The Strange Careen of Moby Dick the book

[Jon Ford]

Michael-- I'll forward your amusing anecdote to my friend Hilton Obenzinger, 
a Moby Dick and Melville scholar. He is particularly good at sorting out the 
Melville myths from the facts. For instance, the rock-star  Moby considers 
himself the great great grandson of Melville. Hilton has demonstrated that 
Moby is most likely unrelated to Melville as many of Melville' s shipmates 
named their off-springs after Herman Melville and /or Moby Dick to show 
their appreciation and respect for their fellow traveller.

Jon


>From: Michael Eisenstadt <michaele@ando.pair.com>
>To: jonmfordster@hotmail.com, 
>austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net,byronmarshall2001@yahoo.com
>Subject: The Strange Careen of Moby Dick the book
>Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 09:02:27 -0500
>
>It is a remarkable fact that the legend of Moby-Dick
>was originally about a giant white woodpecker.
>
>The Indians near the village where Melville lived told
>Melville a lengend about a giant white woodpecker.
>
>This caught his attention.
>
>But is that the entire story?
>
>It is indeed true that one theory maintains that a
>French translation of the Indian legend was
>misprinted, changing "woodpecker" into "fish", and the
>incorrect version taught back to the Indian tribes by
>missionaries.
>
>According to this theory, then, when Melville heard
>the Indian legend the story was already changed from
>"woodpecker" to "fish" by the Native Americans.
>
>Thus Melville's unlikely novel, a story awkwardly
>placed in the sea.
>
>However, other critics note that in mythology the Sea,
>as pointed out by de Santillana, represents the
>portion of the Zodiac below the celestial equator.
>
>According to these critics, Melville understood this
>and placed his story of a "great white woodpecker" in
>what was only a metaphorical ocean.
>
>His editors, less educated, took the references to the
>"sea" literally.
>
>They wrote Melville an angry note saying "you can't
>have great white woodpeckers swimming in the ocean".
>
>They changed the references to a "great white
>woodpecker" to a "whale" and ordered him to write
>several volumes on whaling. He did so reluctantly.
>

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