The narrative voice rising up from the wreck of the Pequod in the Epilogue of Moby-Dick ; or, The Whale seems to have overcome « the universal cannibalism of the sea » which came to a climax with Ahab's doom. But the narrative which feeds on the dismemberment of a body merely revives cannibalism under another guise. And yet, it is through this cannibal-like narration that Ishmael endeavours to elicit a voice, thus locating the advent of the Word in the bowels. Ishmael, in Jonah's wake, attempts to convert the devouring maw into a prophetic mouth. But the bowels fail to be transfigured. Far from delivering the wonders of the Word, they solely give forth the raving sounds of the belly, a hellish ventriloquy.
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