Tag Archives: Melville

Frank Stella, Agha Shahid Ali: Moby-Dick into ghazals

Posted on February 21, 2014 by wcd2

Feb 20, 2014 Stella’s “Fedallah” isn’t anything like Melville’s: not the “tiger-yellow” apparition “with one white tooth evilly protruding from its steel-like lips,” but a fluid, dancing figure, with some dark streaks and shadows, it’s true, but otherwise resplendent, impressive. … Continue reading →

Posted in abstract expressionism, adaptation, Arabic, Classics, Middle East, Modern art, Near Eastern poetry, Poetry, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature | Tagged Agha Shahid Ali, Ain Ghazal Variations, Call Me Ishmael Tonight, Frank Stella, Melville, Moby-Dick, Protractor Series | Leave a comment

Octopus for Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2013 by wcd2

December 25, 2013 No, not salmon, that eminently respectable candidate for a fishetarian dinner. Octopus instead, still exotic and dubious-looking in this part of the world, but a common food staple in Japan and throughout the Mediterranean: in Spain, Portugal, … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, epic, Food in literature, Global South, oceans, Uncategorized | Tagged Frank Norris, G. Frederick Keller, Hawthorne, Japan, Mediterranean, Melville, Morocco, Portugal, Salmon, Southern Pacific Railroad, Spain, The Octopus, Tunisia, Turkey, Victor Hugo | Leave a comment

Charles Olson: Call Me Ishmael

Posted on January 25, 2012 by wcd2

January 25, 2012 In the early 1930s, while writing his Master’s thesis on Melville, Charles Olson began tracking down the books once owned by Melville, some with significant marginalia. Melville’s widow had sold almost 500 of these books to a … Continue reading →

Posted in epic, Experimental poetry, Handwritten script, Media, Nineteenth-century literature, Renaissance literature, Twentieth century literature | Tagged "Letter for Melville 1951", Black Mountain College, Call Me Ishmael, Charles Olson, Cy Twonbley, John Cage, Mayan hieroglyphics, Melville, Queequeg, Robert Duncan, Robert Rauschenberg, Shakespeare, University of Connecticut | 2 Comments

Two-Way Street

Posted on January 18, 2012 by wcd2

January 18, 2012 Alex Steele never took a class from me. I don’t think I’d ever seen her around the department. But my colleague, Richard Deming, who was going to direct her senior essay, is away on a Fellowship … Continue reading →

Posted in Contemporary Art, Egypt, Nineteenth-century literature, print medium, Remediation, Translation | Tagged Andrew Seguin, Matt Kish, Melville, Moby-Dick, new media, One Drawing for Every Page of Moby-Dick, pedagogy | 162 Comments

Agha Shahid Ali’s “Call me Ishmael Tonight”

Posted on January 4, 2012 by wcd2

January 4, 2012 This was his last book of poems, published posthumously. Agha Shahid Agha had died of brain cancer on December 8, 2001. How important was Moby-Dick to the Kashmiri poet? Probably less than what Melvilleans would like to … Continue reading →

Posted in Islam, lyric, Near Eastern poetry, Nineteenth-century literature, Remediation, Translation, Twentieth century literature, world literature, World religions | Tagged Agha Shahid Ali, Amitav Ghosh, Arabic, Bible, Call Me Ishmael Tonight, Donald Hall, Edward Said, ghazal, Hayden Carruth, Kashmir, Mark Strand, Melville, Moby-Dick, Persian, Qur'an, W.S. Merwin | 62 Comments

Melville in the Dominican Republic

Posted on December 14, 2011 by wcd2

December 14, 2011 As far I know, he never set foot there. But then a physical journey is not always necessary. Junot Diaz is not shy about naming names — The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is almost … Continue reading →

Posted in epic, Global South, Nineteenth-century literature, Spanglish, Translation, world literature | Tagged Dominican Republic, epic, Junot Diaz, Melville, novel, science fiction, Spanlish, world literature | 11 Comments