The Eaton Portrait
By permission of Houghton Library, Harvard University: 61Z-4
click for larger image
Leviathan
Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies appears three times a year in March, June, and October. We welcome articles, notes, reviews, and creative writing on the life, works, and influence of novelist and poet Herman Melville (1819-1891). Click here for more information.
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.
2017 MLA Annual Convention
Philadelphia from 5 to 8 January 2017
Thursday, 5 January 3:30–4:45 p.m., 106B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Melville's Taxonomies
(abstract download link below)
The panel will look into how Melville's works from Mardi on treat matter, fashioning terrestrial landscapes, oceanic milieus and vegetal life into agencies that revise what counts as a person. Topics: Melville and natural histories, persons and things, biological politics, taxonomies of the human, organic and the inorganic, extinction, vegetal and animal life.
Presiding: Branka Arsic, Columbia Univ.
1. "Moby Dick and The Ecological Thought," Paul B. Downes, Univ. of Toronto
2. "Insect Arrangement: Melville’s Untimely Taxonomies," Monique Allewaert, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
3. "Organizing Melville," Maurice S. Lee, Boston Univ.
Respondent: Elisa Tamarkin, Univ. of California, Berkeley
Friday, 6 January 1:45–3:00 p.m., 106B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Melville and Black Lives Matter
(abstract download link below)
This panel addresses how Melville’s art both speaks to racial crises and mediates philosophical dilemmas, political unrest, concepts of history etc. Black writers (Ralph Ellison, C.L.R. James, Toni Morrison, George Lamming, David Bradley, and more) turned to Melville’s literary forms and provocative content to engage historical and political transformation in the Americas. What is it in Melville’s aporias, assemblages, and abstractions that we can continue to excavate for it’s relevance to social conflict—especially conflict where racial/ethnic/queer difference is performed, expressed, and/or represented?
Presiding: Christopher Freeburg, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana
1. "C. L. R. James and Herman Melville: Moby-Dick as an Antitotalitarian Novel," Gary Vaughn Rasberry, Stanford Univ.
2. "Melville, Mutuality, and the Matter of Black Lives," Christine Ann Wooley, St. Mary's Coll., MD
3. "'Sinister Eye': The Shrouded Women of Melville’s Benito Cereno," Brenna Casey, Duke Univ.
Respondent: Ivy Wilson, Northwestern Univ.
Calendar
Upcoming Events
| 20 Oct 2017 06:00PM - Reading: Billy Budd in the Breadbox |
| 21 Oct 2017 02:00PM - 04:00PM Course: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville |
| 31 Oct 2017 CUP: Herman Melville in Context, ed. Kevin J. Hayes |
| 31 Oct 2017 NUP - Publication of the Final Volume of the Fifteen-Volume Writings of Herman Melville Series |
| 31 Oct 2017 R&L: Melville Among the Philosophers |
| 31 Oct 2017 UMP: Herman Melville: Among the Magazines |
| 02 Nov 2017 Jay Leyda Symposium, "A Curious Man: The Life and Work of Jay Leyda" |
| 02 Nov 2017 07:30PM - Play: Moby-Dick by Theatre Coup d'Etat |
Current Facebook Posts
Moby-Dick | The Folio Society
foliosociety.com
Online shopping from the world's most extensive selection of beautiful illustrated books.
Collecting Melville's Masterpiece: Moby Dick
blog.bookstellyouwhy.com
Herman Melville collectors may want to consider adding the following editions of his seminal work, Moby Dick, to their shelves.
Cadaverous Yet Blazing: Elizabeth Hardwick’s Ode to Bartleby
lithub.com
While preparing some lectures on the subject of New York City, that is, the present landscape in which an astonishing number of people still live, sustaining as they do the numerical sensationalism…
Herman Melville's Arrowhead
On Monday, October 16 at 6:00 pm, Alison Larkin will read from "Fairytales of the Fiercer! Sex," talk about her editorial process, and discuss future projects.
This free event, wrapping up our season of fairies, will be at Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road. For more information, call 413.442.1793 x14.
Alison Larkin is an internationally acclaimed comedienne, award-winning audiobook narrator and bestselling author of The English American.
And save the date for the "Billy Budd in the Breadbox" book launch, by our own Jana Laiz. October 20, at Arrowhead.
This free event, wrapping up our season of fairies, will be at Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road. For more information, call 413.442.1793 x14.
Alison Larkin is an internationally acclaimed comedienne, award-winning audiobook narrator and bestselling author of The English American.
And save the date for the "Billy Budd in the Breadbox" book launch, by our own Jana Laiz. October 20, at Arrowhead.
Herman Melville's Arrowhead
"Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it." Moby-Dick, chapter 1.
Come walk a path at Arrowhead in the crisp air of autumn. We are open for tours through October 23. Grounds are open daylight hours. www.mobydick.org (Shown here - the Nature Trail. It doesn't lead to water, but it does go through the woods once tramped by Melville.)
Come walk a path at Arrowhead in the crisp air of autumn. We are open for tours through October 23. Grounds are open daylight hours. www.mobydick.org (Shown here - the Nature Trail. It doesn't lead to water, but it does go through the woods once tramped by Melville.)
A Curious Man: The Life and Work of Jay Leyda
mtholyoke.edu
Nov. 2, 2017 8:00 pm – 10:00 pmNov. 3, 2017 9:00 am – 5:00 pmNov. 4, 2017 9:00 am – 12:00 pmWillits-Hallowell Conference Center Register Leyda — a scholar, a translator, an artist, an archivist and a teacher — worked across the 20th century in a remarkable array of fields. He left his intellectual m...
Waterproof Kindle Oasis lets you read in the pool or bathtub
usatoday.com
Amazon's pricey Kindle Oasis e-reader is waterproof and features Audible
Theatre hopes to stage Moby Dick at Newport Transporter Bridge
southwalesargus.co.uk
A THEATRE adaptation of a classic novel could take place against the iconic backdrop of Newport's Transporter Bridge next year.
Stanly Early College saves the whales
thesnaponline.com
Three Stanly Early College students recently held a fundraiser to help save the whales.
Lecture: The Natural History of Moby-Dick: Ishmael, the Marine Biologist, the Environmentalist, and a Climate Refugee?
pgmuseum.org
Join us Thursday, December 7th, from 6-7:30 p..m. for this multimedia lecture on Moby Dick with Dr. Richard King, research associate at Williams Mystic.
Old Capitol Museum | Hoopla
hooplanow.com
The Old Capitol Museum reflects the diverse cultural environment of Iowa and by engaging the community in cultural and education programs enlivens Iowa history.
On the trail of the author of ‘Moby-Dick’ in three New England towns
washingtonpost.com
In the ‘Melville Triangle,’ visitors learn about the author’s life and work — and, of course, whales.
Theatre Coup d'Etat to Present Original Adaptation of MOBY DICK
broadwayworld.com
Herman Melville's Moby Dick has been called the 'greatest American novel'. This adaptation illustrates what truly makes America great - diversity, inclusion, and hard work. Coup d'Etat's Moby Dick is the story of a diverse crew of sailors working during the height of the whaling industry, as told th...
Tito Mukhopadhyay & Ralph Savarese | Classical Autism and the Instruction of Literature | Duke John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute
fhi.duke.edu
Tito Mukhopadhyay and Grinnell College's Ralph Savarese have been reading and discussing literature by Skype for years. Mukhopadhyay, who has been described as “severely autistic,” types his comments on the sidebar while Savarese, who has been described as “neurotypical,” speaks. The former has neve...
Of Sailors and Whales by W. Francis MacBeth, performed by the SFLGFB
youtube.com
This tone poem is based on five scenes from Herman Melville's Moby Dick. I. Ishmael 0:15 - "I go to sea as a simple sailor." II. Queequeg 4:12 - "It was quit...
'Poor Herman': the good, the bad and the in between
berkshireeagle.com
PITTSFIELD — The maniacal sea captain, the mad-cap whaling ship, the crewmen from New England and the Ocean Islands sleeping peacefully in a lantern-lit tavern in New Bedford — the book …
Newberry Library
Herman Melville has been memorialized in countless pieces of art (and kitsch!) since his death #onthisday in 1891. So today Will Hansen, Curator of Americana, gave us a tour of the tchotchkes of the Melville collection, including a shard of wood (possibly from a whaling ship), lightly used pillows, a stuffed whale mascot for the collection, and all manner of whale paraphernalia!
Newberry Library
Artist Caroline Hack created her artist’s book series “Cetology” based on Melville’s classification of whales in chapter 32 of Moby Dick. The complete set of 12 arrived at the Newberry yesterday and will soon be cataloged as part of our Melville Collection!
Art Notes: Painter Uses Oils and Tar to Plumb Darkness of ‘Moby-Dick’
vnews.com
Christopher Volpe never expected to find himself standing at the checkout counter of his local hardware store, buying a large quantity of roofing tar to daub onto a canvas in an experimental homage to Moby-Dick.First off, he’d tried reading Herman...
Herman Melville's Arrowhead
“Poor Herman” is the third of the “Herman” Plays series at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead. It was written by Elizabeth Doss, Melville's great-great-great-granddaughter. "Poor Herman" was first produced in 2016 at The Off Center, Austin, Texas.
There will be an author talk-back after the performance which begins at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, October 3 at Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield. Tickets are $20 and reservations can be made at 413-442-1793, ext 13, or online at the museum store, www.berkshirehistory.org. Seating is limited.
http://www.elizabethdoss.com/plays/poor-herman
There will be an author talk-back after the performance which begins at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, October 3 at Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield. Tickets are $20 and reservations can be made at 413-442-1793, ext 13, or online at the museum store, www.berkshirehistory.org. Seating is limited.
http://www.elizabethdoss.com/plays/poor-herman
Bonnie Honig to deliver Presidential Faculty Award lecture
news.brown.edu
Honig, known for her wide-ranging work on the conditions necessary for collective democratic action, will discuss how the novel ‘Moby Dick’ responds to Thomas Hobbes’ ‘Leviathan.’
Blue Room Lecture Series - The Schooner Fayaway and Herman Melvi
Blue Room Lecture Series - The Schooner Fayaway and Herman Melvi
Blue Room Lecture Series - The Schooner Fayaway and Herman Melville’s Persistent Connections with San Francisco Bay
The National Park Service and California State University Maritime Academy are partnering to present a series of free lectures for the public in 2017.
The Blue Room Lectures will be presented by professors from Cal Maritime and will take place in the Maritime Museum at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (900 Beach Street, San Francisco, in the Blue Room.) A Q & A period will follow each talk.
Saturday, September 23, 2017, 1:00 PM: “The Schooner Fayaway and Herman Melville’s Persistent Connections with San Francisco Bay,” by Colin Dewey, Assistant Professor of English at Cal Maritime.
The National Park Service and California State University Maritime Academy are partnering to present a series of free lectures for the public in 2017.
The Blue Room Lectures will be presented by professors from Cal Maritime and will take place in the Maritime Museum at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (900 Beach Street, San Francisco, in the Blue Room.) A Q & A period will follow each talk.
Saturday, September 23, 2017, 1:00 PM: “The Schooner Fayaway and Herman Melville’s Persistent Connections with San Francisco Bay,” by Colin Dewey, Assistant Professor of English at Cal Maritime.
A Melville Marginalia Mystery
nypl.org
A researcher's reading of erased marginalia provides insight to Melville's thoughts on religion.
Imaginary Beasts
For their 2017|18 season, imaginary beasts draws inspiration from the ocean’s murky depths, and the extraordinary fight for survival waged by those titans of the sea - the Giant Squid and the Sperm Whale.
Nautical quests across (and under!) unfathomable, watery depths, and epic battles with mythical marine monsters are the order of the day as the beasts offer a pair of daring, theatrical adventures based on classic tales of the briny deep.
First up: [or, the whale] by Juli Crockett, performing October 13-November 4, 2017.
Inspired by Melville’s Moby Dick, [or, the whale] is a poetic meditation on loss and longing; a song of finding and forgetting; and, a theatrical reflection upon humankind’s ongoing quest for wholeness. The play follows multiple Captain Ahabs as they form a mad crew whose purpose is to search for Ahab’s missing leg, which is lost in the impossible vastness of the seas. We are especially pleased to be collaborating with Kangaroo Rat Music, popular Provincetown buskers, for this Boston-premiere production! [For more information: www.kangarooratmusic.com].
And announcing Winter Panto 2018, performing January 13-February 3, 2018.
We’ve been threatening to do this for years, and, at long last, it’s happening: the beasts would like to officially reveal this year’s title for their annual winter celebration: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea {A Steampunk Panto}! Taking cross-eyed, unsteady aim at Jules Verne’s classic work of science fiction, this year’s Panto follows a motley crew of adventurers as they navigate some mighty troubled waters under the command of mad genius Captain Nemo. When a protesting Jules Verne storms the stage to put an end to the nonsense, it’s anyone’s guess how this Panto will end!
And the adventure continues: this year, both productions will take place at the Charlestown Working Theater, 442 Bunker Hill Street, Charlestown, MA 02129.
That’s right, we’re changing venues, bringing our distinctive sense of play to a charming brick Victorian firehouse! If you’re not familiar with CWT, you should be! www.charlestownworkingtheater.org.
Save the above dates, and we hope to see you at the theater soon!
Nautical quests across (and under!) unfathomable, watery depths, and epic battles with mythical marine monsters are the order of the day as the beasts offer a pair of daring, theatrical adventures based on classic tales of the briny deep.
First up: [or, the whale] by Juli Crockett, performing October 13-November 4, 2017.
Inspired by Melville’s Moby Dick, [or, the whale] is a poetic meditation on loss and longing; a song of finding and forgetting; and, a theatrical reflection upon humankind’s ongoing quest for wholeness. The play follows multiple Captain Ahabs as they form a mad crew whose purpose is to search for Ahab’s missing leg, which is lost in the impossible vastness of the seas. We are especially pleased to be collaborating with Kangaroo Rat Music, popular Provincetown buskers, for this Boston-premiere production! [For more information: www.kangarooratmusic.com].
And announcing Winter Panto 2018, performing January 13-February 3, 2018.
We’ve been threatening to do this for years, and, at long last, it’s happening: the beasts would like to officially reveal this year’s title for their annual winter celebration: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea {A Steampunk Panto}! Taking cross-eyed, unsteady aim at Jules Verne’s classic work of science fiction, this year’s Panto follows a motley crew of adventurers as they navigate some mighty troubled waters under the command of mad genius Captain Nemo. When a protesting Jules Verne storms the stage to put an end to the nonsense, it’s anyone’s guess how this Panto will end!
And the adventure continues: this year, both productions will take place at the Charlestown Working Theater, 442 Bunker Hill Street, Charlestown, MA 02129.
That’s right, we’re changing venues, bringing our distinctive sense of play to a charming brick Victorian firehouse! If you’re not familiar with CWT, you should be! www.charlestownworkingtheater.org.
Save the above dates, and we hope to see you at the theater soon!
Herman Melville's Arrowhead
Carl A. Rossi’s play “Hawthorne & Melville” opens the “Herman” Plays series at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead on Tuesday, September 19 at 6:30pm directed by J. Peter Bergman. The play follows the friendship between the two American authors from August 1850 through November 1851 when both men were working on their new novels, “The House of Seven Gables” and “Moby-Dick” and building a relationship that never completely gelled.
Admiring the older author with a near-passion, Melville attempts to stretch their acquaintance into something larger than life while Hawthorne, a shyer, more reticent man, tries to keep their relationship more casual. Almost a mediator between them Sophia Hawthorne encourages both men to enjoy an intimacy rare for her husband whose reluctance to engage has made him an introverted human being.
Rossi gives us the two men whose actual intimacy inspired in Melville a new way of writing and confirmed for him his own capabilities if not his genius. Surrounding them with other literary greats of the era, the play provides a perspective on this unique friendship from outside and inside, from a child’s point of view, a wife’s imagination and a merging of two giants into a single entity: Hawthorne & Melville.
Tickets for the play are $20 and seating is limited. Call 413.442.1793 x13 to make reservations, or e-mail pr@berkshirehistory.org. Mel Cobb plays Melville and Kirk Jackson is Hawthorne. Laura Gardner plays Sophia with Erin Hunt as Lizzie Melville, Andrew Joffe as Evert Duyckinck, John Trainor as Cornelius Mathews, Robert Bruyr as Oliver Wendell Holmes, J. Peter Bergman as James Fields.
Next in the series is “Kraken: A Story of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville” by Len Jenkin on Tuesday, September 26 at 6:30 followed by “Poor Herman” by Elizabeth Doss on Tuesday, October 3 at 7:00
Image is of a painting of Hawthorne, 1841 (Peabody Essex Museum)
Admiring the older author with a near-passion, Melville attempts to stretch their acquaintance into something larger than life while Hawthorne, a shyer, more reticent man, tries to keep their relationship more casual. Almost a mediator between them Sophia Hawthorne encourages both men to enjoy an intimacy rare for her husband whose reluctance to engage has made him an introverted human being.
Rossi gives us the two men whose actual intimacy inspired in Melville a new way of writing and confirmed for him his own capabilities if not his genius. Surrounding them with other literary greats of the era, the play provides a perspective on this unique friendship from outside and inside, from a child’s point of view, a wife’s imagination and a merging of two giants into a single entity: Hawthorne & Melville.
Tickets for the play are $20 and seating is limited. Call 413.442.1793 x13 to make reservations, or e-mail pr@berkshirehistory.org. Mel Cobb plays Melville and Kirk Jackson is Hawthorne. Laura Gardner plays Sophia with Erin Hunt as Lizzie Melville, Andrew Joffe as Evert Duyckinck, John Trainor as Cornelius Mathews, Robert Bruyr as Oliver Wendell Holmes, J. Peter Bergman as James Fields.
Next in the series is “Kraken: A Story of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville” by Len Jenkin on Tuesday, September 26 at 6:30 followed by “Poor Herman” by Elizabeth Doss on Tuesday, October 3 at 7:00
Image is of a painting of Hawthorne, 1841 (Peabody Essex Museum)
Why Melville Matters
newrepublic.com
Jean Giono’s short, unclassifiable book is an ode to "Moby-Dick" and the power of literature to command empathy.
Why Melville Matters
newrepublic.com
Jean Giono’s short, unclassifiable book is an ode to "Moby-Dick" and the power of literature to command empathy.
Herman Melville's Arrowhead
Come see staged readings of the new Herman Melville plays! In the big red barn at Arrowhead.
Course: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
rosenbach.org
This course includes 6 monthly sessions on every third Saturdays from September 16 to February 17. Details to come.
Theatre Coup d'Etat Presents Staged Reading of MOBY DICK
broadwayworld.com
Herman Melville's Moby Dick has been called the greatest American novel . This adaptation illustrates what truly makes America great - diversity, inclusion, and hard work.
inSerial: part eleven Delusions of Being Observed
brooklynrail.org
“The one thing to remember about Melville is that he wrote Moby Dick when he was thirty years old. Thirty.” I hold up a battered paperback copy. The same copy I read in high school.
The Original 1851 Reviews of Moby Dick
lithub.com
All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; …
Moby Dick author Herman Melville's house on sale in Covent Garden
cityam.com
If you live for the drama, a home in the heart of theatreland means you’ve made it to the big time.
A Squeeze of the Hand
youtube.com
a little going away present from the Comets to our fans. this is a song from Moby Dick, a mammoth musical that will happen someday soon. music & lyrics by da...
Ensemble Reading and Celebration
wellfleetlibrary.org
Wellfleet Library will present an ensemble reading by Steve Durkee’s friends, who each chose four favorite poems from Herman Melville’s MOBY- DICK Hidden Treasures Found Poetry discovered by Stephen Durkee. The reading will be on Tuesday, Septem [...]
Have a whale of a time with new Moby Dick online slot | Casinopedia
casinopedia.org
Rabcat Gaming have unveiled a new Moby Dick online slot game which will premiere at 32Red Online Casino in October 2017 before docking at other casinos.
Dave Malloy - The Whale As A Dish (from Moby Dick) @ W Times Square, 8/27/17
youtube.com
Dave Malloy sings the new song "The Whale As A Dish" from his upcoming work based on Moby Dick. Part of Broadway at W, W New York Times Square, Sunday, Augus...
Finding Herman Melville's Birthplace On The Anniversary Of Moby Dick
gothamist.com
Happy Birthday, White Whale.
Macedonian ‘Moby-Dick’ Translator Ognen Čemerski, 42, Was a Meticulous Linguist and Engaged Educator · Global Voices
globalvoices.org
Čemerski passed away on August 25 of cancer. Beyond literature, he was remembered as someone who made thoughtful commentary about the tense state of affairs in Macedonia.
Macedonian ‘Moby-Dick’ Translator Ognen Čemerski, 42, Was a Meticulous Linguist and Engaged Educator · Global Voices
globalvoices.org
Čemerski passed away on August 25 of cancer. Beyond literature, he was remembered as someone who made thoughtful commentary about the tense state of affairs in Macedonia.
Melville-among-the-Philosophers
rowman.com
This book is aimed at both philosophers and scholars of American literature who wish to reexamine the philosophical depth of Melville’s writings. Contributions deal with various philosophical...
Foreign Companion: Jean Giono’s “Melville: A Novel” - Los Angeles Review of Books
lareviewofbooks.org
Adam Fales reviews Jean Giono’s “Melville: A Novel.”
Hershall Seals Presents A Moby Dick Experience
news.umhb.edu
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor College of Visual and Performing Arts and the UMHB Art Department are proud to present the exhibition A Moby Dick Experience: Hershall Seals. The exhibit will be on display from Monday, August 21, though...
Moby-Dick Celebration
rosenbach.org
Our first annual reading of Moby-Dick will feature local literati reading selected passages from Herman Melville’s most famous novel and a celebration of one of the great American authors. This eve…
Herman melville context | American literature
cambridge.org
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The best things about this weekend's Newlyn Fish Festival
cornwalllive.com
It's going to be a bumper Bank Holiday weekend in west Cornwall - but it's not all pirates as Cornwall's favourite fish festival is set to return
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.