Book of Job and “Moby-Dick”

by Damien F. Mackey The well-known tale of ‘Moby Dick’ appears to have been inspired by the Bible. I have already suggested, following others, that it was inspired by the Book of Jonah: ‘Moby Dick’ inspired by Book of Jonah? (3) ‘Moby Dick’ inspired by Book of Jonah? | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Some, though, prefer to liken it - in its Leviathan description - to the Book of Job. William A. Young, for instance, has written an article entitled, “LEVIATHAN IN THE BOOK OF JOB AND "MOBY-DICK"” (JSTOR, Vol. 65, No. 4 (Winter 1982), pp. 388-401), which begins as follows: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BIBLE as a source for Herman Melville’s novels has long been recognized … and the crucial impact of the Book of Job on Melville’s masterpiece, Moby-Dick, has been widely observed and discussed. …. Although some interpreters dismiss Melville’s us of the Book of Job as casual and occasional, others have concluded that “the influence of Job [is] pervasive and controlling, basic and thematic, the most informing single principle of the book’s composition”. …. The present study focuses on Melville’s use of the mysterious Leviathan of Job in Moby-Dick. However, unlike other studies of Melville’s use of the Book of Job in Moby-Dick, the primary purpose is not to further the interpretation of the novel. The chief aim of this work is to add some insights to the question of Melville’s Biblical hermeneutic. What does Melville’s use of the Book of Job, especially the Leviathan symbol in Moby-Dick, suggest about this fundamental approach to the interpretation of the Bible? …. [End of quote] Nathalia Wright had earlier considered both Jonah and Job in her article, “Moby Dick: Jonah’s or Job’s Whale?” (JSTOR, Vol. 37, No. 2 (May, 1965), pp. 190-195). The two prophets, Jonah and Job, were actual contemporaries, if I am right in identifying Job as Tobias, son of Tobit, during whose exile in Nineveh the prophet Jonah (variously Nahum) made his appearance there. Thus old Tobit tells his son, Tobias (Job): ‘… I surely believe those things which Jonah the prophet spake of Nineveh, that it shall be overthrown …’ (Tobit 14:4). Nathalia Wright begins her article: THAT MELVILLE MADE SIGNIFICANT USE in Moby-Dick of both the Book of Jonah (containing the most celebrated account of a whale in the Bible) and the Book of Job (the classic Hebrew presentation of the problem of evil in human existence) is obvious enough and has often been commented upon by critics. ….