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Moby Dick

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What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we met an adorable baby elephant who was raised by humans. We explored a real-life replica of Disney’s Haunted Mansion, which is currently for sale on eBay. We caught every Arrested Development joke in the new song “Maeby One Day.” We loved one… Read More

Film

Lynne Ramsay Directing ‘Moby Dick’ Movie Set in Space

By Judy Berman on

We Need to Talk About Kevin director Lynne Ramsay’s newfound mainstream film career is starting to get pretty damn interesting. Not only is she at work on Jane Got a Gun, a Western starring Natalie Portman and Michael Fassbender, but The Hollywood Reporter reveals Ramsay is also making Mobius, a sci-fi… Read More

Books

Listen to ‘Moby-Dick’ as Read by Tilda Swinton, John Waters, David Cameron, and More

By Emily Temple on

Moby-Dick is without a doubt one of the greatest works of American literature — but, being intimidatingly long and detailed, it is not read as widely as it should be. However, if you’ve been putting off the Great White Whale since you shirked the reading in college, you’re in luck – author Philip Hoare and artist Angela… Read More

Film

Surprising Screenplays Written by Famous Authors

By Alison Nastasi on

It’s not unusual for artists and other creatives to dabble in different mediums, especially when it comes to writers. Hollywood saw many well-known novelists pounding the pavement, looking for work — particularly through the 1950s. They were a hot commodity in Tinseltown when the demand for convincing characters, dialogue, and story lines became essential to box office success — and they were broke. Sometimes, though, the famous authors who took a turn at screenwriting have surprised us with the scope of their cinematic endeavors. Some of these unlikely pairings were in it for the paycheck. Other writers did it to flex their creative muscles, and several just seem to be really big geeks for genre films, which makes us love them even more. Whatever the reasons, you’ll find a few surprises past the break. Check out which of your favorite authors also wrote for the big screen after the jump. … Read More

Photography

Famous Meals from Literature Captured on Film

By Emily Temple on

The connection between literature and food is a long and storied one. After all, literature is reflection of or commentary on life, and food is what sustains that life, so it’s no wonder that we think they’re meant to be together. Or maybe we’re just trying to support our snacking-and-reading habit. Either way, we love this photo series from the aptly-named graphic designer Dinah Fried, entitled Fictitious Dishes, wherein Fried recreates the famous meals from some of our favorite classic novels. And man, does that clam chowder look good — maybe we finally understand why Melville spent a whole chapter talking about it. … Read More

Books

How to Talk About 10 Important Books You Probably Haven’t Read

By Heba Hasan on

We’ve all been there: nodding along vaguely when someone brings up Ulysses in casual conversation. Everyone has those books that they repeatedly pick up and then repeatedly put down. These skeletons in our literary closet always seem to sink to the bottom of our summer reading list, destined never to be finished. Maria Popova’s recent post on University of Paris professor Pierre Bayard’s controversial book How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read has got us thinking about how fluency in classic works of literature  acts as a marker of a well read, culturally developed person. So, in case you’re interested in impersonating a more educated reader, we have compiled a little cheat sheet to guide you through 10 important books you probably haven’t read but whose cultural importance you should definitely understand. This way, you can save face at your next cocktail party — without sacrificing quality time with that Stephen King novel at the beach. (But hey, promise us you’ll give at least one of these a try before the year is out?) … Read More

Books

Open Thread: Is ‘Moby-Dick’ the Great American Novel?

By Emily Temple on

Everyone knows that one of a father’s greatest joys is to pass on the things that he loves to his children (a mother’s too, for that matter, but it’s Father’s Day season). In “Trust Me on This,” a great essay series at Salon running through Father’s Day, writers, musicians, athletes and actors answer the question: ”What… Read More

Books

10 Beautiful Buildings Inspired by Famous Books

By Emily Temple on

Truly wonderful books have a habit of growing and changing years after they’ve been written, worming themselves into places you might not expect — our decisions, our aesthetic and cultural sense, and even, with the right kind of care, our physical world. Case in point: Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence, which opened in Istanbul last weekend, is an extensive museum (reportedly, he spent almost all of his 1.5 million Nobel Prize dollars on it) devoted to expanding on and complementing his recent novel, The Museum of Innocence. Since we can’t make it to Turkey to experience the place for ourselves, we’ve collected a few other amazing buildings born from books — whether inspired by particular novels, stories, or a writer’s entire oeuvre — to tide us over. Click through to see our gallery of real-life architecture inspired by literature from all over the world, and let us know if we’ve missed your favorite literary tribute in the comments. … Read More

Books

Happy 160th ‘Moby Dick’: Gallery of Vintage Book Covers

By Alison Nastasi on

Considered one of the greatest American novels ever written, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick was first published 160 years ago today. Artist Bill Pettit has been collecting various editions of the famous novel for about 30 years and boasts nearly 200 volumes in his personal collection. His obsession with the tale about a vengeful captain chasing an enigmatic white whale started in the 1980s. Pettit explained why he’s always been so drawn to the story during a recent interview. “It’s a capture of an entire industry that no longer exists. There’s description of places that people haven’t seen and have never been and places that have been destroyed by civilization,” he shared. “And then there are places that people can go to, like Nantucket and New Bedford, and you can see the places that Melville referenced and get that kind of broad worldwide focus. There are not a lot of novels where that happens.” Browsing Pettit’s collection of covers is a fascinating flip through 100 years of bookmaking. We’ve highlighted some of our favorite Moby-Dick covers past the break. … Read More

Books

Illustrating Every Page of ‘Moby Dick’

By Caroline Stanley on

Back in late 2009 we told you about an interesting project by Ohio-based, self-taught artist Matt Kish. The concept? He was in the early stages of working his way through illustrating all 552 pages of Herman Melville’s classic novel, Moby Dick. Now that he has finally completed the epic undertaking, a collection of the resulting artwork is being released as Moby-Dick in Pictures by Tin House. “['Moby Dick'] has been such a companion for me my whole life,” Kish explained to HuffPost earlier this year. “I’ve read it a bunch of times, I saw the TV movie, various comic book adaptations — it’s been such a part of me.” Click through to check out a trailer for his book, along with some of our favorite pieces from the project — all of which are available for purchase in Kish’s Etsy shop. … Read More