Chowder: Executive Secretary Report, 2009

Chowder Executive Secretary Report, 2009 I begin this report with sadness. Thomas Farel Heffernan, former President of The Melville Society and the scholar with whom I spent thirteen intense years co-editing Wilson Heflin’s Herman Melville’s Whaling Years (2004), died on January 26. As the 2009 Melville Society President, Bob Milder, wrote: “I hadn’t seen Tom in years, but I remember him vividly as a rare gentleman. His presence shines out in his writing. We will always have that.” Tom always seemed eternal to me, so it is hard to believe that he is gone. Tom taught throughout his career at Adelphi University and authored Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex (1981) and Mutiny on the Globe: The Fatal Voyage of Samuel Comstock (2002). We are richer for his presence. The Melville Society events of 2009 began with the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s annual marathon reading of Moby-Dick on January 3-4. Immediately preceding the marathon, Wyn Kelley presented a wonderful illustrated talk on “Crossing the Line and Exploring the Equator in Moby-Dick.” The Melville Society was a strong presence at ALA in Boston this past year. On the morning of May 21, Joseph Fruscione moderated a thoughtprovoking roundtable discussion titled “‘Past, Present, Future Seemed One’: Approaches to Teaching Melville” with panelists Susan Beegel, Richard Kopley, Maurice Lee, Steve Olsen-Smith, Leslie Petty, and Douglas Robillard. That afternoon, Maurice Lee chaired a session on “Melville and the End(s) of Philosophy,” at which John Barnard spoke on “American Socrates: Melville and the Sacrifice of Philosophy,” Christopher Freeburg on “Melville’s Pierre, Social Reform, and the Agony of Moral Perfection,” and Hildegard Hoeller on “(Im)Possible Gifts in Herman Melville’s Typee and The Confidence-Man.” Two days later, John Bryant represented the Melville Society in a panel discussion on “The Future of American Author Societies,” chaired by Bruce Michelson. At MLA in Philadelphia, Peter Norberg chaired a stimulating session on December 28, titled “Herman Melville: A Writer and His Books.” Dennis Berthold spoke on “‘Mute Marbles’: Roman Aesthetics in the Poetry,” Michelle Jarenski on “‘Secret(s) Published in a Portrait’: Melville’s Disruptive Visual Aesthetics in Pierre,” Ida Rothschild on “Melville’s ‘Mousetrap’: Using Shakespeare C  2010 The Authors Journal compilation C  2010 The Melville Society and Wiley Periodicals, 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 95 E X T R A C T S to Unmask Destiny in Moby-Dick,” and Brian Yothers on “‘Crack’d Archangel’: Sir Thomas Browne’s Religio Medici, the Bible, and Religious Difference in Melville’s Fiction and Poetry.” Newly elected officers of the Melville Society for 2010 include President T. Walter Herbert, MLA Program Chair Ivy Wilson, ALA Program Chair Brian Yothers, and Murray Endowment Committee member James Duban. Thanks to the Nominating Committee—Wendy Stallard Flory (chair), Steven OlsenSmith , and Elizabeth Duquette—for putting together such a wonderful slate of officers. Hester Blum won the 2008 Cohen Prize award for her essay “Douglass’s and Melville’s ‘Alphabets of the Blind,’” in Frederick Douglass and Herman Melville: Essays in Relation, ed. Robert S. Levine and Samuel Otter (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008). Thank you very much to the Cohen Prize Committee: Geoffrey Sanborn (chair), Jeff Clymer, and Dennis Berthold (who stepped in for Robin Grey). Hester Blum, winner of the 2008 Cohen Prize. The big event of 2009 was, of course, the “Melville and the Mediterranean ” conference held in Jerusalem, June 17-21. Thanks to Tim Marr, Hilton 96 L E V I A T H A N E X T R A C T S Obenzinger, and Basem Ra’ad for all their hard work planning the conference, which by all accounts was a wondrous success. Please look for reports of the conference and for the upcoming Leviathan special issue on “Melville and the Mediterranean.” The financial difficulties faced by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which houses the Melville Society Archive, significantly improved under new director James Russell: heartening news, indeed...