Leviathan

(Paperback)

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Description

The story of a mans obsession with whales, which takes him on a personal, historical and biographical journey from his childhood to his fascination with Moby-Dick and his excursions whale-watching.
All his life, Philip Hoare has been obsessed by whales, from the gigantic skeletons in Londons Natural History Museum to adult encounters with the wild animals themselves. Whales have a mythical quality they seem to elide with dark fantasies of sea-serpents and antediluvian monsters that swim in our collective unconscious.

In Leviathan, Philip Hoare seeks to locate and identify this obsession. What impelled Melville to write Moby-Dick After his book in 1851, no one saw whales in quite the same way again.

This book is an investigation into what we know little about dark, shadowy creatures who swim below the depths, only to surface in a spray of spume. More than the story of the whale, it is also the story of our own obsessions.

Reviews

This singular, magnificent book inspires both awe and shame awe of the whales, shame of the human species that has tried to destroy them. In the end, Hoares virtuosic sympathy for his subject makes you believe in the better angels of our nature. Alex Ross, bestselling author of The Rest is Noise

This history of mans dealings with whales is respectful, even mystical. Daily Mail

A scintillating, scattershot, blunderbuss of a book. Throughout the book, Hoares unbridled enthusiasm for his subject is infectiousthis thoroughly engaging, rigorously researched and often revelatory book is a joy to read and one which Melville, surely, would have appreciated. Independent on Sunday

So compelling and all-encompassing that it cast a spell on me that endured for days after I had done turning its beautifully illustrated pagesThis is the book he was born to write, a classic of its kindWhat poetry there is here and what a balm for the soul. Observer

Enjoyable trawl through the history, literature and lore of whalesAs well as being a showcase for descriptive prose of great beauty, Leviathan is full of fascinating facts. Guardian

An elegant writer with a sharp eye for quirky detailA lyrical and timely reminder of what we have to lose if we don't change our greedy ways. Mail on Sunday

In Hoare's hands, whales are almost limitlessly strange and interesting. Sunday Times

Hoares idiosyncratic mingling of autobiography, anthropology and archaeology has reached its zenithan enthralling volume. Hoare has the skill and humility to make this work, to him, great art and the Leviathan are both inexplicable, unknowable forces from the deep, wherein lies their wonder. Daily Telegraph

Author Bio

Philip Hoare is the author of six works of non-fiction: Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant (1990) and Noel Coward: A Biography (1995), Wildes Last Stand: Decadence, Conspiracy, and the First World War (1997), Spike Island: The Memory of a Military Hospital (2000), and Englands Lost Eden: Adventures in a Victorian Utopia (2005). Leviathan or, The Whale (2008), won the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. Most recently, The Sea Inside (2013) was published to great critical acclaim. An experienced broadcaster, Hoare wrote and presented the BBC Arena film The Hunt for Moby-Dick, and directed three films for BBCs Whale Night. He is Visiting Fellow at Southampton University, and Leverhulme Artist-in-residence at The Marine Institute, Plymouth University, which awarded him an honourary doctorate in 2011.