Literature of the Sea
Ph.D. Northwestern University
maryk@mysticseaport.org
860-572-5302 x4027
Ph.D., 1984, English, Northwestern University (1980-1984) Minor in American History, Dissertation: "Melville's Sources: A Checklist"
M.A., 1980, English, Northwestern University (1979-1980)
Frank C. Munson Memorial Institute of American Maritime Studies at Mystic Seaport Museum (graduate credit through Wesleyan University), 1980
B.A., 1979, English, Northwestern University (1975-1979)
Herman Melville
Literature of the Sea
American Literature
Textual editing, source study, and bibliography
Dissertation Year Fellowship
University Fellowship (two years)
Hardin Craig Scholar (Munson Institute)
Phi Beta Kappa
B.A. with Distinction
Honors in English
Bonbright Scholar (outstanding sophomore English major)
Nominated President of The Melville Society (the oldest single-author society in the United States), 2004
United States Coast Guard Master of Near-Coastal Auxiliary Sail Vessels of not more than 100 tons
Circumnavigation of the globe aboard the 38-foot ketch Natasha, 1971-1975
Co-Editor, Ungraspable Phantom: Essays on Moby-Dick, Proceedings of the Third International Herman Melville conference (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, in press).
Co-Editor, Herman Melville's Whaling Years (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004).
Notes for Modern Library Edition of Herman Melville's White-Jacket (New York: Random House, 2002).
Assistant Editor, Encyclopedia of Sea Literature of America and the Great Lakes (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000).
Melville's Sources (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1987). Reviewed in The Times Literary Supplement by Hennig Cohen, 4,472 (1988), 1398, and in Melville Society Extracts by Joel Myerson, 72 (1988), 15-16.
Contributing Scholar, The Northwestern-Newberry Edition of The Writings of Herman Melville: Moby-Dick (1988); The Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces: 1839-1860 (1987); The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1984); Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile (1982).
Books on Melville 1891-1981: A Checklist (Evanston, IL: Loose-Fish Books, 1982).
Winner of the Gerald E. Morris Prize, "'An Old Sailor's Lament': Herman Melville, the Stone Fleet, and the Judgment of History," The Log of Mystic Seaport, 55 (2004), 57-71.
"Ships, Whaling, and the Sea," A Companion to Melville, Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture (London: Blackwell Publishing, [in press]).
"Herman Melville" and "Autobiographies, Journals, and Diaries: An Overview," Encyclopedia of Maritime History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, [in press]).
Moby-Dick Entry, Encyclopedia of New England Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, [in press]).
Review of In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick, Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies (in press).
Review of Treasured Islands: Cruising the South Seas with Robert Louis Stevenson by Lowell D. Holmes, American Neptune (in press).
"Melville's Whaling Years," lead essay in Melville Among the Nations (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2001).
"'My Yale College and My Harvard': The Writing of Herman Melville's Sea Work," Historic Nantucket, 50 (Fall 2001), 11-14.
Review of The Weaver-God, He Weaves: Melville and the Poetics of the Novel and Sounding the Whale: Moby-Dick as Epic Novel by Christopher Sten, Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, 3 (March 2001), 111-114.
Review of In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick, Historic Nantucket, 49 (Summer 2000), 19-20.
"A Melvillean Odyssey through Greece," Melville Society Extracts, Volos Supplement (1998), 13-17.
"Dans la brume des Grands Bancs: 'The writing of Captains Courageous,'" L'aigle de Nouadhibou: Des marins dans le sillage enigmatique d'une goelette... (Douarnenez, France, 1997), 34-39.
Review of Unpainted to the Last: "Moby-Dick" and Twentieth-Century American Art by Elizabeth A. Schultz, The New England Quarterly, 66 (December 1996), 651-655.
"'That Tale Will Be a Snorter': The Writing of Captains Courageous," The Log of Mystic Seaport, 48 (Summer 1996), 16-21.
Review of America and the Sea: A Literary History edited by Haskell Springer, The Log of Mystic Seaport Museum, 47 (Winter 1995), 87-90.
Review of Melville & Turner: Spheres of Love and Fright by Robert K. Wallace, The New England Quarterly, 66 (1993), 346-349.
" 'A Fine, Boisterous Something': Nantucket in Moby-Dick," Historic Nantucket, 39 (1991), 55-58.
"Melville's Journals," Review of The Northwestern-Newberry Journals, Melville Society Extracts, 84 (1991), 55-58.
"Melville's Borrowings," The Log of Mystic Seaport, 41 (Summer 1989), 35-44.
"The Infusion of Useful Knowledge: Melville and The Penny Cyclopaedia," Melville Society Extracts, 70 (1987), 9-13.
"The Crux of the Ass in 'The Encantadas,'" Melville Society Extracts, 62 (1985), 12.
"A Glossary of Nautical Terms in The Pathfinder," James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art, ed. George A. Test (Oneonta, 1983).
"Hypothetical Friends: The Critics and the Confidence Man," Melville Society Extracts, 46 (1981), 10-14.
"Fanny Trollope's Nephew Edits Typee," Melville Society Extracts, 39 (1979), 15.
"The Making of Young Sailors," Cruising World (March 1978), 16-21.
Articles (24) in the Goleta Valley Today and the Santa Barbara News-Press on sailing around the world, 6 Dec. 1971-9 March 1973.
Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Connecticut, Groton, Connecticut, 2004-present; Visiting Scholar, University of Connecticut at Avery Point, 2003-2004: Teach upper division undergraduate courses, including "Seminar in American Studies," "American Literature to 1880," "American Literature 1880 to the Present," "Herman Melville," and "Maritime Novels." Help establish new Maritime Studies program.
Senior Lecturer in Literature of the Sea, Williams College-Mystic Seaport Program in Maritime Studies, Mystic, Connecticut, 1989-present: Teach "Literature of the Sea" as a tutorial. Travel with students and faculty on field seminars to the Pacific Coast, Nantucket Island, Louisiana, and occasionally offshore. Participate fully in all program activities, including recruitment and alumni events.
Lecturer in Literature of the Sea, Graduate Liberal Studies Program, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 1997-2001: Taught graduate courses, including "Sailors, Writers, Metaphysicians: Literature of the Sea" and "Herman Melville." Thesis director for Robert A. Richter, Candace Chieppo, Patrick Crotty, and Jason Hine.
Visiting Lecturer, Frank C. Munson Memorial Institute of American Maritime Studies at Mystic Seaport Museum, graduate program, 1991-present
Adjunct Lecturer in English, University of Connecticut at Avery Point, Groton, Connecticut, 1990, 1991, 1998
Visiting Faculty, Sea Education Association, Boston University, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 1986-1987
Lecturer, Literature and Composition, Mohegan Community College, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991
Instructor, Maritime History and Marine Ecology, Oceanic Society, San Francisco, California, 1985
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Literature of the Sea and Caribbean and American Maritime History, SEAmester Program, Southampton Campus of Long Island University, 1981, 1983-1984, 1985
Lecturer, Literature and the Sea and America and the Sea, SeaQuarter Program, Northeastern University, 1982-1983
Instructor, Composition, Northwestern University, 1981
University of Connecticut at Avery Point (Groton, Connecticut): Seminar in American Studies, 2005; American Literature to 1880, 2003-2005; American Literature 1880-Present, 2004-2005; Literature Between the Wars, 2005; Herman Melville, 2004; Maritime Novels, 2004; Literature and Composition, Composition, 1990, 1991, 1998
Williams College-Mystic Seaport Program in American Maritime Studies (Mystic, Connecticut): Literature of the Sea Tutorial, 1989-2004
Graduate Liberal Studies Program, Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut): Literature of the Sea: Sailors, Writers, Metaphysicians, 1997, 1998, 2000; Herman Melville, 1999
Sea Education Association, Boston University (Woods Hole, Massachusetts): Maritime Studies (Maritime Literature, History, and Policy), 1986-1987
Mohegan Community College (Norwich, Connecticut): Approaches to Literature, Composition, Literature and Composition, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991
SEAmester Program, Southampton Campus of Long Island University (at sea aboard 95-foot and 65-foot schooners): Literature of the Sea, Caribbean and American Maritime History, 1981, 1983-1984, 1985
SeaQuarter Program, Northeastern University (at sea aboard a 95-foot schooner): Literature and the Sea, America and the Sea, 1982-1983
Department of English, Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois): Composition, 1981
Teaching Assistant, Department of English, Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois): Film and Literature: The Western, American Literature, 1980-1981
Program Developer and Scholar, "Voyages: Stories of Men, Women, and the Sea," Time for Ideas in Libraries, Connecticut Humanities Council and Mystic Seaport, Middletown and Mystic, Connecticut, 2001. Served as Leader for the series in Haddam, Connecticut, 2001, Fairfield, Connecticut, 2002, Groton, Connecticut, 2002, Enfield Connecticut, 2003, as well as leader for the series "Mad Women in the Attic," East Lyme, Connecticut, 2003. Also, Scholar and Evaluator, Connecticut Humanities Council, Middletown, Connecticut, 1987-1993, 2001
Conference Director and Program Co-Chair, "Melville and the Sea" Conference, Second International Herman Melville conference, Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut, 1999
Editorial Board, Encyclopedia of Sea Literature of America and the Great Lakes (Greenwood Press), 1995-2000
Scholar (leading book discussions in schools and libraries), Southeastern Connecticut Library Association, Groton, Connecticut, 1989-1992
Contributing Scholar and Assistant to the Editor, The Northwestern-Newberry Edition of The Writings of Herman Melville: Clarel (1991); Moby-Dick (1988); The Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces: 1839-1860 (1987); The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1984); Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile (1982)
Instructor, Marine Outdoor Demonstration Squad Skills, Williams College-Mystic Seaport Program in Maritime Studies, 1984, 1986-2003; also, Foreman, Marine Outdoor Demonstration Squad, Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut, 1984, 1986-present
Head of Archive Committee, Melville Society Cultural Project, The Kendall Institute, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 2002-present
Member, Conference Committee, "Melville and the Pacific," Fourth International Herman Melville Conference, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, 2003
Member, Conference Committee, "Moby-Dick 2001: An Interdisciplinary Celebration," honoring the 150th anniversary of the publication of Moby-Dick, Cultural Center of Hofstra University, 2001
Co-Director, Connecticut Humanities Council Grant CCP-0391 CCG-1191, "Exploring 1492: From Both Sides," 1991-1992
Advisory Board, Friends of Herman Melville's Arrowhead, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1990-1995
Member, The Melville Society Centennial Committee, 1988-1991
Member, Committee for "Reflection of America: The Charles W. Morgan 1841-1991," Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut, 1990-1991
Captain, Mystic Seaport Museum Whaleboat Team for the Australian Challenge, Warrnambool, Australia, 1988 (winner); also, Member, The Australian Challenge Administrative Committee, Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut, 1987-1988
Member, Nominating Committee, The Melville Society, 1987
Lecture, "Recontextualizing Melville's Monitor Poems," Modern Language Association (MLA), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 2004
Plenary Lecture, "New England Sea Literature," New England and the Urban Northeast Conference, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland, September 2004 (one of only two American scholars speaking at the conference); also, seminars on Benito Cereno and Captains Courageous and on the 1956 Moby-Dick film
Presidential Lecture, ""Herman Melville's Whaling Years," Moby-Dick Marathon, New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts, January 2004 (lecture given annually by the President of The Melville Society)
Lecture, "Was Herman Melville Ever Really in the Typee Valley?," Melville and the Pacific, Fourth International Melville Conference, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, June 2003
Invited Lecture, "Sailing Square-Rigged Ships," Patrick O'Brian Symposium, Mystic, Connecticut, May 2003
Lecture, "'The Great Stone Fleet': Herman Melville's Civil War Poetry," College English Association, St. Petersburg, Florida, April 2003
Keynote Lecture, "Herman Melville: Sailor, Writer, Metaphysician," Redwood Library Herman Melville Series, Newport, Rhode Island, January 2003; also, seminar on Melville's The Encantadas, April 2003
Invited Lecture, "Melville's Sailing Days," Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts, September 2002
Invited Lecture, "Melville, Moby Dick, and the Merchants of Ipswich," Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC, May 2002
Invited Lecture, "Herman Melville: Sailor, Writer, Metaphysician," Williams College/Williams-Mystic Lecture Series in Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Williams-Mystic, Williamstown, Massachusetts, March 2002
Lecture, "The Alchemy of Melville's Galapagos," session entitled "The Edge of the Sea: Science and the Literary Littoral," Modern Language Association (MLA), New Orleans, Louisiana, December 2001
Invited Lecture, "Herman Melville: Sailor, Writer, Metaphysician," New Bedford Whaling Museum, given at the Seamen's Bethel, New Bedford, Massachusetts, November 2001
Chair, "Before the Whale: Melville's Literary Precursors," Moby-Dick 2001: An Interdisciplinary Celebration, Third International Herman Melville Conference, Hempstead, New York, October 2001
Lecture, "Sailor as Teacher, Sailor as Scholar," Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2000
Chair, "The Lure of the Sea," New England Historical Association, Boston, Massachusetts, 1999
Lecture, "The Amistad Incident: The Source of Melville's 'Benito Cereno'?," New England American Studies Association, Mystic, Connecticut, 1998
Chair and Lecture, "'The Slack Eend of a Lyin' Tale': Whittier's 'The Palatine' and Simms's 'The Ship of the Palatines,'" Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Orlando, Florida, 1998
Lecture, "'The Slack End of a Lyin' Tale': Whittier's 'The Palatine' and Simms's 'The Ship of the Palatines,'" New York College English Association, SUNY-Maritime, Bronx, New York, 1998
Lecture, "Melville's Whaling Years," First International Herman Melville Conference, sponsored by The Melville Society and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Volos, Greece, 1997
Chair and Lecture, "'That Tale Will Be a Snorter': The Writing of Captains Courageous," Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, San Antonio, Texas, 1997
Lecture, "John Casey's Spartina: Why Teach It?," ACA/PCA, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1996
Lecture, "Homeward Bound: The British Editing of an American Work," American Culture Association/Popular Culture Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1995
Chair and Lecture, "Herman Melville's Whaling Years," American Culture Association/Popular Culture Association, Chicago, Illinois, 1994
Chair, Melville session, American Literature Association, Washington, DC, 1991
Invited Lecture, "Herman Melville: The Writing and Sources of Moby-Dick," Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies, Mystic, Connecticut, 1990-present
Invited Lecture, "Censorship and Abridgement: Publishers' Editing of American Works," Victorian Yankee, Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut, 1989
Lecture, "Melville and the Penny Cyclopaedia," American Cultural Association/ Popular Cultural Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1988
Keynote Lectures, "Historical and Technical Aspects of the Whaleboat," Warrnambool, Australia, 1988 (three different lectures on this theme were given before various groups and on national television)
Invited Lecture, "The Sources of Israel Potter" and "The Genesis of Melville's Sources," United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, 1987
Invited Lecture, "Developing a Literature Curriculum for the Sailing School Vessel," Conference on the Educational Use of Sailing School Vessels, Keene, New Hampshire, 1986
Interviewed by Geoff Stephens for a two-hour NBC-Dateline documentary entitled "Revenge of the Whale," on the loss of the Whaleship Essex, which aired September 7, 2001
Interviewed by Sophie Levy for a History Channel documentary tentatively entitled "A Day in the Life of a Whaleman," which aired December 11, 2001
Interviewed by David Bedard, CineNova Productions, Inc., for a one-hour documentary entitled "The Real Moby Dick," on the loss of the Whaleship Essex, Toronto, Canada, 2001, which aired April 7, 2002
