Two of Albany’s most famous sons will be bookending a special event that pays tribute to one of the area’s literary lions in a symposium set for this weekend at the Albany Academy on Academy Road in Albany.
William Kennedy, author of Ironweed and O Albany, will begin the 24-hour reading of Moby-Dick that is the centerpiece of Why Melville Matters Now at the Albany Academy and Albany Academy for Girls. The nation’s favorite curmudgeon, CBS’ 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney, will conclude the reading.
Rooney and Melville are both Albany Academy alumni ` albeit from slightly different graduating classes.
In addition to the reading ` shared by a great number of volunteers ` there are a number of lectures and panel discussions that will focus on Melville and his works.
Melville was born in New York City in 1819, but his mother was from Gansevoort, and when Melville’s father went bankrupt in 1830, the family moved to Albany, where Herman attended the Albany Academy. The family later lived in Lansingburgh.
Melville’s love affair with water and boats may well have begun during one of his first jobs, working as a surveyor on the Erie Canal. He later took seafaring jobs that took him to the South Pacific ` and led to the tale of the white whale, Billy Budd, and one that was most beloved when he was alive, Typee. He died in relative obscurity in 1891, but his works saw a comeback in the 20th century.
Kathleen Thornton will help explain why Melville is important now when she presents `Melville ` Now More than Ever` in this weekend’s symposium.
`Melville’s voice resonates with this generation,` the lecturer and director of English undergraduate advisement at the University at Albany said. `Melville wrote when a war was going on and the nation was struggling with boundaries between free states and slave states. We’re still struggling with boundaries in a civil war, even if it’s not our civil war. Melville rejects the idea that everything is as it should be. There’s a lot of ambiguity in what he writes.`
Thornton had some advice for the people who groan when they think about reading Moby-Dick or groan at their memories of it.
`It’s actually a series of books within a book,` she said. `People shouldn’t read it in one sitting, or in one day. It’s an allegory, but it’s also an adventure story. A lot of people don’t realize that it’s based on a true incident.`
Carol Burns, director of communications at the Albany Academy, said the symposium is something that Caroline Mason, the head of school who will be retiring next year, had long wanted to do. Deirdre Henderson, who had two sons graduate from the academy, put the program together, and academy librarian Virginia Dorwaldt listened to Moby-Dick on tape to break out the segments that volunteers would read.
`Melville is an iconic figure,` Burns said. `He went to the academy. It will be interesting to hear people put their different emotions into it.`
Burns said the University at Albany’s involvement helped draw Kennedy.
`Andy Rooney likes to do what he can to support the school,` Burns said.
Columbia University’s Andrew Delbanco, director of American studies and Julian Clarence Levi professor in the humanities, will be the keynote speaker.
Friday and Saturday’s panel discussions include Thornton’s, and also discussions about race, sexuality, religion and Melville as a counterculture figure.
There is also an art exhibit at the academy; a dance performance by Collective Momentum; and an archival exhibit at the academy.
There will also be a trolley tour of Melville’s Albany, and a self-guided driving or walking tour.
The Albany Institute of History and Art on Washington Avenue in Albany has an exhibit by Frank Stella, inspired by Moby-Dick. Thirteen proof prints from Stella’s 266 works called `The Waves` will be at the institute through the end of the year.
Thornton is confident that everyone high school age or older will enjoy the symposium ` and the reading of Moby-Dick.
`Melville’s home-grown, and he’s one of America’s treasures,` Thornton said.
The reading of Moby-Dick begins at noon on Friday, Nov. 17 at the Albany Academy’s Gilbert M. Tucker library.
For information about `Why Melville Matters Now,` visit the Web site, www.whymelvillemattersnow.org.“
