tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post8302568370223811534..comments2024-01-11T21:53:16.420-08:00Comments on Intro to Critical Reading: Whale, the Trade of KingsAdamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-70808014730119097322012-03-04T16:51:35.474-08:002012-03-04T16:51:35.474-08:00You might be interested in *Mariners, Renegades, a...You might be interested in *Mariners, Renegades, and Castaways*, which is partially a socialist-infused reading of Moby-Dick. <br /><br />Your first paragraph, like the novel, is sprawling, covering both the legitimizing function of the extracts, the whalers as working class heroes, and whaling as a representation of industry and technology as a whole. Not bad - but moving more rapidly to a focus might have been even better.<br /><br />In the second paragraph, you come up to the brink (without quite doing it) of bringing in Marcuse's understanding of technology. If you've ever read Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology," it might be useful to know that Marcuse is emerging partially out of Heidegger's thought - there's a hint of Heidegger in your discussion of the nature->technology transformation, so I wanted to bring that up as one way of developing your still somewhat incoherent argument.<br /><br />Your last two paragraphs, as you develop *Moby-Dick* as a work about technology (which it assuredly is, even if it has other identities as well), lead us in interesting directions. They also reveal the possibility for a stronger focus.<br /><br />"Whaling is the war of technology against nature, to the largest extent that it could be in the mid-1850s." Think of how well this essay could read with that as the very first sentence, then having everything reorganized around it. You could probably do everything you do here with something like half the word count, leaving more room for a detailed reading of the text and/or of the incorporation of further critical material.<br /><br />Very well-conceived work, only in need of streamlining as preparation for extending.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-262438322337625422012-03-01T10:21:48.859-08:002012-03-01T10:21:48.859-08:00Let me first say that I really enjoyed reading thi...Let me first say that I really enjoyed reading this post. I appreciate the concept, I think that it is a very good point to make and I would be curious to read a revision. If you were to expand you could perhaps be a bit more concise and selective in how you want to get across what you're trying to say - I do get what that is but I think that it could probably more sharp in a couple of places - maybe a unifying clear statement about technology, nature, war/violence, and the economy in the third paragraph. I also think that you'll be able to add a lot of new material from the readings as we progress through Moby Dick so you can keep an eye out for relevant passages now. Also I bet you could incorporate Marcuse as I think that his opinions on progress and technology are relevant to your discussion.Colleen Lloydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04082233159912327915noreply@blogger.com