I rarely say I “hate” anything (unless it’s applesauce and coconut – damn you, Tom, daaaaamn you!) but I have a vivid memory of haaating Billy Budd, Sailor and Selected Tales
Uhm, yeah. Don’t think that was Melville’s intent.
So over the past 5 or 6 years, I gave myself the task to go back and read my entire high school reading list (not all at once, of course, but eventually). And thank God I did. Tess! Moby Dick! Love ’em all.
But my hatred-memory of Billy Budd remained.
So finally, I decided to bite the bullet – and put Billy Budd on my Summer Reading Challenge. I don’t enjoy random free-floating hate. It’s my least favorite emotion.
I’ve finished 2 of the books on my challenge (Never Let Me Go – by Kazuo Ishiguro – post here and here – and Veronica, by Mary Gaitskill – post here) – and so what the hell – Billy Budd is 90 pages long. Just DO it, Sheila. Even if you hate it again, what do you care? It’s 90 pages!
So I’m 2 chapters in.
Imagine my surprise to find that it is actually a homoerotic novel full of hard bodies, bronzed muscles, physical descriptions of men hanging off of masts – descriptions that go on for (no lie) an entire page, words like “specimen” and “Greek” sprinkled throughout. It’s one of the gay-est things I’ve ever read. Like: OPENLY gay. Like showtunes night at Sidetrax gay. Gay gay gay.
It makes sense when you know a bit about Melville – but I’m actually surprised how OBVIOUS it is. At the 3rd reference in 2 paragraphs to ideal Greek statues, and bronzed brows – I’m thinking, “Uhm, was this book ghost-written by Jean Genet or something?”
I’ll report more when I’m more than 2 chapters in – but so far so good. I’m putting the Billy Budd hate to rest! I’m enjoying it. I still wish Billy Budd was more human – but it’s certainly not AGONY to read like it was way back when. I love it when that happens.
Uh, hello? He wrote a book called ‘Moby Dick’ in which he devotes an entire chapter to describing how to take care of the whale penis.
Obviously a friend of Dorothy.
I was spared ‘Billy Budd’ but may have to check it out now that you’ve put down your homophobic hatred.
Ever read ‘Omoo’ or ‘Typee’? I hear that ‘Typee’ is the story of a young man who longs to design fabulous dresses for tropical women. But I just skimmed the Cliffs notes so I could be oversimplifying…
Oversimplifying? Oversimplifying? I never oversimplify.
Ya know what this little blue pill is for?
What, Judge?
I don’t know. They’re afraid to tell me.
And yes – seriously – Moby DICK?? Uhm, yeah.
I have never read Omoo – but I remember it being on Dad’s shelves when we were little, and for some reason it scared me. The title, I mean. I remember thinking: I am scared of that book. what is Omoo?
What’s Omoo mean, judge?
I don’t know. They’re afraid to tell me.
“is this your wife?”
“no”
“congatualtions”
“..but she is my fiance”
“condolences”…
Billy Budd..huh? sounds hot.
“Why, those are Howard’s. What on EARTH are you doing with Howard Bannister’s rocks?”
whimper, murmur, moan, back out of room ….
And Mitchell – totally hot. had I known that Billy Budd was basically a gay icon, I might not have scorned him so deeply!
Hey – did you see the Stuart Little link I put up today??
I miss you!!
“Don’t you know the meaning of propriety???”
“Propriety? ‘Noun. Conformity to established standards of behavior or manners, suitability, rightness or justice. See Etiquette.'”
“Bushkee bushkee!”
Can the ‘What’s Up Doc?’ people identify that? Cash and I watch it every Father’s Day. So we have been quoting it all over the place.
Watched Bogdanovich’s commentary. Hilarious.
Have you seen the footage of him singing the Striesand song on the piano to Ryan O’Neal? Amazing…
Bren – I haven’t heard the commentary – I must !!!
Bushkee bushkee ahhhhh pushee poosh.
No idea. It’s vaguely Serbo-Croatian.
i miss ALL the O’Malleys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this post made me laugh. “gay gay gay”
Now if only Jean would show up in this comments section – we would all be together!!
(At least virtually.)
Maybe we start to need saying “Friend of Ishmael”?
I remember reading the whale penis passage – as an isolated passage, taken out of the context of the rest of the novel – for a class in high school (it was kind of like Western Civ., but didn’t go by that exact name).
I will say I was a monumental innocent as a high schooler.
But even I realized that that was a big ol’ gay passage right there, after reading it.
(And now I wonder why our teacher chose that passage. It was ostensibly to give us a history of whaling, but I remember an awful lot of people kind of snickering behind their hands about the rapturousness with which Melville described everything…)
(Heh…maybe more people would read Melville if they thought it was somehow titillating. Well, maybe not certain guys who have this fear of being associated with anything that even smacks of homoeroticism. )
Sooooooooo…..WAIT! All those years we thought the Crud was trying to torture us with a namby pamby goody two shoes Billy Bud, and all the time he was trying to sneak us soft core gay porn?? How did we miss it?? I want to read that now!!!!!!
Camille Paglia has a whole chapter devoted to Moby Dick in Sexual Personae – and it’s an interesting (albeit wacky, of course) take on Melville, and his relationship to the Female. Not specifically – but in general. Like, the universal Female. She makes a pretty good case, I think.
Beth – I know! Do you think Crud had ulterior motives??
Have you done any reviews of Faulkners books? His were the books I came to despise, largely because my junior year HS English Teacher was fanatical about him. Between that and the badly acted Tennessee Williams excerpts at theatre competitions, I never wanted to hear about the post modern South ever again.
And I remember fellow students having to read Billy Budd in their classes (I somehow managed to escape that fate) and how much they hated it too…
Sometimes you just gotta figure that the first gut instinct you have is the right one and leave it at that.
Oh – and as you know – I love Sydney Carton.*
Sharon – I’m actually really liking Billy Budd second time around! Imagine my surprise!
And yes, Billy cannot hold a candle to Sydney Carton – but there’s a small preface to Billy Budd (written by Melville) that references the French Revolution – and there are already many Tom Paine references (the boat called The Rights of Man) – he’s making a point about the Enlightenment, and so it’s kind of an allegory, I guess. hence – the lack of characterization. At least that’s my take on it.
Moby Dick is one of my all-time favorite reading experiences EVER … so I figured: I have got to give Billy Budd another go! (Oh, and I hated Moby Dick first time around too. And Tess of the D’urbevilles bored me to tears – I love those books now!) Very glad I re-visited all of them!
What I find interesting about this is that you love your historical figures who stand up for what they believe and yet when you have a fictional character who does the same you think he is a goody two-shoes. After all what Billy does is stand up for himself and you dislike him for that. Strange!
Dick – Actually, it’s not strange at all – because you have completely mis-read my post. Which you often do.
I don’t dislike him because he stands up for what he believes in. I dislike him because he seems unreal, and unambiguously good. And therefore boring as a character. Which I said in my post already. Quite clearly.
Please read me more carefully, Dick – I’m sick of explaining myself twice to you.