Not P but Moby-Dick (95)

[Mike Jing]

That helps a lot. Thanks, Michael.


On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 5:13 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Context suggests it’s himself
>
> “I know the way to act with you: defiance. You’re going to be cruel even if
> I offer love & reverence. If you choose to punish my defiance, all you can
> do is kill me - and what the heck, everyone is going to die anyway.
>
> “I’m not fearless out of foolishness or ignorance - I know (“own” - archaic
> usage) how powerful you are, but I will defy you to my last gasp”
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 12:10 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > From Chapter 119:
> >
> > “Oh! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian
> once
> > did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to this
> > hour I bear the scar; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know
> > that thy right worship is defiance. To neither love nor reverence wilt
> thou
> > be kind; and e’en for hate thou canst but kill; and all are killed. No
> > fearless fool now fronts thee. I own thy speechless, placeless power; but
> > to the last gasp of my earthquake life will dispute its unconditional,
> > unintegral mastery in me.
> >
> > In "No fearless fool now fronts thee", is Ahab talking talking about
> > himself, i.e. "I am no fearless fool", or is he making a general
> statement,
> > meaning there is no one fearless and foolish enough to confront the
> spirit?
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
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>