chronometricals - Tumblr blog

[chronometricals]

THE THINGGGG that drives me so crazy about the “and i only am escaped alone to tell thee” epigraph in the epilogue of moby dick is that that, though (at least in my edition) it’s attributed to job, that line isn’t actually spoken by job. it’s in the book of job, but that particular line is spoken by a number of unnamed messengers who come to tell job of what’s befallen his family, land, and property. his servants are put to the sword, his livestock burnt, his house destroyed, his children killed. after each of these messages is delivered, the messenger says, “and i only am escaped alone to tell thee.” if we attribute the line to job, we equate ishmael with job; both are men who’ve undergone unthinkable horrors for no discernible reason. but ishmael isn’t equating himself with job; he’s equating himself with the messenger, which forces the reader to occupy job’s position. which might feel counterintuitive considering the account we’ve just read of ishmael’s journey, but it’s less about the journey and more about the message. because each time a messenger comes to job and tells him of his stolen livestock or his dead children, the implicit question is “can you still have faith after i tell you this story?” so if ishmael is the messenger and the reader becomes job, it means ishmael’s asking us that same question: here is what happened. here is my story. can you still have faith after hearing it?

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favorite fictional settings

THE PEQUOD (Moby Dick)

As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.

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This image taken during the 1890s, is presumed to depict photographer Henry Winkelmann and Charlie Horton. The story goes that it was torn during a lovers quarrel.

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obsessed with this search result for “yearning stock photo”

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Adélies

// Full illustration for @polarlightszine

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Welcome Committee - Bark Europa in Antarctica, 2022

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A Penguin Kindergarten in the front and the barque Europa sits on anchor in the background, creating a perfect scene for photograph, by Frits Meyst 2020

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Let us first glance low down to the lowermost shelf of all, which is the widest, too, and but a little space from high-water mark. What outlandish beings are these? Erect as men, but hardly as symmetrical, they stand all round the rock like sculptured caryatides, supporting the next range of eaves above. Their bodies are grotesquely misshapen, their bills short, their feet seemingly legless; while the members at their sides are neither fin, wing, nor arm. And truly neither fish, flesh, nor fowl is the penguin; as an edible, pertaining neither to Carnival nor Lent; without exception the most ambiguous and least lovely creature yet discovered by man. Though dabbling in all three elements, and indeed possessing some rudimental claims to all, the penguin is at home in none. On land it stumps; afloat it sculls; in the air it flops. As if ashamed of her failure, Nature keeps this ungainly child hidden away at the ends of the earth, in the Straits of Magellan, and on the abased sea-story of Rodondo.

The Encantadas, "Sketch Third," by Herman Melville

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Large lighthouse lamps with Fresnel lenses, 19th century

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All right. Have it your way. I like your cooking.

THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019) - dir. Robert Eggers

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Lovers of Human Flesh: Homosexuality and Cannibalism in Melville’s Novels [Caleb Crain, American Literature, 1994]

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Moby Dick by Herman Melville

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Thinking about Moby Dick again.

Thinking about how Ishmael says that, by the time of writing down the narrative, he's covered in tattoos.

Thinking about how Queequeg carved his own tattoos into the coffin to preserve them.

Thinking about how the coffin served as Ishmael's life preserver, the only thing to survive the wreck.

Thinking.

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Moby-Dick, Epilogue, by Herman Melville. Image from Duke University Libraries. (first and third images)

Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2, by William Shakespeare. This copy is from the library of Herman Melville, and these marks may have been made by him. Image from Houghton Library, Harvard University. (second image)

Full image text below

Moby-Dick

EPILOGUE. "And I only am escaped alone to tell thee." Job. The drama's done. Why then here does any one step forth?—Because one did survive the wreck.

Hamlet

But let it be.—Horatio, I am dead; Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright To the unsatisfied. Hor. Never believe it; I am more an antique Roman than a Dane, Here’s yet some liquor left. Ham.  As thou ’rt a man,— Give me the cup; let go; by Heaven, I’ll have it.— O God!—Horatio, what a wounded name, Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me! If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, Absent thee from felicity awhile, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my story.— [March afar off, and shot within.

Moby-Dick

the coffin life-buoy shot lengthwise from the sea, fell over, and floated by my side. Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on a soft and dirge-like main.

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This moss was gathered in Salem, and therefore I place it here for a frontispiece. P.S. It may be objected that this is sea-moss;—but then it only went to sea—like many young mortals—in its youth, and to my certain knowledge has been ashore ever since.

Herman Melville's marginalia in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Mosses from an Old Manse. Image from Houghton Library, Harvard University.

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oh my god........ melville's marginalia online.....

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1850s Tumblr Dashboard Simulator

👸🏻 girlbossladyjane follow

It really makes me sick to see people giving money to penny weeklies when Franklin's expedition STILL has not been found 😭 There are good men out there trapped in unimaginable temperatures and literally all that's needed is a little more funding for another rescue mission yet all you guys seem to care about are your vulgar little stories...

🧔🏻‍♂️ queerqueg follow

the franklin expedition is dead as hell

👸🏻 girlbossladyjane follow

Disgraceful thing to say but I'd expect nothing less from a M*lville fan

10,558 notes

👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻 hartgrindisreal

Sorry for posting so much about Tom Gradgrind/James Harthouse from Hard Times lately. It turns out that I was getting arsenic poisoning from my wallpaper? Anyway I took a seaside stroll and I'm normal now. Check your walls y'all

#whyyy did i assume they were committing unlawful actions together like where did i even get that from lol #hard times isn't even that good by dickens standards tbh

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🎨 asherbrowndurand

Just painted this

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ss-arctic-girlie-deactivated18540927

RIP Napoleon... you may have been unable to conquer Alexander's Russia but you sure as hell conquered Alexander's bed

🖼️ preraphaelitebro follow

HERITAGE POST

📝 shakespearesforehead follow

How does this have less than 100k notes you could literally not avoid this post back in the 20s lol

82,170 notes

🌄 loyalromantic follow

poets just aren't dying young in mysterious water-related incidents like they used to :/

#as useless and degenerate as i find 'the living poets' and i'm glad we're finally moving on from them #i have to agree with op in this respect

6,884 notes

🎀 thefopdiaries follow

I finally got a daguerreotype of myself ^_^ Porcelain urn for scaling

📜 bartlebi-thescrivener

i think i hauve consumption

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🐋 whaler4life

They found oil in the ground??? WTF. THIS IS LITERALLY THE WORSTTTT. FUCK MY LIFE FOR REAL THIS TIME

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🌿 naturesnaturalist follow

I swear this website has 0 reading comprehension skills. Darwin NEVER claimed we "evolved" from apes like if one of you guys actually bothered to open his new book you'll see all his arguments are backed up by evidence. He actually makes a lot of sense

#sure there's nuance like i don't fully agree with all of it #but his general theory of natural selection seems pretty sound imo

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🤵🏻‍♂️ byronicherotournament follow

🙈 butchbronte follow

Of course these are the finalists lmao this website is so predictable. Anyway vote Heathcliff if you dont i'm going to assume you're a phrenologist

📖 sapphichelenburns follow

It's not problematic to acknowledge the fact that Heathcliff was a brute like he literally killed dogs in case you forgot. Anyway #rochestersweep

🙈 butchbronte follow

I love the implication here that Rochester never did anything cruel either. He literally locked his wife in the attic and lied to Jane about it 😭 like that was a pretty significant thing that happened

📖 sapphichelenburns follow

And? God forbid women do anything

#why'd you have to pit two bad bitches against each other #anyway i'm not attracted to men but still went with rochester #bc in terms of living quarters thornfield hall > wuthering heights easily

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👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻 hartgrindisreal

Not the Russian tsar dying immediately after hartgrind became canon

#i know dickens hasn't technically confirmed it yet but like. SOMETHING was strongly implied ok #see: my previous post #dickensposting

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👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻 hartgrindisreal

LORD HELP ME. THE BODY LANGUAGE. THE WAY THEY'RE LOOKING AT EACH OTHER. AHHHHHH

#this installment!!! im-- #dickensposting #i can't fucking cope #dickens wants to KILL us he wants us DEAD....

2,309 notes

⭐️ newamerican

Hi guys sorry I haven't been posting lately it's been so difficult getting to California 💀 I'm finally here now though just need to find a pickaxe and soon I'll be digging! :-) wish me luck lol

#gold #gold rush #gold rush grind #california #adventure

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