MOBY DICK - RUSSIAN VERSION

Recently I have found a Russian version of Moby Dick. It’s a story written by Strugatsky brothers. Nothing in common either with Melville, or with 2010: Moby Dick – the latest screen version of the novel.

It’s a science-fiction. The action takes place in XXII century in the small island of the Far East part of the former Soviet Union. The main character is captain Kondratiev who takes part in an expedition that started 100 years ago in the beginning of XXI century. The authors do not give any details of the expedition.  In spring the expedition is usually interrupted and the participants have a vacation. Captain Kondratiev uses this time for helping the whales: he defends the blue whales, peaceful animals feeding on plankton, from the sperm whales. The last ones are aggressive predators that attack blue whales. The attackers usually move in shoals of one old male and several young female whales. These shoals are sometimes attacked by single young male whales who kill the old whales, capture female whales and create the new shoals.  

Captain Kondratiev calls the single whales the pirates. His goal is to defend the sea animals from these predators.  He has his own individual submarine. Together with his friend and assistant captain Lukin and his wife he neutralizes the pirates.

Once being on shore he receives the signal of alarm: a pirate whale attacked a shoal, drowned the old whale and captured the females.  The attacker is now making his way to the waters where the blue whales usually swim with their calves.  Captain Kondratiev and his friend are quick. Soon they approach to the whale so that they can hear his song alluring the females. While his assistant is recording this song, the captain harpoons the whale. The song is played making the females to follow the submarine away from the blue whales waters.  The harpooned whale is drowning however the captain makes him to stay floating filling him with the air with the help of his harpoon provided with a compressor and a sensor that gives a signal to the special whaling ship to pick up the whale.

Captain Kondratiev is happy because the whale he neutralized is not white. Since his childhood he has been dreaming to meet a white whale from the favorite book of his childhood. However he does not believe in its existence, as he has never met this creature in his life (about 120 years). Thus seeing the white whale is still a dream that never comes true.

All this happens on the background of captain’s romance with Irina, a young biologist working with him. She is a loving and affective woman about 100 years younger than the captain.

This is a naïve, very simplified but kind version of Moby Dick. In Russian tradition whales, though huge and awkward, are often shown as kind and harmless animals; even a white aggressive predator that Moby Dick really was became captain’s passionate dream. In his imaginations meeting with the white whale will not be a revenge fight but only a reincarnation of his childhood dream.