Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is regarded as one of literature’s great classics, a stirring adventure story, a philosophical goldmine, a stylistically breathtaking meditation on the existence of God and obsession. It’s also known as a notorious pain in the neck to read, a novel of long digressions about whaling and colors and John Locke.
Getting through the novel should be a trial — a marathon, even. Draining, but rewarding, leaving you a stronger and better person by the time it’s all said and done.
Which is why one could consider a marathon reading of Moby-Dick at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth next week an opportunity for extreme personal enrichment. The museum’s ongoing Frank Stella exhibition includes a series of five works inspired by the novel, providing a visual accompaniment to some of the greatest writing in the history of the English language.
The reading will unfold over four days, starting Thursday, Sept. 15. (Other Moby-Dick marathons have clocked in at about 25 hours total.) Volunteers will take turns reading from the novel, trading off in five to 20-minute shifts.
Is enduring a 25-hour reading marathon an obsessive undertaking on par with Ahab’s pursuit of the white whale? Probably.
Whether reading Moby-Dick sounds like a treat or torture, the truly fantastic Stella show closes in the very near future, and should be seen.
Thursday, September 15, 10 am–5 pm
Friday, September 16, 10 am–7 pm
Saturday, September 17, 10 am–5 pm
Sunday, September 18, 10 am–5 pm (unless finished earlier)
