "immature" weener, or immature "weener?"??!!
I always loved the word "wiener." I dated a guy with the last name Wiener in high school, but it was pronounced "whiner." |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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Wow.. didn't know my little quote would stir up such a ruckus!
That line, IMO, was somewhat of a joke. I crack up when reading it
Thanks American Exile. I'm honored to even be nominated for the title of "conformist of the year"  |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| And here I thought I was being conformist by suggesting A Tale of Two Cities. |
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kiknkorea
Joined: 16 May 2008
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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So did the original thread get removed?
If not, why couldn't the response just be made there? |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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>I prefer Benito Cereno, if we're talking Melville
That is not a well-known story. Pity. I thought it was excellent work as well, a deeply psychological narrative and truly frightening at the end. Far preferable to his crappy whale novel. |
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AmericanExile
Joined: 04 May 2009
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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| kiknkorea wrote: |
So did the original thread get removed?
If not, why couldn't the response just be made there? |
Didn't want to hijack the thread. This is a different subject. |
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AmericanExile
Joined: 04 May 2009
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Underwaterbob wrote: |
| And here I thought I was being conformist by suggesting A Tale of Two Cities. |
I would argue that this opening line is actually interesting, and that a person is much more likely to come to the opinion on their own. Therefore a conclusion about conformity is harder to reach.
However, if you are telling us you didn't think for yourself and would like to be considered for conformist of the year, then I would be only to happy to nominate you. |
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AmericanExile
Joined: 04 May 2009
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| peppermint wrote: |
| Moby Dick's not for everyone, and I prefer Benito Cereno, if we're talking Melville, but I still think you overreacted. |
You seem determined to make this about me not liking Moby Dick. All I said was I didn't like the opening line. The rest is flawed assumption on your part.
My issue has nothing to do with Moby Dick which is an inanimate object, and being such hurts noone. My issue has everything to do with people not thinking for themselves which causes no end of problems.
Overreacted - hardly. |
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Arthur Dent
Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Location: Kochu whirld
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| Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:17 am Post subject: |
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"Call me Oscar Progresso. Or, for that matter, call me anything you want, as Oscar Progresso is not my name."
Mark Helprin - Memoir from Ant Proof Case
Whatever your opinion of Melville's opening line in Moby Dick, it seems true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Or in this case, lampooning. The rest of the lines in this opening quote will show that.
What makes an opening line a good one, for most people, and this will hardly be a revelation for those who have commented so far, is that it grabs the readers attention from the beginning.
Perhaps the reason some lines - famous ones - no longer do that is simply because they are so familiar. Recall the old joke about the student studying Shakespeare for the first time and complaining - "He's so cliche."
I think Melville's line does grab your attention. The name is part of it for some but really the first question one asks is "Why 'Call me' and not 'My name is ...' ?"
It is also very short - to the point.
With that, I leave you. |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:19 am Post subject: |
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| AmericanExile wrote: |
| peppermint wrote: |
| Moby Dick's not for everyone, and I prefer Benito Cereno, if we're talking Melville, but I still think you overreacted. |
You seem determined to make this about me not liking Moby Dick. All I said was I didn't like the opening line. The rest is flawed assumption on your part.
My issue has nothing to do with Moby Dick which is an inanimate object, and being such hurts noone. My issue has everything to do with people not thinking for themselves which causes no end of problems.
Overreacted - hardly. |
I'd call pitching a hissy fit over this overreacting, yeah, but then I'm not a drama queen.
Not thinking for themselves? I've never been inside an American classroom, but Melville is not considered nearly as iconic an author elsewhere, I assure you. I was studying Atwood, and Orwell and Shakespeare and Golding in high school, along with a few more local authors. No Melville during my English degree either, and a very bare minimum of American lit, mostly poetry. Comparing Melville to Beethoven is a bit rich, don't you think? I'd speculate that only Shakespeare or perhaps Chaucer would be fitting equivalents.
I happen to be reading the book now is the thing, and really loving it. With that bit of background info, do you care to explain how I'm a conformist? |
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