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Purpose: The author is revisiting the body of hismanuscripts on Herman Melville’s Moby Dick,which he began writing some 15 years ago.Though these writings have remained an‘unwritten book’, Melville’s works had a lastingimpact on his thinking and writing up to thepresent. He reveals some of the experiences andemotions concomitant with academic writing thatremain more often than not hidden from the reader. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is apersonal reminiscence on the experience ofacademic writing for about four decades. It is astory of how an academic becomes acquaintedwith and then influenced/inspired by a piece ofliterature and discovers how many organisationaltopics may be illuminated by works of literature.Findings: Even an unwritten book does notnecessarily lead to completely neglecting whathad been written. This may be a relief and an encouragement to others, who realize they arenot alone in this respect. Originality/value : Thepaper adds some further insight into the not-soobviousand broadly hidden experience of the ‘production process’ of academic writing andillustrates the relevance and importance ofliterature for further thinking on such topics asmanagement and organization

Burkard Sievers

Profesor emeritus de Desarrollo Organizacional de la Escuela de Negocios y Economía Schumpeter de la Bergische Universität Wuppertalen Alemania. Se enfoca en la teoría de la Administración y la organización desde una perspectiva psicoanalítica y un acercamiento deinvestigación activa. Ha sido presidente de la Sociedad Internacional para el Estudio Psicoanalítico de las Organizaciones durante elperíodo 2007-2009, y co-director de ´Administración y Consulta en las Organizaciones´, un Programa Internacional de Desarrollo Profesional llevado a cabo en Colonia, Alemania.
Sievers, B. (2011). On my way to Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, I found… some preliminary remarks from an unwritten book. Cuadernos De Administración, 25(41), 139–150. https://doi.org/10.25100/cdea.v25i41.397