Moby Dick: Plots, Sub-plots, and Themes *Online* *NEW*

While it’s obviously possible to read Moby Dick for the plot [the John Huston film does just that], in some ways, that would be like reading the bible for the plot – certainly not the best way to get a handle on this most extraordinary book. After an opening session giving an overview of the novel and summarizing the plot [spoiler alert: they never do get Moby Dick], this course will explore at least some of its endless riches by concentrating on ships: on what we’re told about the Pequod and on the other ships that the Pequod encounters. Not all these ships have a load of whale oil, but they all carry heavy metaphysical baggage. Participants will be asked to read a few chapters each week, but we’ll certainly not make it through the novel. Instructor: Michael Frank

Sections

Instructor

Mike Frank holds a PhD in literary theory from Cornell, but his interests extend to questions of interpretation and aesthetic analysis in literary and musical texts. He has taught writing and literature at Cornell, Williams, U. of Chicago, and Oberlin, and established the cinema studies program at Bentley where he also taught the BSO oriented music course that’s the model for some of his CCAE classes. A central preoccupation of his work is the relationship between formal analysis of artworks and the kinds of satisfaction they provide for actual audiences.