Compare it if you will to two relentlessly competitive siblings at the family dinner table. Beneath the familiarity and cordial manners the blades are sharpened… I can tell you, that has not changed in the past century, but now we focus on winter sports instead.

Nils Strindberg actually went to the same Senior High School as me – I still remember the memorial plaque in the hallway.

Gustav Holmberg (of the blog Imaginary Magnitude) recommended that I take a look at Urban Wråkberg ed., The centennial of S.A. Andrée’s north pole expedition (Stockholm, 1999). From what you say here, it’s clear that Andree’s an important way into this subject. If you have suggestions about the literature of Scandinavian exploration, I’d love to hear them, particularly works that place exploration in the context of broader society.

This self-destructive stupidity was partly the result of an egomaniac backed into a corner by the nationalistic patos of his financial backers and the media. The complaining engineer was replaced with a younger less experienced one. The third member was the young photographer Nils Strindberg, distant cousin of August Strindberg, the writer.

They crashed on Svalbard and survived for some time after that, travelling over the ice. Their remains, the diary and the camera were found 33 years later by chance and they were brought home as national heroes. In modern times, the stupidity of the whole expedition, and the destructive behaviour of Andrée has been more in focus.

The human being is not just the only animal intrinsically aware of her own mortality – she is also the only animal that will act against all reason knowing this…

I’ll give you a heads up when I head out to your exhibit in the spring. If you haven’t already acquired a copy of Land of the White Death, I’ll hand over mine — maybe trade for a copy of YOUR new book?

Cya.

There is an enormous difference in the way things were written by Americans and Canadians — even the British — versus the very factual, nonchalant observations recorded by people like Amundsen, Sverdrup (he was notorious for boring observations while traveling throughout Ellesmere Island), and even Nansen and Stefansson — I love Farthest North, and Stefansson’s adaptation to Inuit life was certainly extreme (he had more appreciation of their ways than almost anyone else).

Nonetheless, I think some of the more interesting tales come from unlikely folks, like the guy who wrote Kabloona….An African in Greenland…The Last Gentleman Explorer….etc.

You might want to check out a book by Vladimir Albanov called “Land of the White Death” — one of the few stories that involves prolonged experience in Franz Josef Land. It shows up everywhere on Amazon so if you’ve already read it I won’t be surprised. I actually, through reading Weird & Tragic Shores, really came to adore Hall. He was so honest about his emotions – his capital letters and underlining and everything. I love that intensity! ‘Land of the White Death’ has very somber, Russian storytelling technique – but they survived. It was an unbelievable novel.

I read that McPhee book as well and was less impressed than Coming Into the Country, which I just recently finished. I think one of my favorite Arctic books of all time is Barry Lopez’s ‘Arctic Dreams’ — nothing whatsoever to do with exploration, but unbelievably written.

I am actually not in FBX yet — still in upstate New York for the time being. I will be visiting your exhibit once the busy ski season is over.

P.S. – The Nova Franklin special is sweet. There is another cool box set thing called “Arctic Mission” that is on TV every so often and sold in cheap collectors’ tins.

Sorry for the long-windedness!

I didn’t know they were airing the NOVA Franklin special again but I saw it first time around. Russell Potter, prof at University of Rhode Island, is a friend of mine – a good guy with wide interests. In fact, I’ve got a couple links to his work on the right.

On the comparison between Nordic and Anglo-Americans – this is very interesting. I don’t know enough about Amundsen to say…though it always seemed to me that Nansen was a fascinating character: explorer, scientist, man of culture, politician. Maybe there’s an article in this somewhere – a comparison of different national styles of Arctic exploration.

That said, I think stores of Franklin, Hall, etc are much more interesting than sometimes those of Amundsen and Sverdrup have that Nordic “observation but no personality” factor.