Call Me Ishmael, Moby Dick

I found no better way to begin a text about a white whale that travels the oceans and surprises friends and strangers every time it emerges to the surface. The ideal title, which many internet portals have already used, would be…

Albino Whale Surprises the World

or some type of wordplay highlighting the expression “albino whale.” However, I’ve dared to use the phrase that begins one of my favorite novels, which rudely initiated me into adventure literature, author literature, obsessions, loves and hates, but above all, literature of eternal, timeless narratives (although time is marked within the plot).

Moby Dick

My first graphic novel, which discovered me, and I discovered it, at 9 years old, in my father’s old library where he kept his school books. But don’t be confused with graphic novel, because it’s actually an 800-page book, badly counted. I label it this way because the version my father kept came with furious drawings that as you advanced in the story, contextualized your imagination.

Moby Dick was written by Herman Melville in 1851 and basically tells us about an old captain’s obsession with catching and exterminating a great white whale, which has become quite a mythological creation thanks to its white tonality. Almost all fateful events happening at sea are attributed to it, as well as all the misfortunes of Captain Ahab, protagonist of the central argument.

This is a very light synopsis of the story’s full weight, so please don’t stay with this sketch of Moby Dick. On the contrary, my recommendation is 100% subjective that you devour this novel, enjoy the description and environments each voice telling this story takes us to (even when there’s only one narrator).

Let yourself get lost in oceanic waters, smell fish, live as sailors and with villains of the maritime universe. Become anxious to have an encounter with Moby Dick, so when you re-read this novel, you can start by saying: “Call me…”

Behind Moby Dick… [and the albino whale].

Many tales emerge around albino whales. In fact, it’s presumed that the whale spoken of in Moby Dick had these characteristics and really existed—not as intriguingly as narrated in the novel, but with this destructive touch toward hunter vessels.

A story told in times when Herman Melville sought inspiration spoke of a whale nicknamed Mocha Dick who carried on his back the harpoons of sailors who had tried to hunt him unsuccessfully. He was the cause of many vessel disasters in the Pacific and was therefore spoken of as a sea beast. [It definitely served to structure his novel].

The truth is that although it’s a phenomenon not very visible to us, in Chile these albino sperm whales make their arrival from time to time. Perhaps it’s their beauty and distinguished figure that still causes us amazement and in a certain way fascination for such a singular manifestation of nature.