MDDM Comparing Wicks and Ishmael as narrators

[Terrance]

Thomas Eckhardt wrote:
> 
> Rob wrote:
> 
> > Again, the "I" in Chapter 45 sounds suspiciously like Ishmael to my ear. It
> > may not be, but Ishmael and this narrator certainly share similar interests,
> > attitudes, opinions, perceptions of Ahab, and are acutely self-conscious of
> > the role of narrator they have assumed. If not one and the same, they are
> > very closely-aligned.
> 
> I don't dispute their close alignment. It is just that, when you take a close look,
> there are various narrative agencies. Of course, from a more general perspective one
> may subsume them all under Ishmael's POV, who would then be the narrator of the
> whole novel, either relating his experience or letting his imagination fly. In
> contrast to M&D, though, in MD it is never mentioned that Ishmael's story is full of
> imaginative embellishments.

Sure it does. The Chapter that I quoted before  ( CHAPTER 102
  A Bower in the Arsacides), in which Ishmael is debating someone
(himself? the implied author? another narrator? the reader?) 
about his own knowledge of the inner workings of whales is a culmination
of what begins near the end of  Chapter 42. At 42, a critical impasse in
terms of Ishmael's reliability, his tendency to embellish, make up what
he doesn't know, is foregrounded. His tale, from the get go, is full of
HYPO.  Remember (that's why I mentioned Mr. Poe) Melville's readers
wanted True stories, adventures that had been lived by the men telling
them. In 42 (The Whiteness of the Whale), We get, 

"But thou sayest, methinks this white-lead chapter about whiteness is
but a white flag hung out from a cavern soul; thou surrenderest to a
hypo, Ishmael." 

The difference is also important, there is no Brae sitting in the room
to say, Oh Ishamel, don't tease the poor literal minded American public. 
But of course, Ishmael, like Wicks, is a tall-tall teller. 

Why should we call him Ishmael? Is this his name or what? How can an
unlettered man compose such a tale? Who is responsible fro the Etymology
and Extracts? WHo narrates the Chase Chapters?