{"id":191301,"date":"2025-10-21T09:24:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T14:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=191301"},"modified":"2026-09-06T16:44:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T21:44:56","slug":"podcast-1090-chasing-the-white-whale-into-the-depths-of-moby-dick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/books\/podcast-1090-chasing-the-white-whale-into-the-depths-of-moby-dick\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #1,090: Chasing the White Whale \u2014 Into the Depths of Moby-Dick"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you went to high school in America, you probably read Moby-Dick<\/em><\/a> \u2014 or, more likely, you skimmed the CliffsNotes and wondered why this dense, whale-obsessed novel was considered a classic.<\/p>\n

That was me in 10th grade.<\/p>\n

But earlier this year, I decided to revisit Moby-Dick in midlife, and it hit me completely differently. What once seemed like a tedious story about a guy chasing a whale revealed itself to be a profound meditation on free will, perception, self-reliance, leadership, and obsession. It\u2019s now one of my favorite novels.<\/p>\n

To help unpack why Moby-Dick endures \u2014 and why it might be worth picking up again\u2014 I\u2019m joined by Mark Cirino, a professor of American literature. Today on the show, we discuss why Moby-Dick was initially overlooked, the novel\u2019s major themes, and the timeless mystery of Captain Ahab\u2019s monomaniacal quest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you went to high school in America, you probably read Moby-Dick \u2014 or, more likely, you skimmed the CliffsNotes and wondered why this dense, whale-obsessed novel was considered a classic. That was me in 10th grade. But earlier this year, I decided to revisit Moby-Dick in midlife, and it hit me completely differently. What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42384,42376,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-culture","category-podcast"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1090-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1090-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1090-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1090-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1090-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"\nPodcast #1,090: Chasing the White Whale \u2014 Into the Depths of Moby-Dick | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/books\/podcast-1090-chasing-the-white-whale-into-the-depths-of-moby-dick\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #1,090: Chasing the White Whale \u2014 Into the Depths of Moby-Dick | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you went to high school in America, you probably read Moby-Dick \u2014 or, more likely, you skimmed the CliffsNotes and wondered why this dense, whale-obsessed novel was considered a classic. 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