Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen: White Technologies and the End of Science
This paper examines Canadian poet Gwendolyn MacEwen’s verse play Terror and Erebus by considering the play’s representation of technology in light of its own poetic technologies. Terror and Erebus is a play for voices that features four characters: Franklin, Crozier, Rasmussen, and Qaqortingneq. As...
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Language: | Norwegian |
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Septentrio Academic Publishing
2015
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Online Access: | https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3429 https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3429 |
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ftunitroemsoe:oai:ojs.henry.ub.uit.no:article/3429 2023-05-15T14:21:40+02:00 Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen: White Technologies and the End of Science Hulan, Renée 2015-04-22 application/pdf https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3429 https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3429 nor nor Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3429/3335 https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3429 doi:10.7557/13.3429 Copyright (c) 2015 Renée Hulan http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Nordlit; No 35 (2015): Arctic Modernities; 123–135 Nordlit; Nr 35 (2015): Arctic Modernities; 123–135 1503-2086 0809-1668 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Peer-reviewed article Fagfellevurdert artikkel 2015 ftunitroemsoe https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3429 2021-08-16T15:51:17Z This paper examines Canadian poet Gwendolyn MacEwen’s verse play Terror and Erebus by considering the play’s representation of technology in light of its own poetic technologies. Terror and Erebus is a play for voices that features four characters: Franklin, Crozier, Rasmussen, and Qaqortingneq. As the character Rasmussen searches for the traces of the lost expedition, imagining the voices of the explorers in their final hours, his investigation reveals how the “white technologies” used to explore the Arctic succumb to the environment without the indigenous knowledge possessed by the Inuit who inhabit the Arctic. The paper shows how MacEwen’s literary vision contrasts recent coverage of efforts to locate the Franklin ships which have ignored or down-played Inuit testimony. Working from Rasmussen’s transcriptions of Qaqortingneq’s voice, MacEwen represents Inuit knowledge and technology as both an alternative to the model of scientific discovery underwriting the Franklin expedition and as source of the authoritative account of what happened to Franklin and his crew. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic inuit University of Tromsø: Septentrio Academic Publishing Arctic Crozier ENVELOPE(169.400,169.400,-77.517,-77.517) Rasmussen ENVELOPE(-64.084,-64.084,-65.248,-65.248) Nordlit 35 123 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Tromsø: Septentrio Academic Publishing |
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ftunitroemsoe |
language |
Norwegian |
description |
This paper examines Canadian poet Gwendolyn MacEwen’s verse play Terror and Erebus by considering the play’s representation of technology in light of its own poetic technologies. Terror and Erebus is a play for voices that features four characters: Franklin, Crozier, Rasmussen, and Qaqortingneq. As the character Rasmussen searches for the traces of the lost expedition, imagining the voices of the explorers in their final hours, his investigation reveals how the “white technologies” used to explore the Arctic succumb to the environment without the indigenous knowledge possessed by the Inuit who inhabit the Arctic. The paper shows how MacEwen’s literary vision contrasts recent coverage of efforts to locate the Franklin ships which have ignored or down-played Inuit testimony. Working from Rasmussen’s transcriptions of Qaqortingneq’s voice, MacEwen represents Inuit knowledge and technology as both an alternative to the model of scientific discovery underwriting the Franklin expedition and as source of the authoritative account of what happened to Franklin and his crew. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hulan, Renée |
spellingShingle |
Hulan, Renée Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen: White Technologies and the End of Science |
author_facet |
Hulan, Renée |
author_sort |
Hulan, Renée |
title |
Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen: White Technologies and the End of Science |
title_short |
Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen: White Technologies and the End of Science |
title_full |
Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen: White Technologies and the End of Science |
title_fullStr |
Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen: White Technologies and the End of Science |
title_full_unstemmed |
Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen: White Technologies and the End of Science |
title_sort |
terror and erebus by gwendolyn macewen: white technologies and the end of science |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3429 https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3429 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(169.400,169.400,-77.517,-77.517) ENVELOPE(-64.084,-64.084,-65.248,-65.248) |
geographic |
Arctic Crozier Rasmussen |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Crozier Rasmussen |
genre |
Arctic Arctic inuit |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic inuit |
op_source |
Nordlit; No 35 (2015): Arctic Modernities; 123–135 Nordlit; Nr 35 (2015): Arctic Modernities; 123–135 1503-2086 0809-1668 |
op_relation |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3429/3335 https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3429 doi:10.7557/13.3429 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2015 Renée Hulan http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3429 |
container_title |
Nordlit |
container_issue |
35 |
container_start_page |
123 |
_version_ |
1766294384696885248 |