I was talking with someone about the lord of the rings books vs movies recently and my friend said he had always struggled getting through the books because of how much walking, singing, and descriptions of mountains there were. I hear similar criticisms with Moby dick: the only action happens in the beginning of the book and the last few chapters; the rest of it is just a dude musing about rope and the nature of the sperm whale’s tail while sitting doing nothing on a ship.
But I’ve recently gained some more perspective on this. Having started volunteering for peace corps in Africa several months ago, my American friends have this idea that this must be a never ending adventure and I’m so lucky to be out here seeing this exotic part of the world while they’re stuck in their corporate entry level jobs. And yes, it has been an adventure in a lot of ways. I live in a village of mostly mud huts; have eaten freshly slaughtered rabbit and more whole fish than I can count; have had a dramatic run in with some crooked cops; have met chiefs; and have navigated the country in a series of 12 seat vans illegally seating 20 people.
But what is the day to day like of adventure? Sitting in my house alone reading a book and waiting until work starts since things don’t typically operate on schedule. Sifting through and copying down all-paper health records for hours so that we can trace immunization defaulters and try to remind them to come to the health center, even though a lot have made up their mind it’s not important. Walking around the village and sitting in random people’s huts while drinking their tea and listening to them speaking a language I may understand 40% of. Staring at my wall in frustration as one of my project ideas is thwarted because we don’t have the resources or there’s been some corruption in the bureaucracy. Musing about why the world is the way it is and what the role is for an individual in attempting to fix it.
In other words, yes, adventure is climbing Mount Doom and chasing Moby Dick, but it’s also a lot of sitting, a lot of walking, and a lot of waiting around for the next big moment to happen. It’s forging a harpoon in blood for a few minutes just to stare at the ocean and debate the taxonomy of whale classification for the next few hours.
To me, that’s part of the subtle genius of Melville and Tolkien: their adventure epics capture what an adventure is actually like. Instead of writing never ending action, the authors opt for a slow burn with much more emphasis on world building and philosophy. I sometimes wonder if this is because both authors were genuinely adventurers. Melville had years of sailing experience that he based Moby dick on, and Tolkien was a WW1 veteran. Both men knew what a voyage or war really was, and wrote it.
Perhaps you’ll disagree. I also like more straightforward adventure books like the Jules Verne novels. I love epic poetry like Beowulf and The Odyssey, which tend to just jump from action to action. But overall, I don’t think anything can beat the subtlety of the lord of the rings and moby dick in capturing adventure’s true nature.
by bigben1234567890
2 Comments
Great insight. Absolutely true. I’ve been lucky enough to be on some proper expeditions in my life, where you’re traveling through the wilderness on boat or on foot or horseback for weeks…and there are moments of adventure but as you say it’s mostly just living.
I think the real culprit here is that narrative tastes have changed. People today expect non stop action. Tolkien’s original audience did not.