I don't clearly remember writing this, or what my motivation was at the time, but I do know that I wrote it while I was in China the first time (with a lot of alone time), and soon after I had read Joseph Heller's Something Happened, followed by Moby Dick.
Parts of this essay are over-the-top and make me cringe, but it did refresh in my mind just what it was that I found in Moby Dick that I appreciated so much.
I thought it worth sharing.
I apologize if it's difficult to read. I didn't feel like transcribing it, and took a picture of it with my phone.
Does anyone know of any good software that can recognize this text and convert it to a doc? I tried http://www.free-ocr.com/ but the result was a mess.
I read "Something Happened" because I loved "Catch-22" so much. It is nothing like "Catch-22". Although I found it a compelling read, I don't know if I could recommend it. It is well written and insightful, but ultimately, bleak and depressing - that's the point of it. I found a review Kurt Vonnegut wrote about it, here :
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/15/home/heller-something....
This quote from that review sums it up for me : "This is black humor indeed--with the humor removed."
But, the point manages to come across, even in this form, I think.
I read Something Happened for the same reason. I can't believe Heller could finish that book. It's like a terrible wound.