Not P but Moby-Dick (32)

[David Morris]

The “burst” is not a past tense object laying dead on the side somewhere:

“which periodically started the boat along the water like a horizontal
burst boiler out of a Mississippi steamer.”

These are *periodic* bursts. They are the super-charged strokes of the
rowers, bursting beyond the capacity of the bodies of the men, repeatedly
propelling the boat forward.

On Wed, Oct 25, 2023 at 12:29 AM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
wrote:

> If a boiler burst in a 19th Century Mississippi Steamer, it could blow
> itself right out the hull of the boat. Depending upon the nature of
> rupture, the evacuating steam and water might propel the burst boiler
> through the hull and a distance across the water before sinking. I wonder
> what Melville knew of boilers bursting. It is quite an image!
>
> On Tue, Oct 24, 2023 at 1:46 AM Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Probably a boiler that has suffered a burst and is lying on its side
> >
> > On Tuesday, October 24, 2023, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > From Chapter 48:
> > >
> > > Meantime, Ahab, out of hearing of his officers, having sided the
> furthest
> > > to windward, was still ranging ahead of the other boats; a circumstance
> > > bespeaking how potent a crew was pulling him. Those tiger yellow
> > creatures
> > > of his seemed all steel and whalebone; like five trip-hammers they rose
> > and
> > > fell with regular strokes of strength, which periodically started the
> > boat
> > > along the water like a horizontal burst boiler out of a Mississippi
> > > steamer.
> > >
> > > What is a "horizontal burst boiler"? Does it mean that it works in
> > bursts,
> > > or is it something else?
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>