Moby Dick and Hornblower

[bauhiniakapok]

Lately I've been endeavoring to fill in the yawning week-long voids between chapters of bbcphile's Harboured and Encompassed http://archiveofourown.org/works/9135700?page=2&show_comments=true&view_full_work=true#comments by reading through all the Hornblower novels when I'm home, and listening to the free Librivox audiobook of Moby Dick when I'm driving or

Comments

[bauhiniakapok]

Yes, the essay was entertaining, and eye-opening. And here I had thought Moby Dick was just a depressing story where everyone died, including the whale! I was only giving it another chance because someone on LJ had read or listened to it and said it was more entertaining than she'd expected. I wasn't expecting a blubber-thick layer of slash. Even thicker than I realized, according to this essay. Queequeg's purple head had not, in fact, reminded me of any other kinds of purple heads. Purple heads are sort of beyond the limit of how explicit I want to go. *Feels squeamish and starts frantically repressing.*

I was taken aback by what the essay said about Billy Budd, too. Another sad story read in abridged form as a kid. I had thought it was just about an innocent destroyed by military discipline. But here the poor boy is compared to a bead of ejaculate. Ewww. Again, a little more information than I wanted.

I have to confess that, as a monogamous heterosexual, I think the level of slash I find appealing is more of "two very pretty and mostly straight guys happen to hug and cuddle and comfort each other a lot, and okay maybe they even have sex, lots of it, because I want them to be happy, but they don't swish around or act stereotypically gay in any other way, because that would put them outside the category of guys that I or my secret inner Mary Sue would theoretically be attracted to, or at least have a chance with." This is probably doublethink. (Actually, in practice my real self, while still single, did once have a desperate crush on my clearly very gay ballroom dance partner, but it was just so pathetically and obviously hopeless, you know?)

So, what am I saying? Ishmael and Queequeg cuddling in bed are really cute. So are Horatio and Archie, cuddling on Archie's sofa. But I also like some parallel universes where Archie is straight, and falls in love with a worthy female who strong and kind, and is not too obviously some fan girl's wish-fulfilling avatar. (I don't really care whether Horatio is sometimes straight or not.) Purple heads are not cute. Maybe that's what I'm saying. I don't know.