Intellectual Fellowship Retreat: Moby Dick
Sunday, October 11 - Monday, October 12
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Join AAI and your JAF peers for a weekend in historic whaling port New Bedford, MA as we dive deeply into Herman Melville’s American epic Moby-Dick.
Across four sessions, students will consider the novel’s central themes through its unforgettable characters, from Ishmael and Queequeg to the enigmatic Captain Ahab and the Pequod’s three mates, while examining Melville’s treatment of friendship, religion, fate, and the search for meaning.
Guided by Boston College Professor Robert Bartlett, students will read several key chapters of the novel in preparation for this retreat, although all are welcome and encouraged to complete the book if they wish.
The seminar will begin at the Abigail Adams Institute before continuing in New Bedford, where students will have time for reflection and discussion, visit sites connected to the novel (including Seamen’s Bethel and the Mariner’s House) and explore the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s Moby Dick exhibits and the replica whaleship Lagoda.
We will be traveling via charter bus and staying at Marriott Inn & Suites New Bedford. If you would like to attend but are unable to make the charter bus departure time (2:15 pm on Sunday), please reach out to us to discuss potential alternative transportation.
All meals will be provided.
RSVP by September 25. If spots are still available at the end of the RSVP deadline, fellows will be invited to bring one student guest.
See syllabus and schedule below (subject to minor changes).