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                        *** SPECIAL NOTICE!! ***

Courage to Resist podcast featuring little ol' me! Courage to Resist, in collaboration with the Vietnam Full Disclosure Project of Veterans For Peace, has compiled a collection of oral histories of GI resistance to the American War in Vietnam. My contribution to this was edited down to 28 minutes and, for whatever reason, the stories of my most militant acts were excised. The full story will appear in my written memoir when I'm able to publish it. For now, here is the link to the audio and a transcript via Courage to Resist:

                         https://couragetoresist.org/podcast-greg-laxer/
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Battleship Potemkin blog

Commentary on current events, never lacking in fury and possibly even signifying something.

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[NOTE: Continuation of current article and previously published ones can be viewed on the Past articles page but you must click on "Details" on that page to view content.]

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Published October 4, 2020

And now for something completely different . . . 

Post-mortem on the White Whale
Published October 22, 2020

[I am putting this commentary upfront rather than at the conclusion of the actual review below due to length of the latter.] I have now completed perusal of the supplemental material included in the Norton Critical Edition of the Melville tale. The reviews by the author's contemporaries, quite a few British (the novel was originally published over there as The Whale), ran the gamut from high praise to severe criticism. The latter batch was dominated by reviewers who were offended by Melville's own criticisms of Christianity and its missionary proponents. Some agreed with me that the structure of the book is flawed, with Ishmael's personal narrative switching over to an omniscient entity that hears conversations transpiring in Ishmael's absence. Some critics thought the story was very realistic, others were convinced that it was all outlandish poppycock. But none zeroed in, as did I, on the key point in the story being First Mate Starbuck's failure of resolve to terminate Captain Ahab's madness, by either "terminating with extreme prejudice" the captain himself, or at least leading a mutiny that would end the mad pursuit of Moby which ultimately would cost about thirty lives (I don't think Melville ever specified the exact size of the crew) and the whaling vessel itself. I stand by my position on this and I now bid adieu to Moby-Dick. I will not be retaining this volume in my personal library, but at least I can truthfully boast that I read every darned word of it. One last observation: As we approach a national decision on November 3 over whether we should continue the current insanity of Trumpism or revert to the "normality" of the past--not a great thing in and of itself--I am tempted to say that the present administration has had any number of Starbucks on board who grasped the grave madness of the mission "the captain" was steering us on, but lacked the resolve to try to turn the great ship of state from its doomed course.

Hatred and hubris brought this about. Relevant to our times?

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Moby-Dick:  A "real-time" Book Review

​Introduction.  Let the adventure begin! Having escaped any requirement to read this infamous bete-noire of American literature during my time in school, I now tackle it of my own volition. When I was growing up, I had the impression that students everywhere shuddered when finding Moby-Dick on a course syllabus! I endeavor to learn whether that feeling was justified (sending many a student scrambling for a copy of the Cliff’s Notes version, no doubt). When Edmund Hillary was asked why he wished to climb Mt. Everest, he famously replied “Because it’s there!” Fair enough. From my first reading session, it became clear I would have to comment on this work, so I vowed to write my review as I read, rather than waiting until completing the story. I bought the Norton Critical Edition (Second Edition), paperback, copyright 2002. All page references shall refer to this edition. The book is profusely annotated (Editors: Hershel Parker & Harrison Hayford) and the novel is followed by appendices totaling nearly as many pages as the tale of the whale itself. The latter section includes some very unflattering reviews by Melville’s contemporaries, many of which were published anonymously (!). I will read that stuff in a separate undertaking. And so, let us launch!

First observation.  The novel opens with a famously brief statement from the story’s narrator: “Call me Ishmael.” The editors note that this name suggests its owner is of a well-educated, even a privileged background. The reader quickly discovers the chap has quite a vocabulary, ’tis true. And this reader soon suspects the verbiage hints of “filler” or “padding.” I’ll have a better idea later on. Here’s a thought, though: Just because the narrator instructs us to call him Ishmael doesn’t mean that’s his real name. Why is a gentleman, let us say, off from Manhattan to Nantucket to sign on as crewman on a whaling voyage? He says it’s to alleviate his boredom with urban life, where he is sometimes tempted to perpetrate acts of violence against his fellows for a change of pace. Interesting chap! Among this torrent of Melville verbiage (and let the record reflect I have not read any of this author’s works), these lines (pg. 25) took my breath away: “Yet Dives [a rich merchant consigned to Hell in the New Testament] himself, he too lives like a Czar in an ice palace made of frozen sighs, and being a president of a temperance society, he only drinks the tepid tears of orphans.” Do not these lines belong in a song penned by Bob Dylan or Tim Buckley?!
Second Observation.  From Rev. Mapple’s sermon at the chapel in New Bedford, prior to Ishmael’s going to sea, on the topic of Jonah and the whale: “In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without a passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers.” (pg. 50)
Third Observation.  Though initially repelled by the appearance of the heavily-tattooed Queequeg—apparently modeled on a Maori whose encounter with “civilization” had been written of by a Brit visiting New Zealand prior to Melville penning Moby…and by the way, would not Queequeg fit in perfectly with some of today’s professional athletes and other young people?—Ishmael by around page 60 has adopted the “cannibal” as a “bosom friend” (Melville actually uses the phrase). I suspect this is Melville “mooning” the New England Puritan ethos, and I say more power to him! As we know, the frightfully elevated morals of the Puritans didn’t slow in the least their campaigns of extermination against the indigenous inhabitants of New England. Indeed, their perverted view of the natural world doubtless fueled their racism.
Fourth Observation.  Queequeg observes Ramadan (pg. 79)! I find it unlikely this native of a (fictitious) South Pacific island would have encountered Islam. Ishmael doesn’t mention this religion thus far, which would have been called “Mohammedanism” in those times. But our harpooneer also attends Christian churches, and engages in pagan rituals, which no proper Muslim would do, of course. Arguing for tolerance, on the matter of religious conflicts our narrator observes “…we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.” Speaking of intolerance, the two principal owners (who purport to be Quakers!) of the Pequod, the whaling vessel our lads are shipping out on, refuse to allow the “cannibal” Queequeg on board until he can prove he has converted to Christianity (pgs. 83/84). Ishmael quickly concocts the fib that Q. is a member of the First Congregational Church! When his veracity is challenged, he escalates the lie, stating Q. is no less than a deacon in that denomination! Ishmael delivers a near-sermon on Christian fellowship and succeeds with this bluff. Of course it helps that Q. gives the ship owners an impressive demonstration of his accuracy in hurling a harpoon. Melville offers a defense of the whaling industry (pg. 98), via Ishmael’s mouth, that doesn’t hold water (no pun intended) 150 years later. He says the practice is becoming somewhat disreputable in the public eye, with the ugly butchery of its victims. It is a tragedy of greatest magnitude that public opinion did not turn sufficiently sour on whaling to put the industry out of business way back then. (Note that though scientists knew mid-19th Century that whales are mammals, they were almost universally called fish, often whale-fish.) But what about the ugly butchery carried out on land by clashing militaries, asks he? Are not the victorious commanders hailed as heroes? Touche, somewhat, Mr. Melville.
Fifth Observation.  Per the above, Melville has Ishmael express a firm belief that the whale is a fish, albeit an unusual version (pg. 117). Thirty-plus chapters into the book (there are 135 in all in this edition!), I’m convinced Melville is “padding” the tale. Here are three quite droll sentences concluding Chapter 32 (pg. 125): “God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book is but a draught [draft]—nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!” Surely this is Melville himself, speaking by Ishmael’s pen. But this raises the question, sure to be addressed in the materials following the formal text in this edition: When, and how, did Ishmael decide to become an author? Has he undertaken to recount his voyage on the Pequod simply because he feels he has compelling revelations to deliver to the world?
Sixth Observation.  I was stunned to find First Mate Starbuck talking back to Ahab before the assembled crew (pg. 139/140) after the captain nails the gold coin to the mast as reward for he who first espies the White Whale. Starbuck openly questions Ahab’s sanity. By Chapter 37 (pg. 142), Melville has started inserting stage directions after chapter titles, and members of the crew are delivering soliloquies, with their dialogue not enclosed in quotation marks. It appears Melville has decided to toss the conventions of novel writing overboard! I bet when I get to the reviews by some of his contemporaries later in this book, he will be lambasted for this! From Ahab’s soliloquy: “They think me mad—Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened!” (pg. 143). How comforting that language would be if spoken aloud! Starbuck soon confirms (again, in his own head) that he deems the captain a madman. In Chapter 42 (pg. 159) Melville has Ishmael reflect on the significance to various human societies of “whiteness.” Ishmael states that white men constitute a Master Race, entitled to rule over all others. This reflects the belief of the times (and of course lingers with us still), but Ishmael’s own chumminess with Queequeg calls into question the sincerity of his own embrace of such a racist doctrine. But stark whiteness, continues Ishmael, can also convey terror—the notion of ghosts, the pallor of a corpse when the blood has drained from the face, the whiteness of many sharks, and the dreaded Moby Dick itself (and suddenly the hyphen in that name has vanished!). Of course the Ku Klux Klan, with its fondness for white sheets and white dunce caps (oh, right, they call them hoods!) wasn’t founded until some years after publication of this story.
Seventh Observation.  In Chapter 48 (pg.181) the crew of the Pequod finally encounter a pod of sperm whales. The three whale boats scramble into the water for the pursuit, only to find a fourth boat has been lowered, with Ahab himself in command. HIs boat is propelled by five “Manillans” (Filipinos, one imagines), who, though less robust than most of the crewmembers, prove far superior at rowing. Back on Nantucket prior to casting off, Ishmael and Queequeg had thought they saw five shadowy figures boarding their vessel, but were too far away to make out these “phantoms” plainly. Rumors among the crew once at sea of mysterious entities hiding below-decks are now confirmed. I don’t recall this aspect of the story having been depicted in John Huston’s film of this tale. This is a strange twist indeed, Mr. Melville.
Eighth Observation.  With Chapters 54-57, Melville grinds the narrative to a halt as we endure a tale about a mutinous crew on another whaling cruise which only tangentially involves Moby Dick. The point, I believe, is to reinforce the already floated notion that this great marine terror has reportedly been sighted in every ocean on the planet. But I’m blowing my referee’s whistle loudly now, Herman, screaming “Padding!! 15-yard penalty!” Then follow three chapters of Melville’s criticism of how whales have been depicted over the ages in painting and sculpture, containing some scientific errors on the author’s own behalf, as pointed out in footnotes by the editors of this edition. Thank goodness I’m now more than halfway through this tome! Really, if Mr. Melville found whaling so fascinating, he should have written a nonfiction account of the trade, which would also have been a travelogue, as it is said he actually did enlist to be a crewmember on a whaling expedition. Such a work would have been rife with scientific inaccuracies, but hopefully with less padding!
Ninth Observation.  We have reached Chapter 73 (pg. 259) now, and suffered grisly descriptions of the slaughter and processing of a sperm whale and a Right whale. (Only the “lips” and tongue of the latter specimen are considered valuable, as treats for the tables of gourmands.) Fedallah, bossman of Ahab’s personal crew of “Manillans,” has persuaded the captain that hoisting the heads of a sperm whale and a Right whale over the stern of a ship simultaneously guarantees the vessel will be forever unsinkable. Meanwhile, Second Mate Stubb has concluded that this Fedallah is likely The Devil Incarnate! He has perhaps promised Ahab his maniacally-desired encounter with the White Whale in exchange for the captain’s own soul, it is surmised. At this point, I will add a new “charge” against Mr. Melville. He gives us dramatic situations without conclusions. For example, members of a German whaling crew are tossed from their boats into the drink, with sharks lingering in the area, having been drawn by the blood flowing from a whale’s wounds. What became of these hapless sailors? Don’t ask Herman!
Tenth Observation.  Chapter 89, “Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish,” explains that in mid-19th Century there was no international treaty on whaling. But on the high seas, there was a general understanding: a “fish” (whale in this context) that is attached in any way to a vessel with a live human crew on board, or bears a marker identifying any specific ship as having taken it in the hunt, belongs to that vessel. On the other hand, a “Loose-Fish” is one that has drifted away dead, or swum away wounded, from a whaling operation with no sign of “fastness” apparent. That “fish” is subject to “Finders keeper, losers weeper.” [My own paraphrase for modern times, not Melville’s construct.] The final paragraph (pg. 310) of this chapter is what interests me most: “What are the Rights of Man [espoused by the French Revolution, influenced by Thomas Paine—GL] and the Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish? What all men’s minds and opinions but Loose-Fish? What is the principle of religious belief in them but Loose-Fish? What to the ostentatious smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but Loose-Fish? What is the great globe itself but a Loose-Fish? And what are you, reader, but a Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish, too?” If not for moments like this, I would likely have succumbed by Chapter 89 to the temptation to toss this tome aside. After all, one only has just so many years to one’s life. I chucked James Joyce’s Ulysses after getting well beyond halfway, because his prose had turned to mere gibberish.
Eleventh Observation.  In Chapter 105, Ishmael reckons that Man could never drive the whale to extinction, the seas are so teeming with the creatures. For support, he reckons the same for the elephant. Ouch, bad choice there, Herman, from our present perspective. I am merely commenting on the unintended cruel irony of these reckonings, not blaming Melville for failing to have a crystal ball tuned to the future. But in the next chapter, I gotcha, Herman! Here he has erred grievously in his narrative. For he has Ishmael somehow peer into Ahab’s innermost private thoughts. This is the job of the famous “omniscient narrator” of a work of fiction, and suddenly that’s how Melville is writing, instead of as his protagonist Ishmael, who’s supposed to be reporting simply what he sees and hears on his voyage and his own reactions to events. Ahab has not revealed these thoughts via a soliloquy as characters have done previously, nor does a third party inform Ishmael he heard the captain muttering this or that to himself. Another 15-yard penalty, Herman!
Twelfth Observation.  Chapter 117, pg. 377. On Ahab’s whaleboat, attached to a slain whale the crew couldn’t tow to the Pequod in daylight hours, the captain converses with ‘the Parsee’ deep in the night. I hadn’t quite grasped earlier who this character is. It is none other than Fedallah, headman of Ahab’s private crew of “Manillans.” But a little research shows that Parsees are from India, and follow Zoroastrianism, a religion of ancient Persia; so the headman is not Filipino. Fedallah now prophesies that Ahab can only die “by hemp.” Since most every literate speaker of English knows how this novel will end, we grasp the meaning of this. But Ahab interprets it as meaning he will be hanged on the gallows some day, ashore, and thus if he stays at sea permanently he will be “immortal on land and on sea!” Bad call, old chap. And another 15-yard penalty for Melville! This private conversation (the other oarsmen of the small boat being asleep) can’t possibly be known to Ishmael, as he is not aboard this whaleboat. Around this point in the tale, we are presented another uncompleted narrative. It’s discovered that one or more of the casks of whale oil being stored in the hold is leaking. To find the source, the crew is ordered to haul every cask topside for examination in the daylight, an exhausting undertaking. But we aren’t told if the leak was found, or of the effort required to load everything back down below decks. In Chapter 119, pgs. 382/3, Ahab delivers a preposterously verbose, melodramatic speech during a raging typhoon. Starbuck urges they set sail for home, abandoning the mad quest for the White Whale. Ahab will hear nothing of it. In Chapter 123, Starbuck actually contemplates murdering the captain as he sleeps in his cabin, or imprisoning him (which would be mutiny), so does he fear the outcome of this mission to slay Moby Dick. The whole crew may perish, he sincerely believes. But he can’t bring himself to take such an action. In succeeding chapters, Starbuck continues to attempt to sway Ahab to turn the Pequod toward home, but in vain. Ahab is taking to incoherent mutterings, even admitting he’s gone mad. The final confrontation with the White Whale approacheth!
Thirteenth (lucky!) and Final Observation.  Chapter 134: Having finally found his whale in the South Pacific, near the Equator, Ahab puts the Pequod in pursuit. So powerful is the beast that it can outdistance any vessel for prolonged periods, harpoons and lances from previous hunts still embedded in his flesh, dragging numerous lines in his wake. On Day 2 of Ahab’s final pursuit, all the boats launched are smashed by blows from Moby’s tail flukes or ramming by his enormous head. The captain’s peg leg, even, is broken and will have to be replaced by the ship’s carpenter. But the only fatality is Fedallah, tangled up in harpoon lines and pulled to his death. This upsets Ahab, as ‘the Parsee’ had made prophecies Ahab bought into and the latter expected the former to be present for the very last confrontation. Starbuck again begs, this time in Christ’s name, to abandon the pursuit. Fat chance! All this action is described as from the “God’s eye view,” or Omniscient Narrator. Where the devil is Ishmael? On to Day 3 of the chase we go (Chapter 135). The crew has worked through the night to cobble back together some functional whaleboats. The whale is again sighted and pursued, and again all boats smashed up, excepting Ahab’s. The ship’s best harpooneers are all aboard the Pequod now, having been plucked from the drink, which is now teeming with sharks. And now Ahab sees the remains of Fedallah, entangled in lines (ropes of hemp), effectively lashed to Moby Dick’s side. The dreaded leviathan now makes a run at the Pequod herself, intent on ramming and taking her down. Despite these very fast-moving developments, Ahab and the three Mates all find time to deliver verbose soliloquies, which is rather ludicrous, frankly. The Pequod’s hull is breached and she’s going down fast. Ahab still hopes to sink additional harpoons and lances in his foe’s flanks, but Moby’s circling about in the sea causes a loop of rope to go around Ahab’s neck and in a flash, he’s gone. Thus, he has “died by hemp,” in effect hanged at sea rather than on land. I now grasp that in John Huston’s movie version, the image of Fedallah lashed to the whale was transferred to Ahab, who is still stabbing with all his fury at the whale as he’s pulled below the sea. A dramatic image, but unfaithful to Melville. In a brief Epilogue, we learn that Ishmael was in Ahab’s boat, Fedallah’s replacement I suppose, for this final action. Our narrator was far enough from the Pequod to not be sucked down with her as she created a whirlpool sinking to Davy Jones’s Locker. All the rest of the crew has perished, even the robust harpooneers. That doesn’t seem plausible to this reader. And now, a wooden float conveniently bobs to the surface, clinging to which Ishmael survives until he is rescued a couple days later by another whaling vessel the Pequod had previously encountered. So this whale of a tale comes down to us from the pen of the sole survivor of Ahab’s mad mission. And what became of the teeming sharks?! Will Ishmael plan to ever put to sea again after this? No hint. And we never did learn in what language the captain communicated with his Filipino private crew—Spanish? Tagalog? Melville’s sloppiness with details haunts the book right to the closing page.
SUMMATION:  Here we have a tale of a man so consumed by hatred for a non-human being, which offended him so by taking a lower leg in the act of defending itself against barbarous assaults, that he has cost the lives of about thirty men. My own sympathy, certainly, lies with the whale. There is no lack of hubris in Ahab, either. “Immortal on land and on sea,” eh? In the time of Donald J. Trump—an individual consumed with hatred for 99.99999% of creation, dedicated to his mission of making our world a worse place, and boasting superhuman hubris (are ye "immortal on land and on sea," o Donald?!)—perhaps we can draw a new moral from Melville’s story. First Mate Starbuck’s courage failed him when it was most needed: Had he killed Ahab, or at least had led a mutinous revolt and terminated the Pequod’s mad mission, provided a benign Neptune looked on, there would have been happy family reunions back at home port of Nantucket. There have been a number of potential Starbucks in the Trump administration, including retired generals, who made noises about the sickness at the core of that operation, but lacked the guts to do anything to try to abort the mission.
     I am compelled to report that I regret having expended the time and effort to absorb this infamous literary work. I am not inspired to pursue other works by the author. That said, I will plow through additional hundreds of pages of supplemental material in this Norton Critical Edition to study the insights of other readers. However, I reserve the right to just skim, or skip over, sections that aren’t compelling. But before I tackle that, o shipmates, I will take a breather from this tall, tall tale! ​

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Why "Battleship Potemkin"? Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 movie about the mutiny in the Tsar's Black Sea fleet during the failed 1905 Russian revolution is acknowledged as a masterpiece of cinema. The author of this website endorses the film's message: To rise against cruel oppression is not only justified, it is essential for the preservation of human dignity. ​

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Previous two blog articles, available on Past articles page:

• A bit of a change of pace...
• "News Bulletin from the Future"  

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My current writing projects

I am seeking Literary Agent representation for the memoir of my resistance to the American War in Vietnam from within the ranks of the active-duty US military. TAKE THIS WAR AND SHOVE IT! A Most Unwilling Soldier 1967-1971 consists of  approximately 82,000 words of text, plus several appendixes, copies of official government documents and photos.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, GO TO "MEMOIR" PAGE (click  HERE) [coming soon, I swear!]
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While I endeavor to find a publisher for the memoir, I am having fun writing my first novel. It is a savage satire of the Music Business, of which I have some personal experience. Its title is classified (Top Secret!) for the time being.

This blog site addresses and comments on these topics (among others!): peace, war, US politics, American politics, political analysis, climate crisis, climate change, climate change deniers, Donald J. Trump, social commentary, social criticism, social satire, current events, racism, anti-war movement, anti-racism, religion, religious extremism, religious fundamentalism, atheism, Buddhism, fascism, anti-fascism, socialism, communism, American war in Vietnam, the Vietnam War, Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, "The Vietnam War" PBS TV series, GIs, GI resistance to war, US Army, US military, militarism, anti-militarism, 'Bowe' Bergdahl, national debt, Pentagon budget, literature, books, authors, writers, cinema, music, movies, environment, ecology, anthropology, evolution, human race, humankind, misogyny, homophobia, philosophy, resistance, "Star Trek," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," United States Constitution, The Federalist Papers, James Madison, "The Simpsons," Bob Dylan, "Tombstone Blues," Commander-in-Chief, al-Baghdadi, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, endless wars, Major Danny Sjursen, Fritz Lang, Peter Bogdanovich, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, M, The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, Josef Goebbels, Hollywood, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Herman Melville, Moby Dick

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