Welcome! This is the overview document for the Whale Fall 2026 Moby-Dick reading group. Please read this document for information about how the group works and what the expectations are for members.
Happy Whale Fall, everyone! Can’t wait to get started reading this book with you.
This group is not a small commitment; I believe that we will all get more out of reading this book together if we’re willing to put in the work not only to read but to participate in writing, discussion, and thoughtful analysis both alone and as a group.
With that in mind, please consider the reading schedule (link to section below). In general, we will strive to read around 50 pages per week, rounded down to the nearest chapter, based off of the Modern Library Classics edition.
If this is your first time reading Melville, I’d recommend you take a look at the first chapter to determine if you enjoy reading it! You can see the text and download a PDF of the first chapter here:
Chapter 1: Loomings | Moby Dick | Herman Melville | Lit2Go ETC
Additionally, there will be weekly Substack posts and discussion of the week’s reading. Everyone participating in the writing rotation will have at least one designated writing role over the course of the group, either as a discussant or as a designated respondent. There will be one discussant and two designated respondents for each post.
Your thoughts on the week’s reading and responses to others’ ideas will form the core of this group, and as such each member is expected to participate in written discussion. Additionally, we will ask that all written discussion on the Substack will be your own writing, drafted without the use of AI. If you want to use AI to help you read, research, or organize your own thoughts, fine — but keep all written prose your own, original work, 100%.
If you decide to leave the group, all I ask is that you let me know by email ([email protected]) as soon as possible so I can adjust the schedule of discussants and respondents.
In general, the intent is for this group to function both asynchronously and synchronously, and to provide opportunities for discussion and analysis for all group members, as much as possible.
The schedule for this group will be as follows:
Each week, we will read approximately 50 pages of the book based on the Modern Library Classics edition. Because people will read in many different forms (audiobook, ebook, online text, not to mention the literally hundreds of different print editions of this text), we will round down to the nearest chapter for our reading schedule each week. Additionally, I will strive to divide the chapters each week to avoid sequences that should be read together for semantic or literary reasons. (This will not be perfect, but on balance, I hope to achieve both a pleasant reading experience and one conducive to a functional, real-life reading and discussion schedule.)
There will also be occasional supplementary material providing historical context or scholarly perspectives on what we have been reading. I will draw some of these from the Norton Critical Edition, 3rd edition, of the text. This will be optional and minimal (around 4-8 pages every two weeks), intended only to steer discussion and enhance our group.
Every week, there will be a designated discussant and two designated respondents. The discussant will write a reading response (more details and format examples below), which must be submitted by Sunday, so I can post it on Substack on Monday. Discussants are also welcome to share optional supplementary material for their week’s reading.
The two designated respondents will post comments responding to the discussion post by Wednesday on Substack. All members of the group are encouraged to participate in the discussion weekly and share your thoughts on the reading in the comments section of the current week’s reading response; this will be the primary way that we interact as a group.
Every other week, starting we will have a 90 minute video call to discuss what we’ve read since the previous call. The discussants from the previous two weeks will lead the call and guide the discussion, but all group members are expected to participate, and the discussion can take whatever form works best for all of us!
The group will run from the week of 21 September 2026 through the week of 15 February 2026, with a two-week break from new reading around Christmas and New Year’s.