sink pedestals
prophecies of leviathan reading past melville
reading melville is not only reading . reading melville means being already engaged in the abyssal process of reading reading . reading what reading is and what reading does.with melville prophecies of leviathan argues that reading beyond its apparent linearity is essentially prophetic not only because moby dick for example may appear to be full of unexpected prophecies ishmael seems to foretell a grand contested election for the presidency of the united statesfollowed by a bloody battle in afghanistan but also and more deeply because reading itself is a prophetic experience that melville captured in a unique way.reading according to melville might just be the prophecy of the text to come . this apparently tautological view has great consequences for the theory of literature and its relation to politics . as szendy suggests the beheading of melvilles leviathan which ishmael says is the text should be read against hobbess sovereign body politic . szendys reading of melville urges us to revisit jacques derridas all too famous sentence there is no hors texte.and it also urges us as the preface to this english edition makes clear to reflect on the christian categories that we apply to the text its life death and above all afterlife or suicide . the infinite finitude of the text that is what reading is about.in his brilliant and thorough afterword gil anidjar situates prophecies of leviathan among szendys other works and shows how the seemingly tautological self prophecy really announces a new ipsology a pluralization of the selfthrough a narcissism of the other thing