In 2019, the book 'Moby-Dick' reads almost like a prophecy against the kind of folly and ego that produce political ruin, writes David Shaerf for CNNOpinion. It is also still a book that inspires many.
David Shaerf is a documentary filmmaker and professor at Oakland University in Michigan. His film about"Moby-Dick" and the artists it has inspired,"Call Us Ishmael," is distributed by Gravitas Ventures and is available on Blu-ray and DVD through Amazon and on streaming services iTunes and Google Play. The views expressed here are his. Read more opinion on CNN.
Along with so many, I was first subjected to"Moby-Dick" when I was still a teenager, being forced to read it as part of an American literature survey course. I was not a fan of it-- I certainly could never have anticipated I would one day make a film about it. I thought it was a laborious read. Its narrative was glacially slow, and the titular antagonist doesn't even make an appearance until the final pages of the novel.
David Shaerf I didn't get it, but looking back, I wanted to. I picked up a tattered copy of the book some years later, determined to understand what all the fuss was about, and it had an immediate impact on me. Even by the opening paragraph of the book spoke to me in ways it could not have possibly in years prior. The narrator, in a fit of ennui, tells of his desire to head to sea as a remedy to his depression. I get this.
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