Si el mundo ha dado una ballena de esperma para la eternidad

[Michael30000]

Hola a todos,

La frase en cuestión es del libro Tinta invisible de Javier Peña.

Melville se había convertido en escritor después de haber trabajado varios años como ballenero en los Mares del Sur. La industria ballenera era muy próspera entonces porque el aceite de los cetáceos, extraído de su grasa, era un extraordinario combustible para lámparas. Lo más valioso era el espermaceti o esperma de ballena, que en realidad no tiene nada que ver con el semen, salvo por ser un líquido blanco y viscoso. El espermaceti se encuentra sobre todo en el cráneo de los cachalotes. Aún hoy a estos cetáceos se los conoce en inglés con el nombre de sperm whales, pero si el mundo ha dado una ballena de esperma para la eternidad esa es, claro está, Moby Dick.

I have to admit I fail to understand what the author means by the highlighted part - the words are familiar, but the meaning is unclear.

My best quess: You can call a whale whatever you want, but the most famous whale to go down in history is Moby Dick.

Thank you.

[aleCcowaN]

You're about right. But notice that in the highlighted text there's una ballena in the first part and one whale is mentioned in the second one. This kind of phrasing is typical and means there's no sperm whale more famous (or quintessential or archetypical) than Moby Dick, and it's used when the topic -whales- has been previously discussed in general. It's like saying "whales this and whales that, but when someone talks about sperm whales, most people think of Moby Dick, now and forever".

[Michael30000]

You're about right. But notice that in the highlighted text there's una ballena in the first part and one whale is mentioned in the second one. This kind of phrasing is typical and means there's no sperm whale more famous (or quintessential or archetypical) than Moby Dick, and it's used when the topic -whales- has been previously discussed in general. It's like saying "whales this and whales that, but when someone talks about sperm whales, most people think of Moby Dick, now and forever".

Thank you very much, aleC!