Heroes and Nomads in Norwegian Polar Explorer Literature

• Published in: Nordlit
• Main Author: Jørgen Alnæs
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Norwegian
• Published: Septentrio Academic Publishing 2008
• Subjects: Litteratur; På ski over Grønland; The first crossing of Greenland; On ski towards the North Pole; reiseskildring; travel literature; Norwegian literature; PT8301-9155; Greenland; Norway; North Pole; Fridtjof; Bjørn; Fridtjof Nansen; Grønland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7557/13.1160; https://doaj.org/article/09b3343679da448597c6103e39d9137b

In 1888 six Norwegians crossed the Greenland-ice on skis. Two years after, the expedition leader Fridtjof Nansen published the book På ski over Grønland (English title: The First Crossing of Greenland) about the expedition. In Norway, this book has had an enormous influence and for modern Norwegian travel authors, it has become a kind of centre from which they organise their travels and their writing. This paper will focus on how På ski over Grønland has been read and its impact on the travel genre. Also, I will look briefly at another book published by the Norwegian Bjørn Staib, about 85 years after Nansen's. This book too is importatant in the Norwegian polar explorer discourse.