Afterlands: A Novel

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Leane, E
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: 420299 Literature Studies not elsewhere classified; South Pole; Arctic; Polar Record; South pole
• Online Access: https://eprints.utas.edu.au/5763/; https://eprints.utas.edu.au/5763/1/leane_afterlands.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247407006845

Polar exploration narratives have inspired their fair share of novels, poems, and plays, particularly in the last few decades. The ‘race’ for the South Pole alone has generated an ongoing series of historical novels that blend documented event with creative extrapolation — NorwegianKareHolt’s Kappløpet, translated into English as The race (1976), and Beryl Bainbridge’s Birthday boys (1991) are among the best known. These narratives explore contrasting, sometimes conflicting, interpretations of events, moving between different characters and points of view. By taking this approach, creative writers can short-circuit ongoing factual debates, highlighting possible subtexts behind official accounts, imagining the internal thoughts of key players, or providing the voice of marginalised or silenced participants. Even ships’ cats can have a revealing perspective on events, as Caroline Alexander so winningly demonstrated in Mrs Chippy’s last expedition (1997). Steven Heighton’s Afterlands is one of the most recent, and certainly one of the finest, contributions to the rapidly growing genre of the polar historical novel.