With a warm heart for human nature and a cold eye for the human condition, Herman Melville was ahead of his time. Join us for an exploration of Melville’s significance to the 21st century, with a focus on themes like social justice, globalization, and more.
In recent years, Melville has attracted new attention for his complex portrayals of interpersonal relationships. In this tour, we’ll dive into early editions of his work to explore their resonances with today’s politics of gender and sexuality.
August 1, 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of Herman Melville’s birth. In honor of his bicentennial, we are proud to present American Voyager: Herman Melville at 200, a new exhibition that will explore the life, works, and legacy of this iconic but under-read author. To celebrate his birthday, we’ve asked The Rosenbach staff to share their …
Event Phone: (215) 732-1600
From the Canterbury Tales to Ulysses, the Rosenbach’s collection is full of books that have been banned, challenged, or censored. During Banned Books Week (Sept 24-30) take your rights and the books back into your own hands, discuss the controversies surrounding them, and celebrate your freedom to read.
The Bibliococktails series celebrates great literature and great libations.
How did Melville’s thinking about American race relations shift after the Civil War? How does this shift help us better understand white nationalism in our own era? This talk addresses these questions by contrasting Melville’s resistance to racist thought in his antebellum writings (especially Typee, Moby-Dick, and Benito Cereno) with his seeming embrace of white (more…)
Author and professor Kathryn “Kitsi” Watterson will discuss how Baldwin’s words give shape to her experiences in witnessing the persistent efforts of white America to not only deny the existence, humanity and brilliance of black Americans, but to actively try to destroy their lives. From her first sight of segregated water fountains in Mississippi in (more…)
From Father Mapple’s sermon to the very premise of The Whale, the Biblical figure of Jonah hovers throughout Moby-Dick. The ancient story of Jonah is a shared text that has influenced literature and religion across cultures and centuries. In conjunction with the Rosenbach’s American Voyager exhibit, scholars and faith leaders from Philadelphia will explore the importance of the prophet Jonah to understandings of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
From Father Mapple’s sermon to the very premise of The Whale, the Biblical figure of Jonah hovers throughout Moby-Dick. The ancient story of Jonah is a shared text that has influenced literature and religion across cultures and centuries. In conjunction with the Rosenbach’s American Voyager exhibit, scholars and faith leaders from Philadelphia will explore the importance of the prophet Jonah to understandings of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Sea monsters in Jewish tradition bear with them always tales of the beginning of time, and its end. Jonah, riding in the belly of his great fish, is carried uncertainly between them. Johan has baffled Jewish interpreters for centuries, and ignited a wide range of conflicting interpretations. The rabbis said the eyes of the whale were like windows though which Jonah could observe the foundations of creation – we’ll look back through at him to try to get a hold on what has made this short book such a fathomless riddle for Jews.