A mountain separating two lakes.
Planina koja razdvaja dva jezera.
A room papered floor to ceiling with bridal satins.
Soba obmotana od poda do plafona svadbenim satenom.
The lid of an immense snuffbox.
Poklopac ogromne burmutice.
These seemingly unrelated images take us on a tour of a sperm whale’s head in Herman Melville’s "Moby Dick." On the surface, the book is the story of Captain Ahab’s hunt for revenge against Moby Dick, the white whale who bit off his leg. But though the book features pirates, typhoons, high-speed chases, and giant squid, you shouldn’t expect a conventional seafaring adventure. Instead, it’s a multilayered exploration of not only the intimate details of life aboard a whaling ship, but also subjects from across human and natural history, by turns playful and tragic, humorous, and urgent.
Ove naoko nepovezane slike nas vode u pohod na glavu ulješure u romanu „Mobi Dik” Hermana Melvila. Na površini, knjiga pripoveda o osvetničkom lovu kapetana Ahaba na Mobi Dika, belog kita koji mu je odgrizao nogu. Međutim, iako u knjizi zatičemo gusare, tajfune, munjevite jurnjave i džinovsku lignju, ne očekujte konvencionalnu pomorsku avanturu. Naprotiv, radi se o slojevitom istraživanju, ne samo intimnih detalja iz brodskog života kitolovaca, već i širokog raspona tema iz ljudske i prirodnjačke istorije, naizmenično razigranih i tragičnih, duhovitih i od goruće važnosti.
The narrator guiding us through these explorations is a common sailor called Ishmael. Ishmael starts out telling his own story as he prepares to escape the “damp and drizzly November in [his] soul” by going to sea. But after he befriends the Pacific Islander Queequeg and joins Ahab’s crew aboard the Pequod, Ishmael becomes more of an omniscient guide for the reader than a traditional character. While Ahab obsesses over revenge and first mate Starbuck tries to reason with him, Ishmael takes us on his own quest for meaning throughout “the whole universe, not excluding its suburbs.” In his telling, life’s biggest questions loom large, even in the smallest details.
Pripovedač koji nas vodi kroz ova istraživanja je obični mornar po imenu Išmael. Išmael započinje pripovedanje sopstvene priče dok se priprema da pobegne od „memljivog i sipljivog novembra u njegovoj duši” otiskujući se na more. No, nakon što se sprijatelji sa pacifičkim ostrvljaninom Kvikvegom i pridruži Ahabovoj posadi na brodu Pikvod, Išmael postaje pre sveznajući vodič za čitaoca negoli tradicionalni književni lik. Dok je Ahab opsednut osvetom, a Starbak, glavni član posade, pokušava da ga urazumi, Išmael nas vodi na sopstveni pohod za smislom kroz „čitav univerzum, ne izuzimajući ni njegova predgrađa.” On pripoveda o najvećim životnim pitanjima uvećavajući ih do najsitnijih detalja.
Like his narrator, Melville was a restless and curious spirit, who gained an unorthodox education working as a sailor on a series of grueling voyages around the world in his youth. He published "Moby Dick" in 1851, when the United States’ whaling industry was at its height. Nantucket, where the Pequod sets sail, was the epicenter of this lucrative and bloody global industry which decimated the world’s whale populations.
Poput svog pripovedača, Melvil je bio neumorna i znatiželjna priroda koja je stekla netradicionalno obrazovanje radeći kao mornar u nizu iscrpljujućih putovanja širom sveta u svojoj mladosti. Objavio je „Mobi Dika” 1851. godine kada je lov na kitove u Sjedinjenim Državama bio na vrhuncu. Nantaket, odakle Pikvod isplovljava, bio je epicentar ove unosne i krvave globalne industrije koja je desetkovala svetsku populaciju kitova.
Unusually for his time, Melville doesn’t shy away from the ugly side of this industry, even taking the whale’s perspective at one point, when he speculates on how terrifying the huge shadows of the ships must be to the creature swimming below. The author’s first-hand familiarity with whaling is evident over and over again in Ishmael’s vivid descriptions. In one chapter, the skin of a whale’s penis becomes protective clothing for a crewman. Chapters with titles as unpromising as “Cistern and Buckets” become some of the novel’s most rewarding as Ishmael compares bailing out a sperm-whale’s head to midwifery, which leads to reflections on Plato. Tangling whale-lines provoke witty reflections on the “ever-present perils” entangling all mortals. He draws on diverse branches of knowledge, like zoology, gastronomy, law, economics, mythology, and teachings from a range of religious and cultural traditions.
Neuobičajeno za svoje vreme, ali Melivil ne prikriva ružnu stranu ove industrije, on čak u jednom trenutku uzima tačku gledišta kita, kada razmatra kako zastrašujuće mora da izgledaju ogromne senke brodova bićima koja plivaju ispod površine. Piščevo neposredno iskustvo sa kitolovom je očigledno iznova i iznova u Išmaelovim živopisnim slikama. U jednom poglavlju koža kitovog penisa postaje zaštitna odeća za članove posade. Poglavlja neobećavajućeg naslova poput „Bunar i kablovi” postaju jedna od najizdašnijih poglavlja romana dok Išmael poredi beg iz glave ulješure sa akušerstvom, što dovodi do osvrta na Platonovo učenje. Zamršeni tragovi kitova izazivaju pronicljiva zapažanja o „trajnim opasnostima” u koje su zapetljani svi smrtnici. On se oslanja na razne ogranke znanja poput zoologije, gastronomije, prava, ekonomije, mitologije i učenja koja sežu od religijskih do kulturnih tradicija.
The book experiments with writing style as much as subject matter. In one monologue, Ahab challenges Moby Dick in Shakespearean style: “Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.” One chapter is written as a playscript, where members of the Pequod’s multi-ethnic crew chime in individually and in chorus. African and Spanish sailors trade insults while a Tahitian seaman longs for home, Chinese and Portuguese crewmembers call for a dance, and one young boy prophesies disaster. In another chapter, Ishmael sings the process of decanting whale oil in epic style, as the ship pitches and rolls in the midnight sea and the casks rumble like landslides.
Knjiga, pored tema, eksperimentiše i sa raznim stilovima pisanja. U jednom monologu, Ahab izaziva Mobi Dika u šekspirovskom stilu: „U susret ti hrlim, svezatorni stvore, koji sve uništavaš, ali ne pobeđuješ; do poslednjeg daha ukoštac s tobom se hvatam; iz srca pakla udaram na te; u svesilnoj mržnji svoj poslednji dah hučem u tebe.” Jedno poglavlje je napisano kao dramski tekst, gde članovi Pikvodove multietničke posade doprinose pojedinačno i horski. Afrički i španski mornari razmenjuju uvrede dok tahićanski moreplovac čezne za domom; kineski i portuglaski članovi posade pozivaju na ples, a jedan mladić predviđa katastrofu. U jednom poglavlju, Išmael u epskom stilu peva o ceđenju kitovog ulja, dok se brod klati i plovi na ponoćnom moru,
A book so wide-ranging has something for everyone. Readers have found religious and political allegory, existential enquiry, social satire, economic analysis, and representations of American imperialism, industrial relations and racial conflict. As Ishmael chases meaning and Ahab chases the white whale, the book explores the opposing forces of optimism and uncertainty, curiosity and fear that characterize human existence no matter what it is we’re chasing. Through "Moby Dick’s" many pages, Melville invites his readers to leap into the unknown, to join him on the hunt for the “ungraspable phantom of life.”
a burad tutnje poput odrona stena. U ovako opsežnoj knjizi, ima za svakog po nešto. Čitaoci su otkrili religijske i političke alegorije, egzistencijalna propitivanja, društvenu satiru, ekonomsku analizu kao i prikaz američkog imperijalizma, industrijske odnose i rasne konflikte. Dok Išmael juri za smislom, a Ahab juri za belim kitom, knjiga istražuje suprotstavljene sile optimizma i neizvesnosti, znatiželje i straha koji karakterišu ljudsko postojanje bez obzira na to za čim jurili. Kroz brojne stranice „Mobi Dika” Melvil poziva svoje čitaoce da se vinu u nepoznato i da mu se pridruže u lovu na „nedokučivu sablazan života”.