Re-reading a classic

Dear Diary,

When I was on Nantucket back in June I visited the Whaling Museum and saw an amazing exhibit on the wreck of the Essex.  It is the only known whaling ship to be stove by a whale and sunk.  The event is wonderfully brought to life in the Nathaniel Philbrick book, In the Heart of the Sea which was made into a movie directed by Ron Howard.  It will be released in December.  On Nantucket I bought Philbrick's book Why read Moby-Dick? and he convinced me to re-read the Herman Melville classic which was based on the sinking of the Essex.

Moby-Dick came the other day and I thought I would create a digital collage of images I made at the whaling museum. The background of the collage is actually whale oil.  They have two large glass jars of it on display.  It was taken from a whale that washed up on the shores of Nantucket in 1998.  I've included a view of the skeleton of that whale as my extra shot today.  I showed a detail earlier but this view includes a boat used by whalers to pursue their prey.  A similar boat carried the Essex survivors for their 90 day ordeal.

Re-reading the classics is a worthwhile practice I think.  The last time I read it, 50 years ago!, I don't think I came close to grasping the depth and metaphorical dimensions of this outstanding piece of American literature.  I will read it with entirely different eyes now.