--- Contemplating the Lingering Mythology of Whaling program
The Alternative Moby-Dick Marathon
(see also A Whaling Descendant Performs In Four Acts)
Collaborative publication, event
Produced as part of Artist Fellowship at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and Artist in Residence at UMass Dartmouth College of Visual & Performing Arts
Collaborative publication, event
Produced as part of Artist Fellowship at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and Artist in Residence at UMass Dartmouth College of Visual & Performing Arts
Unofficially complementing The Annual Moby-Dick Marathon, 25 years in the running by the New Bedford Whaling Museum
Moby Dick is upheld as the great American novel. But it is also the unread American novel. With what alternate lenses can we approach this wondrous monster of literature? A playful counterpoint to the Whaling Museum's Annual Moby-Dick Marathon, the Alternative Moby-Dick Marathon offers different ways of experiencing the seminal literary epic that may reveal our relationship to place, history, nature, and indeed, life. A glimpse into the inner worlds of those who grew up around, inherited or are connected to SouthCoast whaling history, it contains versions of Moby-Dick written by them. These versions vary from thought-responses, summaries and fantasy versions, to blackout poetry sourced from the novel and other creative contributions. Contributors do not have to have read Moby-Dick.
The Contemplating The Lingering Mythology of Whaling program explores interspecies connection, and, on a befittingly large scale, what it means to be a mammalian being in the cosmos. As part of the program, the inaugural edition of the Marathon was presented at the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in September 2021, alongside A Whaling Descendant Performs In Four Acts, an experimental collaborative film made during the pandemic with Charlie Chace, descendant of one of the 19th century’s last whalers.
Unofficially complementing The Annual Moby-Dick Marathon, 25 years in the running by the New Bedford Whaling Museum
Moby Dick is upheld as the great American novel. But it is also the unread American novel. With what alternate lenses can we approach this wondrous monster of literature? A playful counterpoint to the Whaling Museum's Annual Moby-Dick Marathon, the Alternative Moby-Dick Marathon offers different ways of experiencing the seminal literary epic that may reveal our relationship to place, history, nature, and indeed, life. A glimpse into the inner worlds of those who grew up around, inherited or are connected to SouthCoast whaling history, it contains versions of Moby-Dick written by them. These versions vary from thought-responses, summaries and fantasy versions, to blackout poetry sourced from the novel and other creative contributions. Contributors do not have to have read Moby-Dick.
The Contemplating The Lingering Mythology of Whaling program explores interspecies connection, and, on a befittingly large scale, what it means to be a mammalian being in the cosmos. As part of the program, the inaugural edition of the Marathon was presented at the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in September 2021, alongside A Whaling Descendant Performs In Four Acts, an experimental collaborative film made during the pandemic with Charlie Chace, descendant of one of the 19th century’s last whalers.
The 2021 Alternative Moby-Dick Marathon | |
File Size: | 2905 kb |
File Type: |
WATCH VIDEO OF THE MARATHON / CONTEMPLATING THE LINGERING MYTHOLOGY OF WHALING PROGRAM
Selected contributions
Big white whale, scrimshaw, Seamen’s Bethel, Nantucket sleigh ride. What it means to me? Tourism.
- Kevin Carter
Manager, Carter’s
---
I’m not sure if I was supposed to read it for school. I think I cheated and read some notes on it. It’s about the captain of a ship and his determination to get this whale before this whale got him. I saw Gregory Peck go past at the *parade when I was four. When the whale was attacking the ship on screen, I remember seeing Gregory Peck. As a kid it was frightening. I was afraid of whales. I think I’m getting confused with Jaws.
- Robin
Sales Clerk & Buyer, Moby Dick Retail
*When the Moby-Dick film (1956) premiered at the State Theatre (now the Zeiterion Theatre), a parade went through downtown New Bedford. The parade featured an inflatable whale and Gregory Peck, who in his role as Captain Ahab was the film’s leading man.
---
where were the others
when i found lumps?
these lumps
i sat there cross-legged
bitter
all morning long
i squeezed myself
i squeezed myself
would i keep squeezing forever!
for now
now
it is tough
but
flesh
is hard to keep
- Seamus Galligan
Fairhaven local
---
Far more than a story of whaling, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851) is “a grand, ungodly, god-like” book. A book of blasphemy, it is also full of humor, which is in turns sly, boisterous, poignant, and hilarious. Set in the immensity of the ocean, Moby-Dick asks all the central questions of life—what is truth? who are we? does immortality exist? It answers none of them, but the book’s importance lies in asking these eternal questions.
- Mary K. Bercaw Edwards
Melville Scholar; Associate Professor of English and Director of Maritime Studies Program, University of Connecticut
---
A seeker enters the cosmos and finds:
you can look into other people's eyes & hold their hands --
all is unknowable, absurdly incomprehensible;
and salvation is a happenstance handmade coffin.
- Andrew Schnetzer
Former Ranger, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
where were the others
when i found lumps?
these lumps
i sat there cross-legged
bitter
all morning long
i squeezed myself
i squeezed myself
would i keep squeezing forever!
for now
now
it is tough
but
flesh
is hard to keep
- Seamus Galligan
Fairhaven local
---
Far more than a story of whaling, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851) is “a grand, ungodly, god-like” book. A book of blasphemy, it is also full of humor, which is in turns sly, boisterous, poignant, and hilarious. Set in the immensity of the ocean, Moby-Dick asks all the central questions of life—what is truth? who are we? does immortality exist? It answers none of them, but the book’s importance lies in asking these eternal questions.
- Mary K. Bercaw Edwards
Melville Scholar; Associate Professor of English and Director of Maritime Studies Program, University of Connecticut
---
A seeker enters the cosmos and finds:
you can look into other people's eyes & hold their hands --
all is unknowable, absurdly incomprehensible;
and salvation is a happenstance handmade coffin.
- Andrew Schnetzer
Former Ranger, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
---
The fight of the great white whale, the one that got away. They got him at the end, right?
- Trevor Carter
Manager, Carter’s
---
"For some, books are a lifestyle; integral to one's being, they are intimate companions. An ex-girlfriend, a writer, once called me a "Moby-Dick person." I'd not read the book, but she was right. It soon grew to be as important a part of my life as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Far from the Madding Crowd, and Two Years Before the Mast. In graduate school I applied for an internship at Mystic Seaport Museum, went to the interview, and was rejected. I re-applied the next year. The interviewer asked me why I wanted to be a intern at Mystic Seaport, and I told her straight off, Herman Melville wrote in Moby-Dick that the sea connects all things and I wanted to work in a maritime museum to understand that idea better. She said: "This interview is over. Be here on June 2nd. You're hired." Books matter for some, and for one pursuing a career as a whaling curator, a thorough familiarity with Moby-Dick is requisite for the job."
- Michael P. Dyer
Curator of Maritime History, New Bedford Whaling Museum
---
Whales and people clash in a boring, racist story
- Rufai Shardow
Ranger, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
The fight of the great white whale, the one that got away. They got him at the end, right?
- Trevor Carter
Manager, Carter’s
---
"For some, books are a lifestyle; integral to one's being, they are intimate companions. An ex-girlfriend, a writer, once called me a "Moby-Dick person." I'd not read the book, but she was right. It soon grew to be as important a part of my life as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Far from the Madding Crowd, and Two Years Before the Mast. In graduate school I applied for an internship at Mystic Seaport Museum, went to the interview, and was rejected. I re-applied the next year. The interviewer asked me why I wanted to be a intern at Mystic Seaport, and I told her straight off, Herman Melville wrote in Moby-Dick that the sea connects all things and I wanted to work in a maritime museum to understand that idea better. She said: "This interview is over. Be here on June 2nd. You're hired." Books matter for some, and for one pursuing a career as a whaling curator, a thorough familiarity with Moby-Dick is requisite for the job."
- Michael P. Dyer
Curator of Maritime History, New Bedford Whaling Museum
---
Whales and people clash in a boring, racist story
- Rufai Shardow
Ranger, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
Special thanks to Lindsay Compton, all contributors, Marina Wells, Co-Creative Center and Dena Haden