Chasing the White Whale: The Moby-Dick Marathon; or, What Melville Means Today

Notes

. 213 . . Notes. Introduction Charles Olson, Call Me Ishmael (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1947), 20. Chris King, “24 Hours of All Moby-Dick, All the Time,” New York Times July 29, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/29/nyregion/24-hours-of-all-moby-dick-all-the-time. html?scp=4+sq=Moby-Dickmarathon+st=cse New England seems to have a passion for literature and running, playing host not only to multiple Moby-Dick Marathon readings, but also to the Boston Marathon, one of the oldest foot races in North America. The true confluence between New England’s love of public events honoring literature and running, however, is most apparent in the James Joyce Ramble 10-k held annually in late April through the streets of Dedham, Massachusetts. Unlike the Moby-Dick Marathon reading’s emphasis on civic pride in their glorious whaling history, the Dedham race honors Joyce primarily to recognize the predominantly Irish community and to raise awareness about pressing contemporary issues. Race director Martin Hanley dedicates each event to an individual, from Vaclav Havel to slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, or issue, such as the Iraq war and human rights, to challenge people to be more engaged in their world. (The link to Joyce in each year’s theme is not always explicit, but those familiar with him can readily make the connections with his social and political commentary.) In the same vein, I discuss how attendees of the Moby-Dick Marathon relate the novel to the Muslim religion and global terrorism in chapter two of this book, also linking a live literary event to world issues. Also, the theatrics of the James Joyce ramble interestingly parallel those of the Moby-Dick Marathon, as costumed readers line the course and read from Joyce’s work, appropriately saving The Dead for the last mile. See Jon Marcus, “Storybook Race,” Runner’s World 43.8 (2008): 93–94. Andrew Delbanco, Melville: His World and Work (New York: Knopf, 2005), xii–xix. “Stockwatch: New England Whaling Ltd,” The Onion 44.28 (2008): 2. More than chamber of commerce decorations or baubles, the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and the New Bedford Whaling Museum are the heart and soul of the town, just as Williamsburg, Virginia, has become a living shrine to colonial America, as students at the College of William and Mary can attest to the procession of tour buses that stream in and out of their community. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. . 214 . 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Leviathan is the journal of the Melville Society, headed by John Bryant, whose recent achievements on behalf of scholarly research on Melville include a fluid text version of Typee that allows readers online access to Melville’s manuscript changes and relevant visual art. The Melville Society Archive, recently established by the society, at the New Bedford Whaling Museum under the care of curator Michael Dyer is a treasure trove of primary and secondary source materials originally held in private collections. Several books have recently taken Melville studies by storm. The latest book exclusively focusing on Moby-Dick is by Eyal Peretz, Literature, Disaster, and the Enigma of Power: AReading of Moby-Dick (Stanford University Press, 2003). It examines Ishmael as a witness to a disaster, whose discourse inspires us to “remember me, keep telling my story, and be willing to make your life an echoing of my word. But also, transform and revolutionize your life, not by imitating me but by responding to my call or by responding to my life as to a call—leave your belongings, your home and the stable land in which you have grown, and come to sea” (188, emphasis mine). Those at the Moby-Dick Marathon respond to Ishmael’s call, keep telling his story, and internalize that experience enough to make our lives an echoing of his word. At the other end of the spectrum from this literary theoretical academic work is Eric Jay Dolin’s Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America (New York: Norton, 2007), an (almost too) comprehensive historical survey that draws only slightly on Melville’s work, yet impressively delves into the real lives of some obscure sea dogs as well as celebrated captains, and as such informs part ii of this book on the social matrix of the Pequod. My conclusion draws from two outstanding sources, Hershel Parker, Melville: The Making of a Poet (Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 2008) (hereafter, Parker Poet...