Exploiting classic literature for memes since 2016

Dedicated to the angstiest whale aficionado of the 19th century. Main blog: lilacxadaisical

[ahabstwistedmind-blog]

My favorite moment or AP lang so far has been when the teacher referred to ishmael and queequeg’s “brotherly” relationship and i could hear no less than four people trying to hold in laughter

[ahabstwistedmind-blog]

S/o to all the porn blogs following me i applaud your love of classic literature

[ahabstwistedmind-blog]

sometimes when I'm feeling shitty instead of listening to sad music or whatever i read ch 132: the symphony in moby dick where ahab gets really emo and a single tear falls down his cheek in the sea and i think that's probably the most embarrassing thing there is to say about me

[historieofbeafts]

It’s been a while since we checked in on how the Renaissance is doing with its ocean mysteries, so here is a marine biology update circa 1550.

Seals come in two forms:

Buff

& Triangular

Walruses are horrifying

But whales are worse

Fish can have human faces

but not always where you’d expect

As for the rest

… it’s probably better left alone.

[All images except chest face fish from Historiae animalium liber IV : De piscium & aquatilium animantium natura. Chest face fish from The noble lyfe & natures of man of bestes, serpentys, fowles & fisshes yt be moste knowen]

[verdantwinter]

Can you imagine thinking animals actually looked like this? Like I know there’s stylization here, but if I was an uneducated peasant in 1550 who saw these I might be religious too.

[dinuguan]

[ahabstwistedmind-blog]

Let’s all take a moment to remember that Herman Melville wrote an entire passage in Moby Dick about how he’s super into muscles and thinks that Jesus should be more ripped in paintings

[erikkwakkel]

Whale doodles

This post celebrates the birthday of Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, who was born on 1 August 1819. When he wrote his book, in 1851, whales were an important commodity, for example for fuelling lamps (an astonishing 300,000 whales were caught between 1835 and 1872 alone). While I am against whaling, there is a fascinating book-historical dynamic to this 19th-century tradition: the captains of whaling vessels kept detailed logbooks, the pages of which are sometimes decorated with charming images. They are doodles, really, entertaining rather than functional. The sample above, taken from digital material made available by the Providence Public Library, shows a pod of inky whales swimming across the page of a daily log (top), a tiny bottle illustrating a post on the consumption of alcohol on board (middle), and a row of whales next to the catch of different vessels (bottom). The images present a peculiar contrast between artistic charm and the bloody events that sparked their creation.

Want to know more about these great little books? Here are some digitized items which you can help to transcribe; here are a whole lot of digitized microfilms of whaling logbooks. Here are PDFs of the famous Nicholson collection of logbooks.

Pics: Providence Public Library, Nicholson collection, log of the Catherine, 1854-1856 (lower pic); Bottle detail from this tweet; Top image from this blog. The library keeps a great blog, here.

[lilacxadaisical-blog]

shout out to herman melville for writing a really poetic description of the sea and the sky and then they just stART HAVING SEX:

Aloft, like a royal czar and king, the sun seemed giving this gentle air to this bold and rolling sea; even as bride to groom. And at the girdling line of the horizon, a soft and tremulous motion– most seen here at the equator– denoted the fond, throbbing trust, the loving alarms, with which the poor bride gave her bosom away. 

and it gets even worse he makes a pun about it first:

…it was only the sex, as it were, that distinguished them

listen you can hate moby-dick all you want but never try to tell me that herman melville was boring when he is clearly fcking wild. the guy knew exactly what he was doing. 

[paramaline]

while we’re still doing regional gothic posts, let’s talk about how the first few chapters of moby dick are totally Rhode Island/Massachusetts Gothic

In a dark and grimy New Bedford tavern there is a single dark and grimy oil painting. At first it seem incomprehensible, but after scrutinizing it obsessively from every possible angle you think you can make out the image of a whale impaling itself on a ship’s mast during a storm.

There are only two things to eat: clam chowder or cod chowder. For every meal. Nothing else. Make your choice. Clam or cod. CLAM OR COD

Some creepy old Quaker can’t get your name right and won’t stop calling you “Quahog.”

[screwrocknroll]

Definitive list of whales, ranked.

Right Whale: It has an upside-down head — a bold move that pays off.

Sperm Whale: Has a silly name but really excels in all areas of being a whale: staying underwater, fighting squid, spraying sonar around the sea, looking like an ocean bus. Having teeth rather than baleen means not having to eat krill.

Narwhal: Sea unicorn that has ocean sword fights. Slightly less cool when you realize its horn is actually a big tooth, making it the whale version of this.

Orca: Doesn’t look anything like the other whales and hangs out around the Pacific Northwest, so it’s basically the hipster whale. Eats real food like seals rather than krill. Was in Free Willy, but, then again, was in Free Willy. Kind of an asshole, but you can’t argue with success. Secret shame: actually a dolphin.

Humpback Whale: Basic canonical whale. Has good press. Bit too mainstream, really.

Beluga Whale: Ongoing experiment in whether white privilege applies to cetaceans.

Blue Whale: Coasting on its size; must try harder.

Gray Whale: Blue whale that’s smaller and more boring.

Minke Whale: Kinda puny for a whale.

Fin Whale: Second biggest animal in the world, i.e. the first loser. Described by Roy Chapman Andrews as the “greyhound of the sea,” and we all know what Captain Hank Murphy of Sealab said about greyhounds. (”Too pointy.”)

Beaked whale: You are not a bird, please reconsider your choices.

Pilot Whale: Dolphin with ideas above its station.

[fallynleaf]

#im positive that i’ve reblogged this and made a moby dick joke before #but i swear to god this is literally a chapter from moby dick

[ahabstwistedmind-blog]

Please enjoy these dumb doodles i did in my copy of Moby-Dick

[ahabstwistedmind-blog]

I got back to school this week and it's kicking my ass, so I won't be posting as often for a couple weeks until things start to get under control. Just letting you know that I still love you all and Moby Dick (especially because my entire class hates it)

[pythionice]

appreciation post for my favourite trope in Age of Sail fiction: the first officer who’s quiet, calm, practical, hyper-efficient and loyal to their captain with absolute starry-eyed devotion.

[bbcphile]

Age of Sail Research: Ship Cats Edition

In the course of researching for my Hornblower Modern AU, I came across the Matthew Flinders archive. Flinders is best known as a navigator and cartographer: he’s particularly famous for his survey of the coastline of Australia. 

Apparently, he was also very fond of the ship’s cat. Here’s an excerpt of his “biographical tribute to his cat Trim, 1809″:

“I can never speak of cats without a sentiment of regret for my poor Trim, the favourite of all our ship’s company on the Spyall.  … 

     In playing with his little brothers and sisters upon deck by moonlight, when the ship was lying tranquilly in harbour, the energy and elasticity of his movements sometimes carried him so far beyond his mark, that he fell overboard; but this was far from being a misfortune; he learned to swim and to have no dread of the water; and when a rope was thrown over to him, he took hold of it like a man, and ran up it like a cat: In a short time he was able to mount up the gangway steps quicker than his master, or even than the first lieutenant.

 …

     Notwithstanding my great partiality to my friend Trim, strict justice obliges me to cite in this place a trait in his character which by many will be thought a blemish: He was, I am sorry to say it, excessively vain of his person, particularly of his snow-white feet. He would frequently place himself on the quarter deck before the officers, in the middle of their walk; and spreading out his two white hands in the posture of a lion couchant, oblige them to stop and admire him. They would indeed say low to each other, ‘See the vanity of that cat!’ But they could not help admiring his graceful form and beautiful white feet.”

So, if you’re ever having a rough day, just remember Flinder’s love for the vain and beautiful Trim.

[atundratoadstool]

Dracula cast using actors who would have been active in Britain during the mid 1890s.

Winifred Emery as Mina Murray

John Martin-Harvey as Jonathan Harker

Henry Irving as Count Dracula

Edward Gordon Craig as John Seward

Cecilia Loftus as Lucy Westenra

Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Abraham van Helsing

Cyril Maude as Arthur Holmwood

William Terris as Quincey P. Morris

Herbert Beerbohm Tree as R. M. Renfield

[ahabstwistedmind-blog]

I started reading The Sea Wolf today and I feel the sudden compulsion to eat red meat and bench press my entire house.

[ahabstwistedmind-blog]

I love dracula but I can count on one hand the number of chapters that don't involve at least one person breaking down and crying over how terrible and evil dracula is/how terrible it is that x is dying/how great a person y is