J
John Ironmonger
Der Wal und das Ende der Welt
Synopsis
In the small Cornish fishing town of St. Piran, a humpback whale becomes stranded in the harbor on the same night the first news breaks of a fast-moving global pandemic. As panic spreads across the world in the following days, the novel moves between the unfolding crisis and the story of Joe Haak, a man who washed ashore in the town eight years earlier with no memory of who he was or where he came from, and who has quietly become part of its fabric ever since.
As the town cuts itself off from the collapsing outside world, its residents — led in part by the enigmatic Joe — must decide whether to look after only themselves or to try to build something resembling a functioning community from the wreckage of the old one.
John Ironmonger's novel was published in English as "Not Forgetting the Whale." Blending disaster fiction, quiet character study, and a fable-like optimism about collective action, it was translated into German as "Der Wal und das Ende der Welt."
Genres
Characters
Joe HaakProtagonist
A man with no memory of his past who washed ashore in the town years earlier.
Frequently asked questions
Is this book related to any other titles by the author?
The novel was originally published in 2015 under the title Not Forgetting the Whale, which remains the primary English-language title for the work.
Does the story have a basis in real-world philosophy?
The narrative engages directly with Thomas Hobbes's political theory of the Leviathan, using the stranded whale as a symbolic counterpoint to the philosopher's views on human nature and social order.