491. AHAB’S LEG: DISABILITY AND THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION IN HERMAN MELVILLE’S MOBY DICK, PART II

Herman Melville’s masterpiece Moby Dick (1851) is widely considered one of the great American novels. Its sweeping examination of American culture offers a searing critique of capitalism and of a nation still struggling to live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Whether through Melville’s meditation on Native American genocide, imperial expansion, the history of slavery, religious hypocrisy, the whaling industry, and disability bias, Moby Dick invites audiences to question what it means to be American.

Part I of this course began with several short readings—including selections from a Puritan captivity narrative, Transcendentalism, and Gothic literature—to provide some background for Melville’s examination of American literary history. We also considered some of the visual and dramatic art shaping his portrait of Ahab, the crew, and the natural world. Part II will focus on Ahab’s quest for the white whale through the lens of American Studies. We will consider his commentary on American history and religion, his use of musical models, and his portrait of disability—particularly some of the complexities of, and problems with, reading the disabled body metaphorically.

10:00-12 noon 4 Sessions

Fridays, September 5 – September 26 Fees:  $160

Note: A Zoom Link will be sent to you at least one day prior to the first day of class and again on a weekly basis prior to each successive class. 

ABOUT THE LECTURER

Thomas Fahy is a nonfiction writer, novelist, and professor of literature and creative writing. His most recent book, The Life of the Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald, is being released in the fall of 2025. He has also published essays on everything from Paris Hilton and 1980s vampire films to contemporary television and theater. His works have been translated into several languages, and he has been interviewed by the Associated Press, Salon, and other publications, as well as radio hosts in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Malaysia. He was recently featured in a documentary about Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood for Arte Television and on the BBC radio program “Literary Pursuits.” When he is not writing, Dr. Fahy performs regularly as a classical pianist with the New York Paino Society and has appeared in recent concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, and other venues in New York City. He has a degree in music from the University of California, Davis, and he served as an adjunct professor of piano at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for several years before moving to New York. He is a fascinating and dynamic teacher who is able to bring his wide interdisciplinary knowledge to whatever the subject.