Pierre Senges, l'auteur de la baleine

July 6, 2022 11:45 AM

In Melville’s epic, the singular Ahab goes on a hunt for an equally singular creature; in Senges’s satire, everything and everyone has become generic: an act, an imitation, a copy, a plagiarism—a sequel. from The Hunted by Ryan Ruby [Archive]

Ahab (Sequels) -- The Complete Review
Back on dry land Ahab rids himself of salt and of his wooden leg (excerpt)
Moby Dick in Hollywood—Orson Welles (excerpt)

Tangentially related: Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote [ES, EN] by Jorge Luis Borges

posted by chavenet (4 comments total)

God Ruby can write
posted by PinkMoose at 1:04 PM on July 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Interesting - and I was going to bring up Borges as well. And of course Cervantes. This sounds like the kind of work that is fascinating in summary but insufferable in the actual reading - the excerpt suggests this too. I feel I would start it, recommend it to several people (I already know who), then let it languish with a bookmark at page 122 until I get $6 in store credit at Powell's for it years later.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:21 PM on July 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'm really excited to learn about this author that I've never heard of. They sound great. Thanks!

I'm also bored to death by Moby Dick. (You all know it's satire, right? Or did you really accept that the author believes polar bears are scary because of their whiteness?)

I want to read the Queequeg prequel.
posted by eotvos at 8:38 PM on July 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Contra Mundum publishes a ton of good shit (Szentkuthy being the best that I have read so far) and Fragments of Lichtenberg by Senges was amazing, so I definitely have to check this out.
posted by bootlegpop at 2:36 AM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]