All Astir

All Astir Behind a span whose cheery pace Accorded well with gala trim— Each street in arch triumphal reared, With festive ribbons fluttering gay; In season when the vineyards mellow, Suddenly turning a corner round— Ha, happy to meet you, Punchinello! And, merrily there, in license free, The crowd they caper, droll as he; While, arch as any, rolled in fun, Such tatterdemalions, many a one! “Naples in the Time of Bomba,” lines 1–11 I n the opening lines of his unpublished poem, “Naples in the Time of Bomba,” Melville conjured up a carnivalesque scene of holiday throngs and universal “glee.” Such a spirit enwrapped participants in last summer ’s Hearts of Darkness: Melville and Conrad in the Space of World Culture in Szczecin, Poland, where “happy to meet you!” rang out on all sides: from celebratory crowds pouring along the waterfront to see Tall Ships to cordial gatherings in conference rooms, restaurants, a cozy cinema, and many a cellar dive. We are delighted to present our first special conference “Extracts” in the new Leviathan, with reports from conference co-chairs and participants and an evocative photo album. December 28, 2007, at the MLA Convention in Chicago, proved to be a rich and full day for members of the Melville Society. The Executive Committee , consisting of Executive Secretary Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, Treasurer John Matteson, Melville Society Cultural Project representative Robert K. Wallace, and Associate Editor Wyn Kelley, met to review the Society’s progress for the year and to project ahead to the Jerusalem conference in 2009. The Melville Society panel convened at mid-day to discuss the topic, “What’s a Feminist to Do with Melville?” Charlene Avallone has compiled the abstracts of the papers for this stellar panel, which will appear in our next issue of Extracts (10.2). Finally, members of the Society reunited at the Parthenon restaurant for a convivial dinner, with heaping platters of Greek food served C
2008 The Authors Journal compilation C
2008 The Melville Society and Blackwell Publishing Inc L E V I A T H A N A J O U R N A L O F M E L V I L L E S T U D I E S 69 E X T R A C T S Figure 1. From left to right, John Matteson, Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, Robert K. Wallace, and Wyn Kelley. “family style.” Among the more than twenty guests, many of them new to the Melville Society, were former Historian Douglas Robillard; Poland conference co-chair Milton Reigelman; and Jerusalem conference co-chair Basem Ra’ad. On January 2, the Melville Society Cultural Project made for its semiannual visit to New Bedford, where the team was joined for dinner by Carolyn Karcher, new President and speaker at the Moby-Dick Marathon Melville Society Lecture; John Bryant, Editor; Dennis Marnon of the Houghton Library at Harvard; and scholars Laurie Robertson-Lorant and Helen Wilson. Carolyn Karcher’s lecture on “The Pleasures of Reading Moby-Dick” was received enthusiastically the next morning and created a wise and witty introduction to the ensuing 25-hour-long marathon reading of the novel. The MSCP team, joined by its newest members Jennifer Baker and Timothy Marr, met with museum administrators and staff to discuss the Melville Society Archive, the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s exhibits, and literacy projects in New Bedford. Our friend and partner Anne Brengle, director of the Museum, has left to take a job at the Coast Guard Foundation, and the Museum has set up an interim director, Cal Siegal, and is actively conducting its search for a new head. Since some of our projects at the Museum will necessarily be on hold until the new director arrives, we took this opportunity 70 L E V I A T H A N A L L A S T I R Figure 2. Douglas Robillard. to confer with our other local partners at the National Parks Service, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and AHA (Art/History/Architecture, a civic and cultural organization in New Bedford). We discussed ideas for planning a possible symposium or cultural festival in the future. We have also selected...