Moby-Dick Marathon (was MDDM Ch. 10 The Bull's Eye)

[Jasper Fidget]

This sounds like great fun.  I attended a marathon once for Ulysses, but
there was lots of falling asleep (largely due to wine being passed around),
and tried once for Lord of the Rings (but it lasted like three days and I
was all out of amphetamines).  I just searched on "Moby-Dick Marathon" and
found another one (different group?) taking place in New Bedford MA:

http://www.newenglandtravel.com/features/mobydick.shtml
Melville's home port of New Bedford celebrates the 150th anniversary of
Moby-Dick.
Herman Melville called the Massachusetts port of New Bedford "perhaps the
dearest place to live in, in all New England . . . Nowhere in all America,"
he wrote in Moby-Dick, "will you find more patrician-like houses; parks and
gardens more opulent, than in New Bedford. Whence came they? . . . One and
all, they were harpooned and dragged up hither from the bottom of the sea."

This year, with concerts, cruises and special exhibits, New Bedford - where
the Melville classic began - is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the
publication of Moby-Dick: or The White Whale.

In January 1841, when 21-year-old Melville sailed down the Acushnet River on
the voyage that would result in his masterpiece, New Bedford was the
wealthiest city per capita in America. Times, of course, have changed since
then. But fishing continues to be an important part of New Bedford's
economy, with some 90 boats in its scalloping fleet helping to make it the
scalloping capital of the country today.

New Bedford's 13-block waterfront district, which was designated a National
Historical Park in 1996, has been welcoming visitors to its cobblestoned
streets all summerlong. Melville scholars, one-man Melville interpretations,
and Moby-Dick-inspired music and dance are among the many highlights.
Melville events will continue until just after New Year's, when his devotees
will assemble at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on Johnny Cake Hill for a
25-hour marathon reading of the tale of the vengeful captain and the great
white whale.

"And it's always an extraordinary experience," says Lee Heald, director of
programs at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. "You see the sun set and you see
the sun rise as you listen to the reading. You walk across the street to the
Seamen's Bethel in the cold night air to hear the sermon about Jonah and the
Whale that Melville's Ishmael heard."

In 10-minute segments, 168 men and women read the classic to a crowd of
about 300. During the night, of course, some listeners nod off and others
head home, but ordinarily, when morning comes, the die-hards who remain are
revived with coffee and Portuguese fried bread-malasadas-and presented with
a special edition of Moby-Dick.

[...]


----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Wright AIA" <mwaia at yahoo.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2001 1:21 PM
Subject: Re: MDDM Ch. 10 The Bull's Eye


> Howdy
>
> I can't remember what these things are called either. But one day all
> of you will make the pigrimage to "Mystic Seaport" in Connecticut to
> participate in the annual 24 Hour Moby-Dick Marathon on the decks of a
> whaling almost as shaggy and toothsome as the Pequod... There you will
> see these things in place in the decks. They work surprisingly well.
> Reproductions are in the gift shop, at an absurd price, for
> paperweights.
>
> Perhaps I can meet some of you there next summer. I've wanted to "lose
> the kids" and go back for the reading for several years now. It should
> be a good time.
>
> Mark

>