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THE ODDEST PLACE on EARTH. Christopher Pala. 2002. San Jose

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THE ODDEST PLACE on EARTH. Christopher Pala. 2002. San Jose Polar Record 40 (212): 71–84 (2004). Printed in the United Kingdom. 71 Book Reviews THE ODDEST PLACE ON EARTH.Christopher Pala. the model of the romantic explorer, Fridtjof Nansen, 2002. San Jose: Writer’s Showcase. viii + 314 p; softcover. and the practical, all-victorious, but never-fulfilled Roald ISBN 0-595-21454-1. US$17.95; £14.99. Amundsen, who is now finally being recognized as first DOI: 10.1017/S0032247403213310 to reach both ends of the Earth. The hoary Cook– Peary fight over, it now seems, who was the best liar, In this book Christopher Pala, a freelance journalist, Salomon Andree’s´ quixotic attempt to fly to the Pole proposes the first ‘expedition to nowhere.’ It’s a premise in an uncontrollable hydrogen balloon in 1897 and the that could only be carried out at ‘The oddest place on sensational discovery of his fate only 40 years later, Earth,’ the North Pole, which, as a real place, has no more and Hubert Wilkins’ equally mad attempt to take a substance than the mathematical conception it represents, battered hulk of a submarine with non-functional diving since, there, even direction and time are, in any real planes under the polar ice each get generous treatments. sense, meaningless. A century ago, just reaching it was More valuable are Pala’s explorations of some less well- the ardent dream of many explorers. Today, since anyone known stories, such as Storker Storkerson’s Arctic drift, with enough money can go there any spring, rather than Ivan Papanin’s establishment of the first drifting Arctic making the Pole his goal, Pala will start his expedition at base, and, perhaps most valuable of all, his account of the Pole itself, drift away on the floating ice that covers Alexander Kuznetsov’s flight to the North Pole in 1948, it while he sleeps, and return to it every 24-hour period, previously published in the pages of this journal, which day after day. This will put him in a position to record resulted in the first undisputed claim of a man to have the daily activities of other visitors, who, we learn, have stood at the actual Pole. become surprisingly common. Nor are recent explorers neglected. We meet Bjorn¨ An ‘expedition to everywhere’ is a possible alternate Staib, whose 1965 attempt reawakened an interest in metaphor for the book itself, as it covers a lot of ground. surface travel to the Pole; Ralph Plaisted, a Minnesota We get explanations of natural and metaphysical phe- insurance man, whose first undisputed over-ice journey nomena associated with the Pole, a synopsis of Twenty to the Pole in 1968 convinced him that Peary had not told thousand leagues under the sea,anaccount of a gargan- the truth in 1909; and a host of others, like Borge Ousland tuan hot-air balloon meet in Sweden, a mini-history of and Madeleine Griselin, each seeking to carve out a place submarines from the time of Robert Fulton to the nuclear in polar history by achieving one of a diminishing number age, a small dose of Soviet politics and the improvised of specialized ‘firsts.’ logistics necessary in the wake of the Soviet collapse, and Among these is one magnificent first, however: that even a few details on the South Pole and its environs. of Richard Weber and Mikhail Malakhov, who in 1995 There is also a fair glimpse of Russian mentality, which were first to reach the Pole and return to any point of Pala clearly admires for its ‘utter contempt for creature land unassisted. In the odd world of polar politics, this comforts’ and stoic adaptation to the nasty surprises the amazing and still unduplicated journey has gotten so little Arctic can spring. Pala is accepted by the Russians who acknowledgement that its repetition is always welcome, facilitate the polar tourist trade as a normalny chelavyek — and Pala gives it the space it deserves. a normal person — because of his command of the Pala’s eye for detail is always evident, but when he Russian language; his willingness to participate in turns it to the current events at the Pole, this virtue of Russian rituals, such as endless rounds of vodka-downing his writing can sometimes blunt his narrative’s forward and sauna-sitting; and a certain shared less-than-serious momentum. Literally scores of characters are named, but attitude toward life and work that frustrates so many others none but a few take on any substance, perhaps because, in the book who have to deal with Russians to reach the ultimately, they have none. The impression of the world Pole. By contrast, the French, who also occupy Pala’s of adventure tourism that is left is one of vast egos, petty attention (he grew up in France), come off rather badly. rivalries, and the excesses of excess money, where it costs Their insistence on bringing their culture with them rather $6000–12,000 for either a three-minute polar parachute than adapting to local conditions, and their general disdain jump or 15-minute snorkel under the ice, $30,000 to be for the improvisational and maddeningly undisciplined guided the ‘Last degree’ toward the Pole, or as much as Russian approach to things never gains them ‘normal’ $100,000 to fly a hot-air balloon there. All of this invented status. adventure is drowned down by toasts of champagne, or, Forthe most part, the book jumps back and forth when it is frozen, vodka, nonetheless. But the adrenaline between North Pole history and the current adventure rush is difficult to transmit to the printed page, and without tourism scene now focused on it. Along the way, many it the adventure tourism scene seems as empty as the of the usual cast of characters appear, among them champagne bottles left to drift south with the ice when 72 BOOK REVIEWS one group leaves the Pole to make room for the next in the history of science as any other instrument for helicopter-load of thrill seekers. measurement or cartography. Narratives are presented as One is left to wonder if the historic and modern polar strategic practices of importance for those being explored, scenes are really so different. After all, the classic polar as well as for the explorers and their national self-images. explorers were all about ego, money, and fame, weren’t As such, story telling is about themes aimed at legitimising they? the entire enterprise of the traveller-scientist. Editors When Pala eventually does go on his own ‘expedition Michael Bravo and Sverker Sorlin¨ argue for the necessity to nowhere’ with his ex-fiancee,´ Silvia, he describes the to analyse the national histories of science and culture polar peregrinations of a self-confessed ‘couch potato’ with regard to the Arctic within the context of some and a woman who detests cold with self-effacing humor larger entity, putting forward the ideas of an ‘Arcticality’ and good grace. But underneath it all, one gets a sense analogous with ‘Orientalism, Tropicality etc.’ However, of what an alien place the North Pole still is, even with as will be shown, there are some impediments to this line a heated tent, luxurious French freeze-dried rations, the of thought. navigational aid of a GPS, and the security of modern Travellers to the Arctic were scientists, missionaries, communications. It is easy to imagine (and Pala does) any or other non-local men sent northwards in order to produce number of accidents or chance events that could quickly and disseminate knowledge about the ‘desolate North.’ find them lost in the Arctic, where everything is white and However, the practices of mapping, measuring, naming, nothing is permanent. and writing meant inscribing Arctic life into the world of Of all of this, Christopher Pala writes with enthusiasm, scientists based in scientific centres. Integral to the needs and achieves a high standard of accuracy in his historical of their governments was to construct an Arctic heritage, asides. Unfortunately, the lack of another pair of eyes for while peripheral areas were to be positioned in relation to this self-published book results in a considerable number the central areas. of distracting word-processing errors and a certain lack of Nevertheless, travels to the north differed in Denmark, continuity, which makes it read more like a collection of compared to Sweden and later Norway. The authors articles than a unified whole. If the writing is sometimes comment upon the varieties in missions, style, and the uneven, even so, Pala is a skillful writer at his best, and resulting national historiographies of Norway, Denmark, editors these days, even at the big publishing houses, and Sweden. The editors conclude that these variations hardly edit anything anymore. And if Christopher Pala’s are considerable enough to deter the initially intended book about an ‘expedition to nowhere’ wanders up a comparisons to the respective routes of the Nordic few dead-end streets along the way, it finds a number of countries of colonising the Arctic by means of science interesting byways that lead to an occasional unforgettable and travel. The larger entity does not permit too much vista as well. That, in the end, makes this expedition homogeneity as to the degree of ‘Arcticness.’ to nowhere and everywhere a rewarding journey, after To exemplify such differences, the articles under the all. (Robert M. Bryce, Head Librarian, Montgomery heading of ‘Meta narratives of northern nations’ are College, 20200 Observation Drive, Germantown, MD useful. Sorlin¨ shows how official Sweden entered the 20874, USA.) northern regions by means of developing forestry and the mining industry, coupled with scientific practices, NARRATING THE ARCTIC: A CULTURAL HIS- particularly within the field of natural history, constantly TORY OF NORDIC SCIENTIFIC PRACTICES.
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