Moby Dick Energy: A Moby Dick Podcast

Talia talks with Adam Serwer, staff writer at the Atlantic, about three of the wildest and most delightful chapters in Moby-Dick: The Lee Shore, the Advocate, and Postscript. We talk about May Day, and Melville's passionate argument for the dignity of the common laborer; whether monarchs were truly anointed with whale oil; un-alienated whaling labor; essential workers; and more. "Drive down your hat in presence of the Czar, and take it off to Queequeg!"

Talia talks with journalist and author Jonathan Katz about a particularly strange and wonderful chapter, in which we learn that Queequeg sits on people's butts as a chaise lounge, and compare this favorably to the ravages of global capitalism. Once again we consider the use of nautical metaphors in a time of plague. And bonus F/M/K: Ishmael, Queequeg, Ahab! 

Talia hangs out with her good pal Jim Higdon and we talk about the on-the-nose foreshadowing of having a poxy sailor named Elijah prophesy about Ahab. We also talk about provisioning a whaleship; the way pickles resemble humpback whales; and a salty Quakeress with a whaling lance. And the Moby Dick fried fish restaurant chain of Kentucky!

Despite some technical audio difficulties, Talia chats to historian Eric Rauchway about two chapters that are delightfully heavy on Queequeg. We discuss the tiki craze of mid-20th century America, Melville's experiences in Tahiti, snuggling, and whether hell was really born of an undigested apple dumpling. 

These are ominous times, and difficult ones. I hope this podcast can provide some solace as we all ride in our lonely whaleboats through a storm-toss't sea.

Talia talks with Alexandra Petri, an old friend and the humor columnist at the Washington Post, about "The Ship" -- in which we finally meet The Pequod, the whaleship on which we will spend the rest of the book. It's covered in bones and the captain is crazy and the journey is just beginning.

Producer: Ilana Weinstein (@ilana_weinstein)
Theme Song: Noam Hassenfeld (@nhassenfeld)
Intro Music: by jason sigal @therewasaguy via @freemusicarchiv

In a star-studded episode of the podcast, Talia talks with Kat Kinsman, senior editor of Food & Wine; Helen Rosner, food correspondent for the New Yorker; and Pete Wells, restaurant critic for the New York Times, about chowder, and also chapter 15, "Chowder," where Queequeg and Ishmael eat some chowder. We discuss regional chowder differences, chowder memories, the weird cow that wears cod heads on its feet, how the Kennedys made chowder, Camille Paglia, cunnilingus, clamming and much, much more. Hark, sweet friends!

Producer: Ilana Weinstein
Theme song by: Noam Hassenfeld
Gay whale glory by: Herman Melville

Hello my beloveds! Here is a new Moby Dick Energy for these troubled times. I don't have my podcast mic with me in self-isolation, so the sound quality is not ideal. Apologies! This episode, I speak to Sara David, Digitization Archivist at the Nantucket Historical Association, about that illustrious "elbow of land," its history, and the many many whaling journeys Sara has read about!

SHOW NOTES:
Many thanks to Ilana Weinstein (@ilana_weinstein) for editing this episode.
Music over intro: "Old Paper Houses"
MDE Theme by Noam Hassenfeld.

LINKS:
Digitized, transcribable ship log from the Nantucket Historical Association here: https://fromthepage.com/nharl

Searchable text of Melville's letter to Hawthorne:
https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.84865/2015.84865.The-Letters-Of-Herman-Melville_djvu.txt

Eliza Brock ship's log: https://fromthepage.com/nharl/ladies-logs/ms220-log136

You can find us on twitter at @mobydickenergy. And if you'd like merch, we have t-shirts, stickers and a mug here: https://mobydickenergy.threadless.com/

Love and love and love,
Talia 

Talia talks to Jeet Heer, legendary Twitter personality and correspondent for the Nation, about two chapters that delve into Queequeg's biography. We talk about the Melville revival in the '20s, homoeroticism in nineteenth-century American literature, and what it's like to be two non-Christians in America reading about a non-Christian in America. Also, Jeet advances his theory that Queequeg and Ishmael are like Kirk and Spock: a man of action and a cerebral thinker. Let's get spicy!

"...he pressed his forehead against mine, clasped me round the waist, and said that henceforth we were married..." 

Things get hot and heavy -- physically and linguistically -- between Ishmael and Queequeg. Talia talks with brilliant Melville scholar Jordan Alexander Stein about Melville's wild soul; his love of Nathaniel Hawthorne; and the metaphysics of snuggling. 

Talia talks with Noam Hassenfeld, reporter, producer and COMPOSER OF THE THEME SONG FOR THE SHOW, about Chapter 9 -- a fabulously nautical sermon on the Book of Jonah. We discuss faith, uncertainty, despair, penance, and several musical covers of the whale hymn contained in this chapter. What is life? What is faith? What is a whale? These questions and more will be answered on this extremely Jewish episode of Moby Dick Energy.