Jag kan inte låta bli. Jag måste dela med mig av Melvilles sätt att beskriva en sak som man lätt skulle förstå med en eller två meningar, men som Melville ägnar 8 sidor åt att beskriva. Färgen vit. Min tanke är att dela med mig av de första två meningarna om varför vitt är så viktigt. Obs! Med mening menar jag från kapitäl till punkt. Är ni redo?
"But how can I hope to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters might be naught." (Mening 1)
"Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as if imparting some special virtue of its own as in marbles, japonicas, and pearls; and though various nations have in some way recognized a certain royal preeminence in this hue; even the barbaric grand old kings of Pergu placing the title Lord of the White Elephants above all their other magniloquent ascriptions of dominion; and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard; and the Hanoverian flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger; and the great Austrian Empire, Caesarian, heir to overlording Rome, having for the imperial color the same imperial hue; and though, besides all this, whiteness has been even made significant of gladness, for among the Romans a white stone marked a joyful day; and though in other mortal sympathies and symbolizings, this same hue is made the emblem if many touching, noble things – the innocence of brides, the benignity of age; though among the Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of wampum was the deepest pledge of honor; though in many climes, whiteness typifies the majesty of Justice in the ermine of the Judge and contributes to the daily state of kings and queens drawn by milk-white steeds; though even in the higher mysteries of the most august religions it has been made the symbol of the divine spotlessness and power; by the Persian fire worshippers, the white forked flame being held the holiest on the altar; and in the Greek mythologies, Great Jove himself being made incarnate in a snow-white bull; and though to the noble Iroquois, the midwinter sacrifice of the sacred White Dog was by far the holiest festival of their theology, that spotless, faithful creature being held the purest envoy they could send to the Great Spirit with the annual tidings of their own fidelity; and though directly from the Latin word for white, all Christians priests derive the name of one part of their sacred vesture, the alb or tunic, worn beneath the cassock; and though among the holy pomps of the Romish faith, white is specially employed in the celebration of the Passion of our Lord; though in the Vision of St. John, white robes are given to the redeemed, and the four-and-twenty elders stand clothed in white before the great white throne, and the Holy One that sitteth there white like wool; yet for all these accumulated associations, with whatever is sweet, and honorable, and sublime, there yet lurks an elusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than the redness which affrights in blood.” (Mening 2)
Det bör tilläggas att valen - Moby Dick är vit.
Beskrivningen av färgen vit och dess betydelse fortsätter sedan ett par sidor till. Vad tar jag med mig av detta? Det står helt klart att jag inte kommer att se på färgen vit med samma ouppmärksamma ögon som förut efter det här.
