The 16th New Bedford Moby-Dick Marathon -- Second Day (Part Two)

Immediately after the "Stump the Scholars!" program, the scholars headed over to the Lagoda Room to conduct a reading of the Extracts that preface Moby-Dick.  This was the first time in the history of the New Bedford MDM that the Extracts have been included in the reading.  In prior years, the Marathon has always skipped the Extracts and begun instead with Chapter I ("Call me Ishmael" etc.) -- something that we and other fans have deplored in the past.

Wyn Kelley reads an extract.

The idea behind this Extracts reading was excellent.  The plan was to begin the Extracts at 11:30 a.m. and get through as many of them as possible before noon.  That way, the Marathon formalities could still commence on schedule at the same time as in every other year, without the necessity of determining precisely how long it would take to read all the Extracts.  The scholars stood around the balcony of the Lagoda Room and took turns reading one extract each, an arrangement that made it easy to separate one extract from another and that spared the readers the trouble of reading the source after each extract. 

Jennifer Baker reads; Mary Bercaw Edwards waits her turn.

There was just one problem, which I don't think anyone could have foreseen:  The audience did not seem to grasp that this was part of the reading of Moby-Dick.  Instead of listening quietly as they do to every other part of the book, the audience members talked over the readers as if Melville were just background noise.  As a result, it was nearly impossible to hear the Extracts.  I don't know whether this happened because most people didn't understand what was going on, or because a small number of talkers caused everyone else to give up and talk too, or because most people just don't like the Extracts.

Whatever the cause, I hope the Museum will continue to include the Extracts in future years.  Perhaps if they began the Extracts reading by having someone ring a bell or blow a bos'n's whistle from the podium, and announce what is about to take place, the audience will be more attentive.

After the Extracts, I went out to grab some lunch and take pictures around town.  Gansevoort stayed on and later attended a sort of round-table discussion with the scholars and other serious fans, something I'm sorry to have missed and expect he will write about in the days to come.

The Kids Are Alright

The under-20s were well represented this year. Gives one hope, eh?

The 16th New Bedford Moby-Dick Marathon -- Second Day (Part One)

Saturday (Jan. 7) began with the second annual "Stump the Scholars!" program in the Cook Memorial Theater at the Whaling Museum.  This event was organized the same as last year's, except many more people participated this year, and the audience's questions were (I thought) tougher.  Anyone who had a Moby-Dick-related question for the scholars (from the Melville Society) could write the question on a form and be assigned a number, first come, first served.  Then the questions would be posed in numerical order to two teams of three scholars each (named the "Clams" and the "Cod," after Chapter XV, "Chowder").  A team who answered a question satisfactorily would be awarded points; if neither team was able to answer, the questioner received an "I Stumped the Scholars" button.

The Scholars

It's no easy task to "stump" teams like these. We're talking about some of the rock stars of Melville studies, with knowledge broad and deep. From the left in the photo above:

• Mary K. Bercaw Edwards (U. of Connecticut)
• Robert Wallace (Northern Kentucky U.)
• Wyn Kelley (M.I.T.)
• Chris Sten (George Washington U.)
• Laurie Robertson-Lorant (U. of Massachusetts Dartmouth)
• Jennifer Baker (NYU)

Michael Dyer works the crowd

The judge and scorekeeper, as last year, was Michael Dyer, the Museum's Maritime Curator. He did a great job, balancing entertainment and erudition. In the end, he was as surprised as anyone (i.e., no one) that once again the teams were tied!

The questions ranged from gimmes to true head-scratchers.  E.g.:
- In what country was Ishmael when he related the story of the Town-Ho? (Answer: Peru)
- What is a sword-mat? (Answer: a fender or bumper for a boat)
- How many words are in Moby-Dick? (I think this was a gag question, but Robert Wallace made an educated guess that came very close to the correct number.)
- A complex question about synchronicities that I didn't follow.
- What once celebrated, later notorious, American military figure was instrumental in the creation of Moby-Dick?  (Answer: Benedict Arnold, who [if I heard correctly] saved the life of the future Mrs. Peter Gansevoort, Herman Melville's maternal grandmother.  This stumper was the work of Peter Whittemore, who earned a button thereby.)

Shortly before the program started, Gansevoort and I had some excitement when I unintentionally outed us as the authors of this blog.  It happened when I asked Michael Dyer if I could take his picture for a blog.  When I said the word "blog," a voice behind me cried out, "Ahab Beckons?  Are you Ahab Beckons?"  I turned around to find Jim Lopes, VP of Education and Programming at the Museum.  By reacting, I had already betrayed myself.  Jim then introduced himself and asked me if I was Gansevoort.  I said no and led him into the theater, where Gansevoort was sitting.  Jim explained that (unknown to us) he and others had been speculating on our identities and had even asked the assembly at the end of the buffet dinner whether "Ahab Beckons" was in attendance.  (This was apparently after we had moved into the theater to get settled for Dr. Marr's lecture.)

In a whirlwind, Jim then introduced us to an assortment of notables, including Peter Whittemore (Melville's great-great-grandson), Robert Rocha (the Museum's Science Director and the commander-in-chief of this year's Marathon; he also read a chapter in Portuguese), Wyn Kelley, and Brian Witkowski (the Museum's Education Programs Manager).  With the help of our sister, we managed to get photos of some of the above, which are posted below.  After the "Stump" program, the Museum's Director of Digital Initiatives, Michael Lapides, also introduced himself.  Everyone was very gracious, and their kind words of encouragement were most appreciated.

Peter Whittemore

Robert Rocha

I'm positive that we also took a picture of Jim Lopes and Brian Witkowski, but I can't find it on my camera.  (Ynot explains in the comments that this may be the result of photographer's error.)

Alternative photo of Jim Lopes, at the podium Friday evening

The 16th New Bedford Moby-Dick Marathon -- First Day

Gansevoort and I arrived at the New Bedford Fairfield Inn within minutes of each other on Friday afternoon.  He had driven down from Waltham, and I had taken the train from Wilmington to Providence, where my sister (who was also heading to the Marathon) picked me up for the drive from Providence to New Bedford.  We dropped our bags and walked over to Freestone's (a/k/a "The Marathoner's Rest") for a pre-Marathon-buffet drink.

Melville fans arrive early to get good seats for the lecture

This was our first year attending the Marathon buffet dinner, a pleasant, communal way to kick off the Marathon activities. Our table included my sister and brother-in-law, the Dutch Melvilleans Tjitske Zwerver and Tonnie Schakenraad, and RISD professor Burton Van Name ("Van") Edwards, with whom I had a nice chat about parchment, papyrus, and points.

After dinner and a quick trip to the museum shop, we headed into the Cook Memorial Theater for this year's lecture, "Moby-Dick in American Popular Culture," by Timothy Marr of UNC.   The lecture -- illustrated with photos, videos, and music -- earned lots of laughs, as we watched clips of cartoons, video games, and movies, very, very loosely inspired by Moby-Dick.  (Professor Marr omitted one Moby-Dick by-blow, however: Age of the Dragons, starring Danny Glover as Ahab.)  Among the photos were some intriguing, and some just plain odd, covers of editions of Moby-Dick from the collection of our blogging compatriot Bill Pettit.

After the lecture, we strolled back to the hotel to rest up for the main event.

The Four Graces of the Marathon

The group of volunteers "manning" the galley varies a bit from year to year. I didn't get a photo of the MDM16 ladies — here's a memento from MDM14.

Thank you x 4.

Much more than we expected

MDM16 turned out to be much more than we expected. We met some interesting folks who greatly expanded our understanding of M-D.

It's going to take a while to unpack and process everything — photos and posts are coming. For now, we'll say:

Thanks to all involved! (and, only 363 days till MDM17).

Live streaming of MDM16

If you're not able to make it to New Bedford this weekend, you can watch a live stream of the entire Marathon. Last year's inaugural stream was very well done — the camera and audio techs stayed attentive for the entire 25 hours, following the Marathon as it moved to the Seamen's Bethel, and through several rooms in the Museum. The streams were available later as archived recordings. (You can view recordings of MDM15 now, although they may be replaced by MDM16.)

Note 1: My Safari browser under Mac OS X 10.5.8 has trouble with the video player, but Firefox works fine.

Note 2: If you tune in before the kick-off at Noon this Saturday, you may only see a static image or some canned footage.