Richard King on "The Giant Squid, Global Warming, and Whale Extinction"

Professor Richard King of Williams Mystic and former Mystic Students
Professor Richard King of Williams Mystic and former Mystic Students

On September 29th, 2016, beloved Williams Mystic Professor, Richard King, spoke to the Williams Community on Moby Dick and the Giant Squid.  Specifically, what historical fiction can teach us about the world around us. Professor King reviewed for some and explained for others Herman Melville’s classic, Moby Dick.  King explained the amazing observations Melville made, and the information he collected while he sailed.  He quoted from the classic:

“Almost forgetting for the moment all thoughts of Moby Dick, we now gazed at the most wondrous phenomenon which the secret seas have hitherto revealed to mankind. A vast pulpy mass, furlongs in length and breadth, of a glancing cream-color, lay floating on the water, innumerable long arms radiating from its centre, and curling and twisting like a nest of anacondas, as if blindly to clutch at any hapless object within reach. No perceptible face or front did it have; no conceivable token of either sensation or instinct; but undulated there on the billows, an unearthly, formless, chance-like apparition of life.” -Chapter 59, Moby Dick – Herman Melville

King explained what information Melville was correct in writing, what was created for the story and what was simply a hypothesis based on his fascination with this mysterious creature.

King traveled to the Natural Science Museum in London to see the preserved body of a giant squid in order to put an image to his readings. In this rather dramatic video shared by Professor King, the community witnessed the excitement of… what is basically a gigantic, pickled squid.

Despite the scientists thrilling reaction, Professor King had to admit, he was a bit disappointed.  It wasn’t quite as big as he thought, nor as treacherous.  King had been dreaming of this moment for such a long time, and this was it…?

But Jonathan Ablett, Curator of Molluscs at the Natural History Museum of London soon proved him wrong.  He explained and even let King experience how dangerous the squid’s tentacles were, to see how large its eyes were, and so on.  Professor King left the London museum far more amused by the massive specimen.

Professor King’s talk was not only very informative but also very amusing.  His final message is that it is possible to use historical fiction, specifically older stories to research the species and environment around us. Authors were not only very ahead of their time, but also very observant in a time when our world was far less disturbed by human impact.

-Caroline Beckmann, ’17