Just about every graduate of the American educational system has read Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” Most of us were too young when we read the novel to appreciate its detail and passion.
To some, the tale of a sea captain gripped by the notion of destroying the whale that injured him is a great novel. To others, it is a tedious exercise. However we feel about it, the novel can tell us a lot about the American character — both when it was written in 1851 and today.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of Melville’s birth. To celebrate the milestone and to give local book lovers a renewed appreciation for the author and his works, literary scholar Michael Hoberman will speak and show a film on Saturday, Nov. 16, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Arms Library in Shelburne Falls.
Hoberman teaches at Fitchburg State University and lives in Buckland. The event is co-sponsored by several area libraries. It is free and open to the public although donations will be accepted.
In a recent interview, Hoberman cited two inspirations for his talk. First, at a conference, he met and befriended the scholar and filmmaker David Shaerf, who created the film “Call Us Ishmael” specifically for the Melville bicentennial.
Then, Hoberman said, “about a month ago (his wife) Janice (Sorensen) said, ‘Why don’t you do an event around the Melville bicentennial?’” It was Sorensen who contacted the libraries and arranged the event.
Hoberman said he will begin the afternoon with a talk about Melville and his legacy, discussing the ways in which he teaches the author’s works to his students. His talk will be followed by a screening of “Call Us Ishmael” and a discussion.
Hoberman explained that the filmmaker had read “Moby Dick” in his youth and found it boring. Years later, talking to people who adored the book, David Shaerf revisited it and came to appreciate it.
In addition to telling Shaerf’s own story, the film profiles a number of people — some famous, some not — who adore the novel. It visits Melville’s home in Pittsfield, Arrowhead, where the author produced much of his work, including “Moby Dick.”
It also shares scenes from the yearly marathon reading of the complete novel at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. “The film is about the legacy of ‘Moby Dick,’ and this eclectic group of people who love it so much that they will spend all night long reading it out loud in public,” Hoberman said.
These days, most people know of Melville’s legacy. But what, exactly, shaped Melville into the writer he became?
Hoberman suggested that Melville was inspired by his wide reading — particularly of Shakespeare and the Bible — but also of the writer who would become a close friend and mentor: Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The life Melville lived also affected his writing, Hoberman noted. Many are aware that the novelist spent time at sea in his youth, gleaning experience that showed up in many of his stories. Not everyone knows the overall trajectory of his life, however.
“He was born to a prosperous family that when he was very, very young lost everything they had. That’s why he went to sea in the first place,” said Hoberman. “He went from a very high and comfortable place to having to fend for himself in many ways. Living through a loss like that and through humbling experiences like that will shape a lot of people’s vision of the world for sure.”
As for what interested Hoberman to become a scholar of Melville, “I think he’s like other writers of his time in that he was a sort of a quester. That’s why he might be thought of as a romantic. He believes in the quest, that it’s worth trying to get to the bottom of things, trying to transcend surface meanings and get to something deeper. But every time he tries that, there’s a failure,” Hoberman said.
“His companion of the period is Hawthorne. … The difference is that Melville has a sense of humor. He’s capable of laughing at different situations, of laughing at himself. That combination of tragic vision and self-deprecating style appeals very much to me. That’s kind of a little bit of who I am,” reflected Hoberman.
He added that the issue of race was perhaps most important to his own appreciation of Melville. “The racial issue is at the center of the American character, the American spirit,” he said. “The word ‘American’ implies a racial component. Melville was aware of that. Not a lot of his contemporary writers were.”
Of “Moby Dick,” Hoberman added, “The book has, I think, very significant racial and economic overtones. … Those harpooners are very representative of the triumph and embodiment of American diversity and the put-upon victims of American imperialism.”
He went on, “It certainly says a lot about the American experience, industrial capitalism, and the destruction of the natural world. … It looks at them closely because we all have them in us.”
The embodiment of many of those tendencies, he suggested, is Captain Ahab, obsessively hunting for the great white whale.
“If I could set (Ahab) aside and say I’m not like him, I don’t think the book would work as well,” observed Hoberman. “There’s something attractive about him as well as repugnant.”
Hoberman hopes to repeat the talk and film screening sometime next year at Arrowhead. Herman Melville’s home in Pittsfield is now a museum operated by the Berkshire Historical Society. Notably, Arrowhead is getting ready to close for the season. For those who wish to celebrate the anniversary of Melville’s birth by visiting the home, it is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until mid-December. It will reopen with expanded hours in the spring. To learn more about this historic building, visit https://berkshirehistory.org/visit-us.
To learn more about the event at the Arms Library, call the library at 413-625-0306. A poster distributed by Janice Sorensen about the Melville celebration promises, “This event will help you appreciate the manic brilliance of the author at a time when his sort of deep discernment is in short supply.”
Tinky Weisblat is the award-winning author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook,” “Pulling Taffy,” and “Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb.” Visit her website, www.TinkyCooks.com.