In Antarctica’s endless whiteness, thousands of penguins rush toward the sea as if they’ve received a single command, toward fish, toward the familiar safety of survival. But there is one that slows down. It stops, looks around, and then... It begins walking in the exact opposite direction of everyone else, toward the lonely, freezing heart of the ice mountains.
In Herzog’s 2007 documentary, the footage of a penguin breaking away from the herd and heading for the mountains resurfaced years later and began circulating again on social media. Everyone who watches the so-called “nihilist penguin” feels something ache inside. Why? Because in that small black-and-white silhouette, we recognize ourselves: the ones who board the same public transport every morning, send the same emails, and put on the same social masks.
Those who say no
Literary history is, in a way, filled with that penguin’s story told in different languages.
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