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Official State Books? Whaaa?
I was over at one of my favorite daily diversions, the brilliant Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, when I came across a reference to this Yahoo article. The article tells us that Massachusetts (which just incidentally happens to be the state the Book Snark claims residency) has named Moby Dick it’s “official epic novel” in a bill passed by the House. And I think that’s just a bunch of whale blubber.
Not because I dislike Moby Dick. He’s fine. He ain’t got no problems with me, I ain’t got no problems with him. I’m just concerned that claiming Herman Melville’s 1851 classic as our state book is a slap in the face to Massachusetts’ long literary history. Probably more so than any other state, Massachusetts has produced some of America’s greatest writers…many of whom have written books that are equally deserving of an official title. Here’s just a partial list of the Bay State’s homegrown writers, along with some of their most momentous works:
- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
- William Cullen Bryant, poet, “Thanatopsis” and “To a Waterfowl”
- Emily Dickinson, poet, Poems
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist and poet, “Nature” and “Self-Reliance”
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, “Old Ironsides”
- Helen Hunt Jackson, Ramona
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet, “Evangeline” and “The Song of Hiawatha”
- Edgar Allan Poe, poet and short story writer, “The Raven” and The Tell-Tale Heart
- Olive Higgins Prouty, Stella Dallas and Now, Voyager
- Dr. Seuss, children’s story writer and illustrator, The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs & Ham
- Henry David Thoreau, essayist, Walden
- Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-5
- John Greenleaf Whittier, poet, “Barbara Frietchie”
- Mary Tappan Wright, Aliens
And these are just the ones that are dead! There’s a whole slew of classic Massachusetts authors still living, including John Updike, Andre Dubus III, Alice Hoffman, Patricia MacLachlan, and Howard Zinn.
I’m not suggesting that any of these authors are more worthy of an official title, but naming Moby Dick the state’s official epic is sort of demeaning to the towering literary pantheon of Massachusetts writers.
Rep. Cory Atkins said she was “appalled” by the Dick decision. 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.
The bill still needs to pass the Senate and get the governor’s signature.
I say Gov. Deval Patrick should forget Moby Dick and pick Hop on Pop instead. Now THAT’S an epic novel.
Story Sources Yahoo, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, Wikipedia
Comments
8 Responses to “Official State Books? Whaaa?”
Comment away, my little snarkie-pies. But please play nicely. Poopy-pants comments (spam, hate speech) will be flushed down the shitter.
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WHAT IS A SNARK?
The Snark is a creature created by Lewis Carroll in his poem "The Hunting of the Snark". To give a proper description of Snarks, one must look no further than Carroll himself, who summed them up in one word: Unimaginable.
But this much we do know: some have feathers, some have whiskers. Snarks sleep a lot, yet they are an ambitious lot -- with very little sense of humor. They love bathing-machines and tend to bring them wherever they go; they are also handy for striking a light. Snarks live on a far-off island, a place filled with chasms and crags, and are constantly on the lookout for Snark-hunters. Their mortal enemies are hope, care, thimbles and forks.
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