Thin Places by Sandra Lockwood B.F.A., Emily Carr University of Art and Design, 2007 B.A., University of Toronto, 1983 Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Liberal Studies in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Sandra Elizabeth Lockwood 2013 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2013 Approval Name: Sandra Lockwood Degree: Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Title of Project: Thin Places Examining Committee: Chair: Eleanor Stebner Associate Professor Department of Humanities Stephen Duguid Senior Supervisor Professor Department of Humanities Michael Kenny Supervisor Professor Emeritus Department of Sociology and Anthropology Robert Gordon External Examiner Professor School of Criminology Date Defended: April 12, 2013 ii Partial Copyright Licence iii Abstract This inquiry into the three great quests of the twentieth century–the South Pole, Mount Everest, and the Moon–examines our motivations to venture into these sublime, yet life- taking places. The Thin Place was once the destination of the religious pilgrim seeking transcendence in an extreme environment. In our age, the Thin Place quest has morphed into a challenge to evolve beyond the confines of our own physiology; through human ingenuity and invention, we reach places not meant to accommodate human life. The early Antarctic explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard defined exploration as “the physical expression of intellectual passion.” Our quests to explore the end of the earth, the top of the world, and into outer space exemplify this definition. Moreover, these quests have great metaphoric value; they are symbolic of supreme achievement, and help define what it means to be human. Keywords: exploration; numinosity; twentieth century; South Pole; Mount Everest; the Moon iv Dedication In memory of my father Kenneth Arthur John Lockwood who found a thin place for our family v Acknowledgements I am most grateful for the encouragement and patience of Dr. Stephen Duguid, in guiding me through this project. I also greatly appreciate the time and assistance of Dr. Michael Kenny, Dr. Eleanor Stebner, Dr. Jerry Zaslove, and Dr. Heesoon Bai. I especially thank Dr. Robert Gordon for the piece of “Everest.” I also thank Wendy Sjolin for her support and kindness. I am grateful to my aunt, Penelope Vardy for her memories of “Scott of the Antarctic,” and my mother, Frederica Anne Lockwood for her memories of the Apollo landings. I could not have written this without the support and love of my husband Mark Jowett and my son, Liam Jowett-Lockwood, who have had to live with me through these cold, remote, thin places for so many years. vi Table of Contents Approval ............................................................................................................................................ ii Partial Copyright Licence ................................................................................................................. iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ iv Dedication ......................................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vii List of Illustrations .......................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. The Thin Place: Towards a New Definition ............................................ 1 Be Here Now .................................................................................................................................... 2 Numinous Challenge ........................................................................................................................ 3 Towards A New Definition ................................................................................................................ 7 The South Pole, Mount Everest, The Moon ........................................................................... 8 Chapter 2. The South Pole, Antarctica .................................................................... 12 An Awful Place................................................................................................................................ 13 Our Own White South ..................................................................................................................... 15 Terra Incognita................................................................................................................................ 19 The Heroic Age of the Polar Explorer ............................................................................................. 21 Robert Falcon Scott .............................................................................................................. 22 Ernest Shackleton ................................................................................................................. 27 Roald Amundsen .................................................................................................................. 31 Douglas Mawson .................................................................................................................. 34 The Legacy of the Heroic Age ........................................................................................................ 36 Of Ice, and Ice Melting .................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 3. Mount Everest ........................................................................................ 42 A Force of Nature ........................................................................................................................... 43 “X” Marks the Spot .......................................................................................................................... 46 Sacred or Desecrated? ................................................................................................................... 53 The Mountain of “Firsts” ................................................................................................................. 59 Chapter 4. The Moon ................................................................................................ 64 Once in a Blue Moon ...................................................................................................................... 65 Of Moonlight and Light Bulbs ......................................................................................................... 70 The Heroic Age of Lunar Exploration ............................................................................................. 77 Numinous Disconnection ................................................................................................................ 82 The First Earthrise .......................................................................................................................... 88 Chapter 5. In Search of Secular Hierophanies ....................................................... 95 Thin Men ......................................................................................................................................... 96 Secular Hierophanies ..................................................................................................................... 99 References ................................................................................................................. 105 Appendices ................................................................................................................ 111 Appendix A. Antarctica “Heroic Age” Explorations ...................................................................... 112 Appendix B. Mount Everest: Some Notable Expeditions and “Firsts” ......................................... 113 Appendix C. Manned Apollo Lunar Missions ............................................................................... 114 vii List of Illustrations Illustration 1. Thin Planet. Pencil. .................................................................................. 1 Illustration 2. Aurora Australis, Coloured pencil. .......................................................... 12 Illustration 3. Climbing the Mountain. Colored pencil. .................................................. 42 Illustration 4. The “Blue” Moon. Watercolour. .............................................................. 64 Illustration 5. Inexpressible Cold. Coloured pencil. ...................................................... 95 viii Chapter 1. The Thin Place: Towards a New Definition Illustration 1. Thin Planet. Pencil. 1 Be Here Now The pilgrim’s clothes hang in shreds; his skin is scratched and scabbed. He is immune to sensations of cold and hunger, and although exhaustion should cripple his stead, he stands exhilarated, having reached this most difficult place, a place scarcely of this earth. But then, he also is scarcely of this earth, so badly beaten by Nature, at its most visceral extreme. All swords are drawn on this day of black rock and stinging salt as he waits for the sliver of receding light