EXTRA! EXTRA!
November 14th, 1851
Harper and Bros. publishes
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. This whale of a tale is sure to keep scholars busy for years( which is what it takes to read the etymology and epigraphs that open this novel— if you even bother). The story then disappointingly starts with a line no less original than something overheard at any dinner party.“ Call me Ishmael.” Really? That’ s the best Melville could do? It’ s like reading bad Emily Post. We are confident no English Major would pad their paper like this in an obvious effort to meet some minimum word count requirement. Thus, English Departments everywhere, including OU, are officially shipping this text off to the Psychology Department. One Professor, preferring to be referred to as Ink-so, has been reputed to say,“ We’ re at sea as to why anyone would read this. Quite personally, I would rather Taylor [ sic ] my scholarly efforts toward‘ Swift-er’ channels.”
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