Mariners, Renegades & Castaways

What Melville did was to place within the covers of one book a presentation of a whole civilization so that any ordinary human being today can read it in a few days and grasp the essentials of the world he lived in. To do this a man must contain within his single self, at one and the same time, the whole history of the past, the most significant experiences of the world around him, and a clear vision of the future. Of all this he creates an ordered whole. No philosopher, statesman, scientist or soldier exceeds him in creative effort.

~ C.L.R. James, M,R & C, 115.



Such is the Divine spark. Story-tellers find a way to fan that spark into flame.