Summer Reading: A Whale Of A Tale
    August...For millions of Americans,  it’s a time to head to the beach with a good book. More than 30 years ago, however, author Peter Benchley and a young filmmaker named Steven Spielberg transformed the tranquil “beach experience” by introducing readers and movie-goers to the great white killer shark in Jaws.
    But before Jaws, there was another menace of the deep - Moby Dick - that captured the imagination of American readers in the 1800s.
    Considered one of the great stories of the sea,   Moby-Dick, was written by Herman Melville, one of our great American-born writers.  In fact, Melville was born in New York City in August of 1819. He was a grandson of a Boston Tea Party participant, worked as a ship’s cabin boy and then as a harpooner living out his desire for adventure on the open sea.
    After being encouraged by another famous American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville took to writing fiction which included his knowledge of life at sea.
    Melville enjoyed some success as an author after writing a few books, but received mixed reviews on what is now considered his greatest work of fiction. It was indeed very original and perhaps the general public was not ready for what became an unappreciated narrative.  It sold only a few thousand copies at the time of its publication. After an unsuccessful attempt to publish a collection of poetry, Melville found employment as a customs official and spent far less time on writing in his later years.
    Melville’s book Moby-Dick contains much factual information about whales, but it is also a complex work of fiction with the themes of man against nature, man against man and man against himself. However, it is far more than a study of whaling and adventure. It is also a study of human behavior showcasing characters such as Captain Ahab, who acts out his obsessive desire to get revenge by killing the legendary great white whale that took his leg in a past encounter.  In addition to Captain Ahab, many other characters of diverse nationalities and personalities are portrayed in this novel.  These characters embody opposing characteristics such as courage and fear, compassion and brutality, generosity and greed, faith and disbelief, and sober thinking and irrational behavior.
    Moby-Dick enjoyed a revival in popularity in the 1920s, 30 years after the death of Melville. Its popularity may be partly explained by the fact that whales have always been mysterious and elusive adding to our fascination with them.  Their sheer size and reputation of being the largest  living mammal capable of social ties,  maternal instincts and complex whale  songs arouse our curiosity.
    Melville’s personality and life was at times as complex as his writings and he did not live to see the success of what became one of the most widely read and popular books of all times.
    “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation,” according to Melville. No one would question the fact that  Melville’s works were original and quite unique, especially during the 1850s when he wrote Moby-Dick, which is now recognized as one of the most impressive American works of fiction.