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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Envisioning the ice: The Surfacing by Cormac James

26/12/2014

15 Comments

 
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In 1845, a British expedition to traverse the final section of the Northwest Passage led by Sir John Franklin became icebound in the Arctic and the entire crew lost. The Admiralty launched a search, popularised by Franklin’s prestige and the offer of a reward, to the effect that, in 1850, thirteen ships were patrolling the area. The Surfacing fictionalises the hope, hardship, and heroism of the men – and the one female stowaway – on-board one such ship risking their own lives in an attempt to locate the missing expedition.

Like Charlotte Rogan’s The Lifeboat and Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, this is a story of people in extremis, dredging up their last reserves of strength to survive:

He knew this must be their last stop. He could see they were spent, almost. They had courage enough for only one more start. He was almost relieved. There was no more need for heroics, no choice to make. (p170)

But unlike the people packed into the lifeboat, or the prisoners of war worked to death by the Japanese, the officers of The Impetus have volunteered for their dangerous endeavour, and thus the novel explores, not only endurance, but also the seductiveness of the challenge:

Day after day they inched their way down the coast. The fabric was being slowly worn down, worn away. Underneath, through the bare threads, a lone word showed through: Why? He did not know. Out here, no answer could compete. He was earning the right, perhaps to talk about what other men had done. Yet with every destroying day, every hour of drudgery, more and more he felt the breach between himself and them, the men of renown. He had read their books. For them, there had been far horizons, all around. He had gone to the windows they had looked through, and found them walled up. They had been lying, or he was a different sort of man. From where he stood, there was never anything further off than the next step, the next sip of water, the prodigious pains in his legs. (p154-5)

This is a setting in which heroics are entangled with hubris, self-sacrifice indistinguishable from masochism. We witness the loneliness of leadership in a strong hierarchy which can admit no vulnerability, and the absence of comradeship when no man can think beyond his own next step. I was particularly interested in how the elemental danger of the Arctic winter seemed to evoke a kind of recklessness, as if, through suffering, they lose the capacity to value their own lives.

What differentiates Cormac James’ novel from other accounts of polar exploration, is the impact of the female presence. Keeping house for her brother at a whaling station, Kitty takes Morgan, second-in-command of The Impetus, to bed with her when the ship calls in to pick up supplies. Assisted by the clergyman, MacDonald, she stows away on board and, much to Morgan’s embarassment, claims to be pregnant with his child. Kitty has a somewhat civilising effect on the crew and her child a little Messiah in a desperate situation.

This is a beautifully written, multi-layered novel that, despite its somewhat grim subject matter, is a pleasure to read. Having little previous knowledge of the Franklin expedition, I would have welcomed rather more contextualisation of the crew’s quest (which might also have provided another interesting female perspective through the character of Lady Franklin who gets a brief mention on page 282 and seems, like the Ladies of mediaeval times bestowing favours on their Knights, to have shamed the men into setting out to find her husband) to ground me at the beginning. But otherwise a great read, and my thanks to Sandstone Press for my review copy.

My reading of this novel is timely in the context of Charli Mills’ Christmas Eve post which begins with the snow and efforts with an invitation to write a 99-word flash on the subject of visions. While, by sheer serendipity, my previous contribution meets the criteria, I thought I’d have another bash in honour of the brave, or foolhardy, Arctic explorers:

It was days since he’d felt his feet and the midnight glare had left him all but blinded, but still he trudged on. His stomach gurgled incessantly yet meat, when they could catch any, only made them retch. When the cabin boy took his final step they hadn’t the strength to pierce the ice for a Christian burial, but at least he hadn’t ended up on their plates, like the dogs.

On the far horizon sat a ship in full sail. Was it a vision of salvation or a cruel conspiracy of sun and ice, the prelude to death?

In my next post, my 100th and final one for this year, I’ll be looking back at my year in books. I do hope you be able to join me.


Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
15 Comments
Charli Mills
26/12/2014 02:42:11 pm

Yes, so true your last flash was a vision, too! But this one is a great nod to your Arctic reads. Funny, as the novel that is lingering in my files is about the Arctic. It has a strong draw, as a mysterious and harsh landscape against which to create a story. Interesting review of the ill-fated Franklin expedition. Was the female stow-away an historical figure or an imagined what if? I look forward to your 100th post!

Reply
Annecdotist
27/12/2014 08:28:48 am

Thanks, Charli. We had a heavy snowfall last night so it's looking pretty arctic out of my window, but at least I can walk to the shops!
If I've read the notes at the back of the book correctly this is a totally fictional account based on existing records – other ships didn't get quite as far north (which meant in the end they were stuck in the ice all year round). I'm pretty confident that the female stowaway is entirely fictional, I'd assume that modern readers would shy away from an all male narrative, but I might be wrong. One of the endorsements of the novel describes it as about the terrors of fatherhood – I don't quite see it that way, but perhaps you have to be a father for that!

Reply
Charli Mills
27/12/2014 12:10:17 pm

That's rather funny--when faced with fatherhood or a ship's imprisonment in ice, I would think most men would know which one is the greater terror. But then again, maybe some men are truly that afraid of a wee babe with eyebrows like daddy. :-) Enjoy the snow! We are getting a storm right now and it's pretty.

Annecdotist
30/12/2014 05:04:51 am

Ha,ha, good point, Charli, there's a lot in the stereotype of the male psyche regarding endurance of physical challenges but balking at the emotional ones – I guess that would be extra strong for the sailors of the Victorian age.

litlove link
27/12/2014 09:16:14 am

Gosh I wish I'd known you were reading this as I'd love to have included it in Shiny New Books. I did send a copy to a reviewer, but he didn't get on with it so well. Ah well. Would you be interested in reviewing for us if the right book came along?

Reply
Annecdotist
30/12/2014 05:05:50 am

Aw, shucks, I'm honoured and always interested to spread my wings, but will need to email you to check what's required.

Reply
litlove link
8/1/2015 10:44:11 am

No problem - we have a brief I can send you. I'm vjlb100 at gmail dot com. But we're rushing towards a new edition at the end of January and so there's plenty of time - it will be a while now before we start assigning books again. So no rush!

Norah Colvin link
27/12/2014 11:39:11 pm

Hi Anne, a lovely flash and a great vision. I hope it is that ship; sadly a little too late for the cabin boy though.
I apologize that your previous flash slipped by. I'll pop back to read and comment now.
The sentence that says the most to me in this post is "He had gone to the windows they had looked through, and found them walled up." The exclusion by loss of sight (understanding) is very poignant.
Thanks for sharing. :)

Reply
Annecdotist
30/12/2014 05:08:33 am

Thanks for your feedback, Norah – I thought I'd leave it for the reader to decide whether my character can trust his own eyes.
I'm glad you liked the quote – it's very lyrical novel despite the harshness of the environment, but sometimes I do find it difficult to represent this adequately in my reviews.

Reply
Irene Waters link
28/12/2014 02:16:43 pm

There is something compelling about these cold water narratives. It is a landscape which is truly beautiful that we can visualise ourselves in and thus be able to empathise with the characters. A book which comes to mind is Jesse Blackadder's Chasing the Light set in Antarctica. Your flash captured that vision well also. Look forward to your year in review.

Reply
Annecdotist
30/12/2014 05:10:33 am

Thanks, Irene. I haven't read that one. We've got snow at the moment and quite beautiful in the bright sunshine, so fit so well with the ethos of this kind of novel.

Reply
geoff link
29/12/2014 09:34:35 am

I always love stories of the attempts to break through the north west passage; like those tales of Scott and Shakleton they seemed impossibly glamorous and brave. What never occurred to me back then but speaks clearly in your review is the ego involved in these sorts of expeditions. Do you remember a set of programmes on the BBC back in the 1970s I guess about the Africa explorers Burton and Speake? I was just about old enough to understand Burton's motivations were far from honourable; he was after the glory and the money. Brave men of course but not the heroes I thought them to be.

Reply
Annecdotist
30/12/2014 05:14:46 am

Thanks, Geoff, and glad you feel I've captured that essence in my review. I do think there's something a bit mad about people putting themselves in these situations although we can't help admiring their bravery. I didn't see those programmes but the colonisation of Africa is so interesting because it's much more recent (Not more recent than the events in this novel, but the relation to the reach of the British Empire). I've just finished reading another novel to review next year, The Book of Strange New Things, and although very different – it's about the colonisation of another planet – some of the sentiments are similar to those here.

Reply
Sarah link
30/12/2014 05:44:02 pm

Oh my gosh, Anne. I love this flash. And this quote is beautiful (in a way): "He was almost relieved. There was no more need for heroics, no choice to make."

How cool that your 100th post is your last one of the year. Loved your "year in books".

Reply
Annecdotist
31/12/2014 08:29:43 am

Thanks so much, Sarah, see you in the New Year.

Reply

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