Arts & Entertainment

Mystic Seaport To Read Moby-Dick 140 Characters At A Time

Seaport Will Use Twitter For The 26th Annual Marathon Reading Of Moby-Dick

It takes about 24 straight hours to read Moby-Dick aloud, but how long does it take to read Herman Melville’s classic 140 characters at a time? The and Twitter followers everywhere are about to find out.

In a twist on the Mystic’s Seaport annual marathon reading of , this year’s reading will be live-tweeted by Mystic Seaport Staff.

“Twitter is an innovative way for us to share this special event with a global audience,” said Museum president Stephen C. White.

Find out what's happening in Stonington-Mysticwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The uninterrupted aloud begins on Sunday, July 31 at noon and is expected to end around noon on Monday, August 1.

Mystic Seaport staff will live-tweet the marathon reading at twitter.com/MbyDickMarathon

Find out what's happening in Stonington-Mysticwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Staff will also tweet images of the Morgan whaleship, vocabulary explanations and links to the Mystic Seaport collections at twitter.com/MS_Collections twitter.com/MS_PopCulture, will feature tweets of pop culture references to Moby-Dick, and twitter.com/MSeaportScience will tweet science-related information that relates to the novel. The twitter hashtag #MDM2011 will be used for twitter users to easily search for tweets.

But some things are better in person: “Our marathon ends on August 1, Melville's birthday, with a great white cake! Some things just can't be delivered via Twitter, sadly,” the Mystic Seaport tweeted last week.

For those not as Twitter inclined the three-dimensional reading takes place onboard the Charles W. Morgan whaleship.

“Nowhere else does ‘Moby-Dick’ come alive the way it does on the decks of the Morgan, the sole surviving ship of the fleet that inspired Melville,” White said.

If you wish to participate in the aloud reading you can do so as a daytime or overnight visitor. Daytime participation is free with Museum admission and copies of the novel will be available. Overnight tickets cost $25 ($23 for Museum members) and include the opportunity to stay onboard the Morgan after hours and a Monday morning breakfast. Visitors, volunteers and staff may sign up to take turns reading. For more information visit www.mysticseaport.org/mobydick.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here