tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post4985598768626068004..comments2024-03-26T20:19:35.180-04:00Comments on Northern Reflections: On Board The PequodOwen Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-83944327014478969912013-07-10T16:37:05.948-04:002013-07-10T16:37:05.948-04:00Dick's world is pretty dark, Anon. Things are,...Dick's world is pretty dark, Anon. Things are, I admit, getting darker.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-2782794427423298012013-07-10T16:31:02.497-04:002013-07-10T16:31:02.497-04:00I agree with Kirby, an updated Philip K. Dick nov...I agree with Kirby, an updated Philip K. Dick novel could be an accurate allegory of the current disintegration of the human psyche and society. I would choose the novel 'A Scanner Darkly'. I would replace 'Substance D' with 'Substance O' (as in oil).<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-1107625860022157592013-07-10T13:00:54.251-04:002013-07-10T13:00:54.251-04:00Certainly that was Melville's take on Ahab -- ...Certainly that was Melville's take on Ahab -- and other enablers of tragedy, Mound.<br /><br />There is such a thing as being too smart by half.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-87471267715794443712013-07-10T12:53:24.475-04:002013-07-10T12:53:24.475-04:00Hedges' take on Moby Dick dovetails with Jared...Hedges' take on Moby Dick dovetails with Jared Diamond's observation in "Collapse" of how civilizations end, often quite abruptly, when they're at their zenith.<br /><br />Perhaps, as some claim in explaining why alien super cultures aren't present in our midst, advanced intelligence really is self-extinguishing.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-43645134973108051042013-07-10T11:25:57.086-04:002013-07-10T11:25:57.086-04:00When I think about it, Kirby, Catcher in the Rye c...When I think about it, Kirby, Catcher in the Rye captures that tension between the soul and the heart.<br /><br />Holden Caufield would like to save the innocents aboard the Pequod before they board the ship.<br /><br />But the mad captains keep insisting that he's the one who's crazy.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-15459837747699005742013-07-10T11:18:39.122-04:002013-07-10T11:18:39.122-04:00Interesting Owen. Though there are obviously many ...Interesting Owen. Though there are obviously many candidates for the novels that represent the heart and soul of America, these are two interesting ones and well thought out. If Huck Finn is the heart and Moby Dick is the soul, let me offer Catcher in the Rye as the twisted psyche, particularly of modern America. (Though I think that Infinite Jest or one of Philip K. Dick's novels my fit this bill better, but they are so twisted that they perhaps fall too far into the genuinely insane realm.) Catcher in the Rye reminds me of way the American psyche fell into an abyss in the mid-twentieth century. An abyss from which it has never emerged. <br /><br />Anyway thanks for the post, food for thought. Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.com