Synopses & Reviews
Francis Spufford explores the British obsession with polar exploration in a book that Jan Morris, writing in
The Times, called, "A truly majestic work of scholarship, thought and literary imagination . . ." The title, a last quote from one explorer to his party as he left their tent never to return, embodies the danger and mystery that fueled the romantic allure of the poles and, subsequently, the British imagination. Far from being a conventional history of polar exploration,
I May Be Some Time attempts to understand what was going on in the minds of the polar explorers as they headed toward destinies like Terra Nova. Serving up a heady brew of Captain Perry, Jane Eyre, gastronomic obsessions with iced desserts, and the daily lives of Eskimos, Spufford treats the reader to one of the most satisfying and imaginative contemporary works dealing with exploration and human need.
Review
“. . . a high-cultural history, both passionate and intricate . . . Breathtaking.”
The Boston Globe“An engaging, elegant, often majestic work of cultural history.” The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Thoughtful, suggestive and oddly fascinating.” Men's Journal
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Review
“. . . a high-cultural history, both passionate and intricate . . . Breathtaking.” —
The Boston Globe“An engaging, elegant, often majestic work of cultural history.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Thoughtful, suggestive and oddly fascinating.” —Men's Journal
Synopsis
Francis Spufford explores the British obsession with polar exploration in a book that Jan Morris, writing in
The Times, called, "A truly majestic work of scholarship, thought and literary imagination . . ." The title, a last quote from one explorer to his party as he left their tent never to return, embodies the danger and mystery that fueled the romantic allure of the poles and, subsequently, the British imagination. Far from being a conventional history of polar exploration,
I May Be Some Time attempts to understand what was going on in the minds of the polar explorers as they headed toward destinies like Terra Nova. Serving up a heady brew of Captain Perry, Jane Eyre, gastronomic obsessions with iced desserts, and the daily lives of Eskimos, Spufford treats the reader to one of the most satisfying and imaginative contemporary works dealing with exploration and human need.
About the Author
Francis Spufford, writes for the
Guardian,has edited two anthologies and lives in Cambridge, England with his wife and daughter. For this, his first book, he received a Somerset Maughm Award and was named
The Sunday Times (London) Young Writer of the Year.
Table of Contents
A Different History for the Poles * The Sublime * News from Nowhere * Damn the North Pole * The Powers of Frost and Air * Lady Janes Lament * Relics in the Snow * Imagining Eskimos * Comfortable Barbarians * I Have Always Taken My Place, Havent I?