The Terrors of Ice and Darkness by Christoph Ransmayr


finished 5/26 ........ Austrian fiction contemp...........rating 8.5

This was published in 1984 in Germany and translated to English in 1991. There are three layers to this tale of obsession the first is the story of Mazzini who disappeared a few years earlier while living out an obsession with the history of the Austrian Arctic Expedition of Carl Weyprecht and Julius von Payer. An unnamed narrator relates both stories.

I suspect that Ransmayr followed the logs and journals, the historical evidence, exactly (omitting but not contradicting), but he fictionalized to free himself from the limitations of an historical account. First, he didn't have to do devote a couple chapters to the cultural context and respective births and ancestry of Weyprecht and Payer, probably others. Rather he was able to explore the nature of obsession and the realities of isolation and fame from whatever pov he wanted, contemporary or 19th century.

Most novelists rely quite heavily on empathy to evoke a reader response and Ransmayr is no different. Ransayer, in the parts between the log and journal entries, describes the mood and thoughts of the characters, "fleshin out" the historical evidence and in so doing produces the empathy. Historians speculate (and tell you that), fiction writers create empathy. By inserting Mazzini, Ransayer says quite firmly to the reader, this book is fiction. The story beyond what I have noted for you, is a fictionalized account of the lives of these men; it's not intended to be an accurate historical account. He outlines where he got the journals, letters, etc. but he doesn't give us anything further in the way of source material. It's his. I wouldn't be surprised if he visited the area to "experience" the terrors and darkness.

Posted: Sat - May 26, 2007 at 09:36 PM        

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