In this newsletter I will be reporting on our “Moby Dick or The Whale” read aloud. we are a group that meets most Fridays and read aloud to each other (a bit like school) for round about an hour each week. At this rate I expect we will take about 25 weeks to complete the book. In 2023 we read “The Iliad” and “The Aeneid” aloud. There are. many benefits to be had from reading aloud. In fact it was once the main way people read until of course books became more common and everyone could read to themselves.
Moby Dick is on the list of the best know books never read so this year 2024 we are going to read it together. I was lucky enough to be asked to read aloud at the New Bedford Whaling Museum Moby Dick Marathon in January2024. There were over 2000 people attending and just under 180 readers. This runs every year in January to commemorate the date Herman Melville set out on the whaling trip that inspired him to write Moby Dick. What fun that was, Moby Dick, historic exhibits, Melville scholars and snow.
Any one can take part in this as Reading Aloud to your partner, pets, garden, self or any animate or inanimate object counts. Each week I will keep you informed about where we are up to in the read and other interesting information that we glean as we read slowly through this wonderful classic.
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We start on February 9th so my first read post will begin then. As of now I am posting some advice on reading “Moby Dick” adapted from The New Bedford Whaling Museum material. (It is worth looking up the New Bedford Whaling Museum if you are at all interested in Melville or Moby Dick , whaling general and New England history.)
How to Read Moby Dick
Herman Melville, an American writer (1819-1891) wrote, MOBY. DICK: OR THE WHALE, a 209,117 word novel in 1850. It is a most famous America novel and widely considered a world literary treasure. It is the story of adventure at sea and Captain Ahab’s quest for revenge against a sperm whale that bit off his leg. But at a deeper level it is and allegory of humanity’s place and fate in a mysterious universe. The tale is told by a seaman who tells us to call him Ismael and who is somewhat mysterious himself.
Moby Dick has been published in countless editions, translated into 22 languages, made into a motion picture five times, and presented as a stage play many times. Some readers love the book some hate it and many have said they started the book but could not finish it .
Moby Dick is not an easy read. It is written in mid-19th century English prose, which can be challenging to the modern reader. It used many words and phrases that are no longer in regular use and m any nautical terms that apply to wooden sailing vessels and to whaling, some of which are strongly spelled and pronounced. The tale sometimes seems to meander and goes through many changes in tone, from straigxtforwardstorytelling to biblical meditation, to philosophical and material speculation, to furious action, to biological classification, to slapstick humour and tragedy. It contains narrative. Shakespearean soliloquy and dialogue and haunting descriptions of the natural world. Some suggestions follow!!!!!
Moby Dick is not a mystery or a thriller. The core of the story is so well known that many know how it ends, or think they do. In any case do not read to get to the end and find out what happens. Read it to experience it. Think of reading it as a reading voyage not a destination. Ismael is a fine companion. Enjoy the trip.
Do not approach the book like a literature student or scholar on you first read (unless you are one) Do not try to sort out symbolism and allegory. Do not be awed by the books reputation. Take it for what it appears to be - a tale about a whaling voyage. Just read and enjoy. You can think about the symbolism and allegory afterward or on the next read.
Keep handy a map of the world on which the oceans and seas are labeled and try to track the course of the whaling ship Pequot from Nantucket, Massachusetts, down the Atlantic Ocean. around the Cape of Good Hope and then across the Indian ocean into the Pacific on its way to its ultimate rendezvous with the ‘one grand hooded phantom” that is Moby Dick. Watch for signs and portents
Begin with the Etymology and the Extracts. Don’t skip them. Select your favourite. Read as you like but we will be reading just over an hour a week. So slowly does it.
Do not skip anything, not even the notorious cetology passages. Instead go with Ishmael to grope down the bottom of the sea into the unspeakable foundations, ribs and very pelvis of the world, and get to know the portentous and mysterious as Melville knew them.
Read slowly. Read aloud to yourself. Hear what Ismael tells you. Luxuriate in the language. Pay close attention to each sentence. Melville wrote some fantastic and beautiful, sometimes heart stopping sentences. They are treasures to be hoarded, taken out from time to time and enjoyed each time anew.
Keep a notebook handy. You might like to write down words you don’t know, then look them up at the end of each read. You might like to write questions to yourself or write the names of places mentioned and look for them on Maps. You might like to search online for descriptions and images of familiar tools and devices such as ‘top maul’ and ‘clunmsy cleat’
You can follow along with us for the journey and when I work out how to turn on comments you are welcome to comment at any time.
Enthusiast Reader Aloud of MOBY DICK
Ann Marie Ritchie