Not P but Moby-Dick (62)

[Michael Bailey]

Of course, also mentioned in the passage is that the God posited in the Old
Testament also *made* the whale, and the oceans, a feat unmatched by Ahab
et al.



On Tue, Jan 30, 2024 at 11:23 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks, Michael and Ian.
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 30, 2024 at 12:10 PM Michael Bailey <
> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> More literally, & particularly with respect to “unfulfilments” and
>> “prophets” -
>>
>> “Oh [what a shame] that Biblical description should prove false”
>>
>> Job isn’t considered a prophetic book per se but
>> “prophets” can here be rather loosely interpreted to mean “the writers of
>> the Bible”
>>
>> Imagistically, the whale hanging there contradicts the word of God & by
>> extension casts doubt upon the whole of religion
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 30, 2024 at 12:03 PM Michael Bailey <
>> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > (Mike Jing)
>> > What exactly does "Oh! that unfulfilments should follow the prophets."
>> mean
>> > > here? What would be a more explicit paraphrase?
>> >
>> >
>> > Ian Livingston:
>> > “(drily) "Oh, what a shame," even Leviathan is shamed with cowardice by
>> > our
>> > skill, courage, and technology.
>> >
>> >
>> > Imho that’s perfect - the “drily” captures a sarcastic tone that redeems
>> > the passage from straightforward, unseemly triumphalism
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>