Thar she goes: Bill honoring 'Moby-Dick' advances

Call me Speranzo.

The House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill - sponsored by Representative Christopher N. Speranzo - that would make "Moby-Dick" the official "epic novel" of Massachusetts.

"It really did open a lively discussion," said Speranzo, a Democrat from Pittsfield, where Herman Melville wrote the novel in a study with a view of Mount Greylock. "There's different viewpoints."

Some questioned whether, in a literature-rich state like Massachusetts, there were better novels.

A legislator from Salem suggested that Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" or "The House of the Seven Gables" might be a better choice.

"I am appalled!" said Representative Cory Atkins, who contends her district in Concord has "more authors per square mile than any other."

"What about Louisa May Alcott? What about Hawthorne? How am I going to face my constituents?" she said.

A compromise was agreed upon.

"Moby-Dick" will be the state's "epic novel" instead of the "official book," leaving a loophole for other novels to be recognized.

State lawmakers, after all, have found room to honor five different rocks: an official rock (Roxbury Puddingstone), historical rock (Plymouth Rock), explorer rock (Dighton Rock), building rock (granite), and a glacial rock (Rolling Rock).

Speranzo filed the bill at the request of fifth-grade pupils at Egremont Elementary School so they could follow the bill through the legislative process.

"I would have to say 'Moby-Dick' would not be my favorite kind of reading," said Karen McHugh, who taught the class. (They read an abridged version of the book.)

Those pupils are now in the seventh grade, and the bill still isn't law. It needs to pass the state Senate and get the signature of Governor Deval Patrick.

Oh. And yes, Speranzo said he has read "Moby-Dick," in college. Asked whether it was his favorite novel, he was diplomatic. "As a representative from Pittsfield, I am very proud 'Moby-Dick' was written in Pittsfield," he said.

MATT VISER