Much fun in this. I have a group reading Moby-Dick Aloud this year in Melbourne. Can I use some of you interesting stuff in our newsletter. I will of course give you credit. Hanging out for the next post😊
Very interesting! Like you, I was really surprised to learn that Melville didn't specify which leg Ahab had bitten off. I suppose it's one of those things that one doesn't think about until someone else points it out.
After your survey of English versions of Moby-Dick, I was curious and looked up illustrated versions of the novel in Danish, but could only find three illustrated editions, one of which had only some small motifs under chapter headings, so I couldn't learn anything from those about left vs. right legs. What I did find interesting, though, is that, despite Melville specifying that Ahab's leg was fashioned from the jaw of a sperm whale, all of the examples you provided show almost perfectly cylindrical (conical?) legs; whereas, the only good image I could find in a Danish book to hand attempts to make the mandibular origin more evident: https://i.imgur.com/sNPXRFr.png (illustrated by Rasmus Jensen).
Thanks for another great post and I look forward to more each week!
Wow -- yeah, I've never seen an Ahab with an actual jaw for a leg! We are told that the leg is made from "polished bone" and has been "whittled down to a point only." That point fits into several "augur holes" worn into the planks to stabilize Ahab, so we know at the very least that the end of it is a small cylinder. And then in Chapter 108 the carpenter is filing down the bone, creating so much dust that he sneezes throughout his conversation with Ahab. So it seems like it is more like the cylindrical model than a jawbone straight from a sperm whale's mouth, but there aren't all that many details about its shape or how it works. Much more to come on the leg in the next post though!
Interesting! Looking forward to part 2. I never realized the book doesn't specify which leg is missing. When I imagine Ahab, I imagine the left leg to be missing. Not sure why. Maybe because Ahab is a sinister character!
Same -- it didn't dawn on me for a long time that it's never mentioned. I think in my mind's eye I've always pictured it on the right but that might just because I'm right handed. When he kicks Stubb (in a dream) with the peg leg, I think of him as kicking with his right leg.
Much fun in this. I have a group reading Moby-Dick Aloud this year in Melbourne. Can I use some of you interesting stuff in our newsletter. I will of course give you credit. Hanging out for the next post😊
Of course! Feel free to use anything you'd like :)
Great
Very interesting! Like you, I was really surprised to learn that Melville didn't specify which leg Ahab had bitten off. I suppose it's one of those things that one doesn't think about until someone else points it out.
After your survey of English versions of Moby-Dick, I was curious and looked up illustrated versions of the novel in Danish, but could only find three illustrated editions, one of which had only some small motifs under chapter headings, so I couldn't learn anything from those about left vs. right legs. What I did find interesting, though, is that, despite Melville specifying that Ahab's leg was fashioned from the jaw of a sperm whale, all of the examples you provided show almost perfectly cylindrical (conical?) legs; whereas, the only good image I could find in a Danish book to hand attempts to make the mandibular origin more evident: https://i.imgur.com/sNPXRFr.png (illustrated by Rasmus Jensen).
Thanks for another great post and I look forward to more each week!
Wow -- yeah, I've never seen an Ahab with an actual jaw for a leg! We are told that the leg is made from "polished bone" and has been "whittled down to a point only." That point fits into several "augur holes" worn into the planks to stabilize Ahab, so we know at the very least that the end of it is a small cylinder. And then in Chapter 108 the carpenter is filing down the bone, creating so much dust that he sneezes throughout his conversation with Ahab. So it seems like it is more like the cylindrical model than a jawbone straight from a sperm whale's mouth, but there aren't all that many details about its shape or how it works. Much more to come on the leg in the next post though!
Interesting! Looking forward to part 2. I never realized the book doesn't specify which leg is missing. When I imagine Ahab, I imagine the left leg to be missing. Not sure why. Maybe because Ahab is a sinister character!
Same -- it didn't dawn on me for a long time that it's never mentioned. I think in my mind's eye I've always pictured it on the right but that might just because I'm right handed. When he kicks Stubb (in a dream) with the peg leg, I think of him as kicking with his right leg.