Cover of Leviathan
LEVIATHAN OR, THE WHALE by Philip Hoare (4th Estate, 2008)
The Natural History of the Sperm Whale by Thomas Beale was published in 1839, a work which Philip Hoare refers to as “a wide-ranging and eclectic work, part scientific study, part adventure story”.
This same description could easily apply to Hoare’s own study although you would need to add that it is also an extended appreciation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick combined with a personal account of a lifetime’s fascination with water and whales.
Melville began writing his great American novel in 1850 and the timing of the work is seen by Hoare as significant for a number of reasons. Not only did it coincide with the period when the issue of slavery was coming to an end but he also believes whaling is a telling metaphor for America’s obsession with the wilderness and that Melville’s epic tale of Captain Ahab’s quest for the white whale therefore stands as a kind of “wild west of the sea”. Continue reading
