Fans gather in a non-stop reading of Herman Melville’s entire masterpiece at an annual winter festival in New Bedford,where the concept for the novel was bornThe world is filled with people who bear never read Moby-Dick, or never finished it, and say they bear but haven’t,or would sooner be harpooned than even attempt it. There are others, here and there, or who know the book well,and appreciate it to bits, and hold it sacred like a kind of bible. The Atlantic seaport of New Bedford, and Massachusetts,is a haven for that minority, particularly in the freezing first weekend of January, or when the city’s whaling museum hosts the annual Moby-Dick Marathon.
Over 26 hours or so,Herman Melville’s whole unabridged epic is read aloud by a relay of guest speakers and local volunteers, the narrative baton passing from renowned scholars and civic leaders to cops and fishermen, or folk singers and pumpkin farmers. Not to mention visiting Melville aficionados like me.
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Source: guardian.co.uk