Texts · 20 · Jonah

'Call me Ishmael'

Moby-Dick is narrated by its sole survivor, picked up by the ship Rachel, searching for her lost children, echoing Jeremiah's weeping Rachel.

The Bible of American culture.

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Ilana Pardes calls Melville's novel 'the Bible of American culture.' Both Melville and Levi saw their work as a kind of new Bible.

Bible reference: Jeremiah 31:15

Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 328–329

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