alt Hacker NewsHomer's stories are essentially mythological. 'Huckleberry Finn,' on the other hand, feels more like satire than myth. But 'Moby-Dick' carries that mythic quality. Ahab is a whaling captain, but at the same time, he appears as a tragic king confronting a world he cannot understand or accept. And Moby Dick seems to symbolize both an animal and nature itself.
Homer's epics feature human heroes who converse with divine beings. 'Moby-Dick' doesn't have that, but the overall atmosphere is mystical enough that I see it that way.
The Pequod is both a commercial vessel and a representation of the American national system. The sea is described as a geographical space, yet also as a universe beyond human comprehension.
There's no question that Mark Twain is a great author representing America. But if I had to choose one mythic work in American literature that corresponds to Homer, I would choose Herman Melville's 'Moby-Dick'.
Ah good points, in fact some points that deepen our understanding of Homer.
Main one you might have thought about is that the gods of Homer are also deeply flawed (habitually full of hubris themselves!).. I think it was Nietzsche who said that the gods wish they could be Achilles or Odysseus?
Now.. who are the conflicting partys in every Homeric arc? Often at least 2 gods..
(I have not thought about Moby Dick this way either, or the "Greek system" in those days.. palace economy?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_economy
In The World of Odysseus he noted that most distribution was internal:[5]