Call Me Ishmaelle

Xiaolu Guo published her most recent novel, Call Me Ishmaelle, a reimagining of Melville’s Moby Dick from a female perspective. Learn more here.

Guo was interviewed about the book by Anthony Cummuns for the Guardian.

“Most people are Asiatic – the world’s population is 60% Asian – and with each novel I write, I ask myself in what ways a non-westerner from a non-biblical background can engage in dialogue with the western literary canon. The word ‘Christendom’ appears repeatedly in Moby-Dick. I wondered: what if people never knew what that is? If it said ‘Taoism’ instead, would you still listen to the story? I’m a guerrilla gardener – I secretly go out planting trees in my neighbourhood – and it made me think: can I somehow just bring ancient east Asian philosophy into this American landscape? Guerrilla sabotage. I wanted the whole world on that ship. I spent so much time figuring out how to get a black captain from the civil war period into dialogue with a Chinese Taoist sailmaker.”

Read more here.