Sonia Hernandez

April 30, 2002 

Essay 1 

            While studying the literature of space and exploration, I gained an appreciation for the mental and physical hardships endured by explorers. The short stories in Ice, both fiction and non-fiction, provide various and varied windows into the challenges faced by explorers while on expedition. The episode by Cherry-Gerard describing the behavior of men in a single sex environment is humorous and unexpected. I had neither considered the part humor plays in a serious expedition nor expected such behavioral changes from hardy men.

            The hardships, complications and adjustments both physical and psychological, caused by the optical illusions of a monotone environment in the Antarctic was intriguing. Although the phenomenon of mirages is common in desert environments, I had thought the illusionary effect solely a function of heat and had not considered that the same effect might be produced in other environments for different reasons.

            The novel, Tracks, had much in common with Richard Byrd’s “Alone”. Both attest to how quickly an individual reverts to more primitive behavior in the absence of others. I found this surprising. Conversely, these narratives might attest to how quickly an individual throws off the artificiality of socially imposed behavior and retains only those behaviors needed for survival. This is especially true in Tracks. Robyn Davidson also experiences the same sense of social alienation as Cherry-Gerard and others upon reentering mainstream society. With the exception of Byrd, the men’s expeditions are in groups as opposed to Davidson’s mainly solitary quest. The sense of discomfort which occurs when attempting to reenter society affirms the changes which a significant journey of exploration brings.

             This unintended consequence of exploration, alienation from the original culture, helped me distinguish between the two genres of travel and exploration. When I enrolled in this course, I considered travel writing to be nothing more than advertising.  Although I soon realized that travel literature was a legitimate genre, the boundaries  between the two genres of travel and exploration are very fluid. I had originally considered using a purposeful goal as an additional criteria to help differentiate between the two genres.  However, the transformation of the individual, as described by Davidson and Cherry-Gerrard, is a more substantial criteria which I personally will use to distinguish between the two genre. 

            Reading exploration literature gave me a different historical perspective. Accounts by explorers are frequently very different from history or hyperbole. In the various accounts of the Scott expedition, Robert Scott appears a vulnerable man with serious deficiencies in the areas of leadership and judgment. The man is much different from the media image. Each short story about the expedition presents a slightly different image of Scott. His underlings have serious misgivings and some tense moments. However, each has the self control and loyalty to maintain discipline and belief in and respect for the chain of command, a virtue which along with the literary capable explorer, appears to be a trait of a bygone generation. What came together for me in these readings was a mosaic of Scott, the man, and the values held in by the people of his time.

            The behavior of the men in the fact-based stories about the Scott expedition stands in contrast to the bloodthirsty mutineers’ behavior in Edgar Allan Poe’s fictional account of a stowaway’s adventures. Poe’s text and the science fiction novels demonstrate how easily travel and exploration literature can serve as a the basis for a text which is usually defined in relationship to another genre such as gothic, horror, fantasy or science fiction.  In order to increase credibility, fictional texts incorporate logs and journals, an essential element of any legitimate expedition, and other narrative devices used to document exploration.

            By definition, the literature of travel and exploration depicts a change from the usual and provides the possibility to observe different points of view.  Poe uses these innate characteristic of these genres sometimes subtly (for Poe). By using whiteness and light as a gothic horror device in the same way black and darkness are traditionally used, Poe presents a reversal in perspective. Poe foreshadows the journal writings of Cherry-Gerrard’s and several other Arctic explorers  in this regard. While the explorer’s portrayal of their circumstances is much more subdued than Poe’s sensational language and descriptions, the true explorers also experience the whiteness and blinding light of the Arctic as horrific.  Life imitates art.

            From the teacher’s and instructor’s point of view, travel and exploration literature offers exceptional opportunities for thought provoking debate, discussion and reevaluation of ideas. In Red Mars, the narrator states that while the actual exploration of Mars has yet to begin, the journey itself has changed the crew. The groups of settlers must decide on the shape of the new Martian culture. My sense was that the group was struggling to find a way to avoid the situation Marie Herbert described in “The Snow People.”  Both are a commentary on how a new and pristine landscape can be infected with the cultural and ideological problems and political dynamics which riddle the colonizer’s cultures.

            Davidson uses Tracks to discuss issues regarding treatment of indigenous peoples. Poe does this also, although perhaps unintentionally. The film The Day the Earth Stood Still is based on the adventures of a space traveler who comes to Earth. His observations and attempts to understand the cultures of Earth provide an opportunity to explore and expose the fallacies which undermine the best of intentions. Stranger in a Strange Land functions in a similar manner by inviting the reader to see taken-for-granted customs and beliefs through a new set of eyes.

            Not all accounts of travel and exploration have hidden political and moral agendas. Other primarily allegorical texts which utilize travel and exploration formats, such as The Pilgrims Progress and The Afire Queen, overtly promote a particular moral or religious philosophy.

            The most interesting discussion concerned the changes in the nature of exploration and the effects that has had and is expected to continue to have on accounts of exploration and the legacy of space exploration. In the article, The View from Space: Notes on Space Exploration and Recent Writings, which appeared in a 1979 issue of Georgia Review, Ronald Weber agrees with 1969 Esquire article which claims astronauts have lived up to the low expectations regarding their ability to adequately communicate what being in “space is really like.” Weber provides a possible explanations why.

            According to the Esquire article, even if the space crews had not lacked imagination and perception, it is unlikely that space exploration would have inspired the literary imagination.  Astronaut’s would emphasize the technological achievements and reduce the individual to a collective identity, while art addresses the significance of individual existence.  Weber believes that with past flights, such as that of Charles Lindberg, the  public recognized the achievements of both the solitary hero and the collective industrial society, two contradictory ideals, as two distinct entities joining to accomplish a great feat. With the space program, no distinction exists.  It is all a collective effort. The astronauts are as interchangeable as machine parts and most are as anonymous as any member of the staff.  There is no sense of the individual hero. Traditionally, literature has focused on the individual hero. Perhaps, future literature of exploration courses could discuss the development of a new style of story that would focus on the accomplishments of the group. Red Mars does this for a time, presents an ensemble perspective, but eventually returns the focus to the individual. Perhaps stories which focus on ensembles and highlight different individuals periodically or episodically will be the future of literature of exploration.