The New Bedford Whaling Museum's annual Moby-Dick Marathon hasn't been slowed down by the pandemic-inspired need to hold it virtually. In fact, participation has increased!
The museum's reading marathon of Herman Melville's famous tome, sparked by the author's time on a city whaling ship, is now in its 26th year. The event normally attracts an average of 200-plus people applying to become readers, said Joclyne Nunes, the museum's manager of public programs and Marathon coordinator. This year's applicants total over 400, she said.
Another good sign of its enduring success is that the tally of over 1,500 audience members per year continued even during last year's first-ever virtual presentation. Museum spokesperson Evan England said the marathon hasn't lost its success rate in the face of pandemic restrictions. "We are able to reach a broader and larger audience," he explained.
Adding to that broader appeal is that this year's marathon will combine the previously separate Portuguese and children's Moby-Dick marathons, England said. The latter category has included up to 25 young readers ages five to high-school-age. England said Dutch, Greek, and Russian language readers have also been readers at the marathon. "People from all over the world have participated," he said.
This year's virtual marathon will be held January 7 to 9. The kick-off event will be an opening night lecture on January 7 from 7-8 p.m. ($10 for members, $15 for non-members) and dinner delivered by gotchew.com (priced separately).
The Moby-Dick reading marathon itself will start on January 8 at noon and end on January 9 between 12:30 and 1 p.m.
On January 8, a Moby-Dick Marathon Trivia Quiz will be available, created by the Melville Scholars, a group of local professors, scholars, and all-round enthusiasts. On Sunday, a presentation of Moby-Dick extracts will be read by Melville Society Cultural Project members live on Zoom at 11:30 and there will be a virtual chat with Melville Scholars at 2:30 p.m.
All weekend, the Moby-Dick Brewing Co. and the delivery service Gotchchew will partner to deliver meals to marathoners through the museum's "Cousin Hosea's Chowder Hall" and the "Decanter Taproom" (nods to locations mentioned in the novel). The Marathon menu features special Moby-Dick-inspired brews and chowder and fish and chips. The delivery area that this feature will serve will be a five-mile birds eye view radius from the museum, Nunes said. (For free delivery, use code MOBY22 at gotchew.com.)
The deadline for applying to become a reader has already passed, she said. The next step will be selecting the actual readers, which will be done by picking names out of a fish bowl. Only 200 reading spots are available. Those notified to become readers will then pre-record the sections of the book they'll be presenting. The final portion of the book is always read by museum president and CEO Amanda McMullen. The marathon organizers will also carefully pick a noted local name to read the opening portion.
Those who have read in the past have included Melville descendants such as his great great grandchildren, local politicians including the New Bedford mayor, local radio hosts, local poets and writers, and even Miss New Bedford.
“Readers have come from all over the world," England is proud to note. "Canada, the Netherlands, Portugal. And some eclectic characters have read – readers in costume. A very passionate community comes to this event."
This will be the second year the marathon will be virtual and hopefully the last one, Nunes said. "Hopefully, next year we'll be back in person."
The link to the Moby-Dick Marathon readings will be found on social media by visiting whalingmuseum.org.
