“Hark ye yet again—the little lower layer. All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me.
Hello and welcome to All Visible Objects, a Substack blog devoted to investigative research into Herman Melville and his novel Moby-Dick. Although I’m not technically a Melville scholar, nor an English PhD, nor could I reliably tell a sloop from a schooner, I am a professional researcher and am undeniably obsessed with Moby-Dick and every topic that radiates outward from it, like a shining doubloon nailed to its center.
My intent for this blog is to give myself space to contribute long-form answers to uncommon but fascinating questions about Moby-Dick that can help illuminate the book and its cultural significance (all that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; etc. etc.) In many cases, I hope to contribute my own novel research to the field and in others simply spotlight interesting if obscure research and analyses. Although for many years now I’ve maintained a hobby of answering questions about the book on various corners of the internet, I wanted a dedicated space to apply the kind of rigorous research that I do for filmmakers and podcasters to my own strange, nerdy interest.
As a sub-sub librarian at heart (and also a literal librarian by degree), I also hope to make the oceans of Melville and Moby-Dick scholarship more widely accessible, while also showcasing the kinds of resources that are available to anyone with a question, a library account, and a bit of elbow grease. Moby-Dick is unquestionably a complicated book, with more ideas and allusions than one could ever register on a single (or multiple, or annual) reads. But in seeking out answers to my own questions since first reading it some years ago, I’ve found over and over that there is great reward in pursuing deeper meaning in Melville’s odd references and phrasings which, in the scheme of a 400+ page book, are easy to gloss over.
I’m also fascinated by the ways that Moby-Dick has become so subtly ubiquitous in our culture, present not just as a capital-g Great novel but in how its symbols and meaning are casually integrated in virtually every form of art and entertainment. The central conflict of Ahab vs. the White Whale has become a part of the international lexicon to a degree reached by few other novels, much less by one as sui generis as a 19th century novel/encyclopedia about whaling.
For example, earlier this year, my friend Mary and I devoted a three-episode podcast series to an investigation into the question of whether Moby, the musician and DJ, is really the third-great grandnephew of Herman Melville, as Moby has said in interviews since the early 1990s as well as his autobiography. Even more interesting than the simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, though, were the strange parallels between their lives and the history suffusing his decision to use “Moby” as his stage name. The posts that I already have lined up and the ideas for future research I hope will similarly ride the line between the serious and the harebrained, but regardless of the particular question I hope the research process itself provides some insight into Melville and his masterpiece.
My plan is to post every other Sunday, and of course to keep this Substack paywall free forever. Some posts will be on the short(er) side, but note that some will also be inadvisably long and probably better suited to be read on a browser than in your inbox.
Please feel free to send thoughts, questions, ideas for new posts, and especially corrections (!) to allvisibleobjects@substack.com.
Thanks for reading!
Ship and boat diverged; the cold, damp night breeze blew between; a screaming gull flew overhead; the two hulls wildly rolled; we gave three heavy-hearted cheers, and blindly plunged like fate into the lone Atlantic.