Chasing the White Whale: The Moby-Dick Marathon; Or, What Melville Means Today

The experimental artist Peter Fischli once observed, There s certainly a subversive pleasure in occupying yourself with something for an unreasonable length of time. In this same spirit, David Dowling takes it upon himself to attend and report on the all-consuming annual Moby-Dick Marathon reading at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The twenty-five-hour nonstop reading of Melville s titanic epic has inspired this fresh look at "Moby-Dick" in light of its most devoted followers at the moment of their high holy day, January 3, 2009. With some trepidation, Dowling joined the ranks of the Melvillians, among the world s most obsessive literary aficionados, to participate in the event for its full length, from Call Me Ishmael to the destruction of the "Pequod." Dowling not only survived to tell his tale, but does so with erudition, humor, and a keen sense for the passions of his fellow whalers. The obsession of participants at the marathon reading is startling, providing evidence of Ishmael s remark that all men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. Dowling organizes his savvy analysis of the novel from its romantic departure to its sledge-hammering seas, detailing the culture of the top brass to the common crew and scrutinizing the inscrutable in and through Melville s great novel. "Chasing the White Whale" offers a case study of the reading as a barometer of how Melville lives today among his most passionate and enthusiastic disciples, who include waterfront workers, professors, naval officers, tattooed teens, and even a member of Congress. Dowling unearths "Moby-Dick" s central role in these lives, and by going within the local culture he explains how the novel could have developed such an ardent following and ubiquitous presence in popular culture within our technology-obsessed, quick-fix contemporary world.

Author: David Dowling
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Published: 11/28/2010
Pages: 242
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.77lbs
Size: 8.82h x 6.18w x 0.64d
ISBN: 9781587299063


Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2011
Publishers Weekly 04/25/2011
Library Journal 12/01/2010 pg. 116

About the Author

David Dowling is a lecturer of English at the University of Iowa. He is the author of "Capital Letters: Authorship in the Antebellum Literary Market" (Iowa, 2008) and numerous articles on nineteenth-century literature and culture.


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