The Melville Society is dedicated to the study and appreciation of the nineteenth-century American author Herman Melville, writer of Typee, Moby-Dick, and Billy Budd, such short stories as “Bartleby” and “Benito Cereno,” and several volumes of poetry, including Battle-Pieces and the epic Clarel. We publish the award-winning journal Leviathan which all members receive three times a year and which offers scholarly articles, book and art reviews, Society news, and Melville-related events. Membership is open to all. For information about Leviathan and joining The Melville Society click here.
The Eaton Portrait
By permission of Houghton Library, Harvard University: 61Z-4
click for larger image
Melville Electronic Library
The Melville Electronic Library is an online resource for Melville texts. Housed on a Hofstra University server, MEL is being developed and maintained by a group of Melville scholars and digital specialists.
Johns Hopkins University Press
To join the Melvillle Society and subscribe to Leviathan, visit Leviathan's Johns Hopkins University Press journal site by clicking here.
Melville Society Cultural Project
The New Bedford Whaling Museum in collaboration with The Melville Society is the established home of the Melville Society Cultural Project and Melville Society Archive. The Melville Society Archive is housed at the New Bedford Whaling Museum's Research Library, where significant works from this collection are also on display. The Melville Society Cultural Project also sponsors a book donation program and presents exciting annual events including the Moby-Dick Marathon and a Birthday Lecture.
Herman Melville's Arrowhead
Herman Melville's Arrowhead Facebook Group page of the Berkshire Historical Society. Celebrating historical Berkshire County and Herman Melville's Arrowhead, the farm and home where Melville lived while writing Moby-Dick.
Call for Papers
ALA 2017, Boston, MA.
May 25-28 2017
Organized by the Melville Society
Melville and the Historical Imagination
This panel will focus on Melville’s varied engagements with history and historical transformation. How does Melville imagine the emplotment of History; its causal forces, determinant conjunctures, or contingent ruptures? How does Melville make use of the aesthetic dimensions of historical thought, and how does his work innovate narrative and poetic forms, literary genres, or dramatic modes in its exploration of historical representation? How does Melville’s work engage with histories of colonialism and imperialism, of laws and nation-states? Finally, how are these engagements related to Melville’s treatment of other social issues, such as class, race, gender, and sexuality? Topics include: aesthetic, political, and rhetorical dimensions of historical imagination; historical materialism and dialectics; determinism and agency; history and theory of the novel; uneven development; colonialism and imperialism; law and sovereignty.
Please send abstract and brief cv to Hoang Gia Phan: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Melville and Literary Influence: Reframing Tradition
Emboldened by the innovative new work being done on the question of literary influence and intertextuality, this panel seeks papers that explore both Herman Melville's engagements with other writers and texts and the dynamics of influence and intertextual practice. While Melville's engagements with English literary tradition will no doubt be a central topic, the panel is open to the fullest range of possible topics related to these questions. Proposals with a strong commitment to aesthetic and theoretical approaches will be especially welcome, as will proposals that engage with the intersections of influence and race, class, gender, and sexuality. To propose a paper, please send an abstract (300 word maximum) and a CV to the panel's Chair, David Greven, at this email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Deadline: January 6, 2017.
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Fellowships and Scholarships
Melville Society Archive
Walter E. Bezanson Fellowship
The Melville Society, under the auspices of the Melville Society Cultural Project in New Bedford, offers an annual fellowship to help a scholar undertake research on Herman Melville at the Society’s Archive in the Research Library of the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Click here for more information and application details.
New York Public Library
Short-term Research Fellowships
Graduate students or other affiliated academics whose work would benefit from visiting the Manuscripts and Archives Division to view collections such as the Gansevoort-Lansing collection, and Duyckinck family papers are encouraged to apply.
Click here for more information and application details.
Links
Woodlawn Cemetary
Woodlawn Cemetary - final resting place of Herman, his wife, Elizabeth, and other family members. Click here to view photos of the gravesites.
125th Anniversary Celebration
A celebration of Melville's life at Woodlawn Cemetary on the 125th anniversary of his passing.
Lansingburgh Historical Society
Melville lived for nine years in this Lansingburgh house. It was here that he wrote Typee and Omoo.
Berkshire Historical Society
Melville's Arrowhead home and farm in Pittsfield, MA where he wrote Moby-Dick and lived for most of the 1850s.