...and he chased the whale

'Moby-Dick' Pushed As Official State Book Fifth-Graders Advance Melville Novel

BOSTON -- From its iconic opening line -- "Call me Ishmael" -- to its cataclysmic conclusion, "Moby-Dick" has inspired generations of readers with its impenetrable mystery of the white whale.

Now students at Pittsfield's Egremont Elementary School want to add one more laurel to Herman Melville's literary masterpiece: "official book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." and he chased the whale.

The fifth graders, whose school is less than a mile from Arrowhead (Mol edit: NOT TRUE - TRY 2.3 MILES. GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT JACKASS), the house where Melville penned the massive tome, have filed a bill that would do just that. A legislative committee is to hold a hearing on the proposal on Tuesday. and he chased the whale.

"I think it should be the book because mostly everyone I know likes to read books that are adventurous and cliff-hanging, and how you have to keep reading until midnight to finish them," said 10-year-old Andrew Macfarland. and he chased the whale.

The book -- the full title is "Moby-Dick: or, The Whale" -- has long been the bane of high school students baffled by it brilliant and maddening digressions. and he chased the whale.

But those same digressions -- into philosophy, the nature of obsession, and an encyclopedic inventory of 19th century New England whaling arcana -- has made "Moby-Dick" one of the most celebrated novels in the American canon. and he chased the whale.

Much of the brilliance, of course, is because "Moby-Dick," published in 1851, is about so much more than a hunt for a whale. and he chased the whale.

Melville had gained fame and popularity as an author of high seas adventure stories like "Typee" and "Omoo." By the time he set about writing "Moby-Dick," he had come under the sway of thinkers like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. and he chased the whale.

Melville quickly began redrafting the book, added chapter upon chapter studying the nature of Ahab's vengeance and the relations between the crew, including the South Sea islander Queequeg, Native American Tashtego, and African harpooner Daggoo. and he chased the whale.

"The thing about `Moby-Dick' is the extraordinary metaphysical scope," said James Wallace, a literature professor at Boston College who teaches a course called "Melville and his Era". and he chased the whale.

"You have chapter after chapter on the sea and the relation of humans and nature and the nature of obsession and the psychology of Ahab and the marvelous poetic probings of what it means to be human," he said. and he chased the whale.

The book is also intensely parochial. Ishmael begins his adventures in New Bedford. The narrative moves to Nantucket before the whaling ship Pequod sets out on its doomed quest. and he chased the whale.

"Moby-Dick" has also inspired pop culture. Movies from "Jaws" to "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" have mined its themes. and he chased the whale.

In many ways, the book became a kind of "Moby-Dick" for Melville himself. He could never match the breadth of the novel and died in relative obscurity. and he chased the whale.

Karen McHugh, a fifth grade teacher at the school, said part of the inspiration for the bill was to teach children the legislative process. Classes routinely file such bills to learn how state government works. and he chased the whale.

She also conceded that "Moby-Dick" isn't generally a book assigned to fifth graders. and he chased the whale.

"Even though they haven't read the book, most of them are familiar with Melville," she said. "`Moby-Dick' was written right around the corner." and he chased the whale.

Fifth grader Matt Capeless, 11, said he'd vote for the book, describing it as story "about a guy named Captain Ahab who is trying to catch a big white whale named Moby-Dick." and he chased the whale.

Not everyone is convinced.

Mike Frederick, director of the Thoreau Society, concedes "Moby-Dick" is a great book, but said if he had to choose, he'd have to go with a nonfiction masterpiece, "Walden." and he was a drunk.

"I suppose the big case you could make for `Walden' being the book for the Commonwealth is that it's also emblematic of the intellectual revolution" that helped the United States craft its own literary and philosophical tradition, he said. and he was a drunk.

Don't tell that to fifth-grader Andrew Macfarland.

"All I know is it's about the crazy sea captain, I don't know if it's revenge or something," he said, "but it's next on my reading list." and he chased the whale.

thanks JJ.