Melvilles writing is a bit like Ahabs captaincy. There is an unsettling aura about it, no doubt. That man had an uncanny talent, a genius on the brink of madness that cannot be but be admired. Moby Dick is such passionate art, you might consider it above most layman criticism. You are in the presence of the exception, not the rule, from the first page onward. Most of that book is pure poetry, as brilliant as any English ever. It is sheer unabashed flair. Melville is among an elite of artists of the written word. Moby Dick is an oddity, it is totally unconventional, but that is usually the case with artistic brilliance.