Antarctica

Duncan Lawie recently reviewed Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. This time around, he's taken a look at Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica. Click below to read more. Antarctica author Kim Stanley Robinson pages 672 publisher Bantam Books rating 7/10 reviewer Duncan Lawie ISBN 0553574027 summary Compelling description in a slow moving work from the master of hyper-real science fiction. Kim Stanley Robinson is a standard bearer of what has become known as 'Californian science fiction'. The tag seems overly obvious given his early Orange County trilogy but more usefully describes a kind of modestly utopian S.F. which has an awareness of politics and human nature. He is best known for his Mars trilogy.

The situation described at the outset of Antarctica, set a few decades into the future, is a natural progression from the current day. Antarctica is already a home to scientific communities and is becoming a playground for adventurers and the rich. The most remote continent is attracting increasing interest as money and technology bring it within reach. The nature of the Antarctic environment is being affected by human activity in the rest of the world. This, in turn, may also affect us profoundly. These topics are as relevant in Michigan and Melbourne as at McMurdo Station. From these present realities the author attempts to build a gentle plot of science, tourism, ecoterrorism and the value of the last continent to the future of our planet.

KSR seems more interested, however, in the continent itself and its effects on those who spend time there. The novel exhibits in all its characters the profound effect that Antarctica has on those who fall into it's grasp. Wherever else in the world they might go, they are drawn back. Whether they wish to exploit it's wealth or preserve it's austere beauty they are under a spell where simply being in Antarctica makes life more real. Whether shepherding idiot tourists or measuring the compass orienation of random pebbles, these are merely the price paid to be truly alive.

Much of the novel is a travelogue. Sweeping descriptions - the view from above what is now McMurdo Station, the arrival at the South Pole - are reminiscent of Sara Wheeler's travel book Terra Incognita. There are parallels between one protagonist's activities in the Dry Valleys and KSR's own visit as part of the US Antarctic Program's Artists and Writers Program. It is the descriptive aspect of his writing which makes the book worth reading. In fact, KSR writes so convincingly that it can be difficult determine whether what is described is literally true, literally fiction or simply has not yet occurred. Like the Mars trilogy, the writing is such that, looking back, much of what has been read feels like profound personal experience. This is the greatest success of KSR's 'maximalist' style of writing. However, at times the plot slows visibly in order to accommodate the detail. The plot is a servant of exposition and discussion rather than an animator.

An example of this is lengthy discussion of early explorers, principally Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen who, KSR suggests, form the only shared culture of the continent. It is hardly surprising that this is so: many of the familiar Antarctic places are named by them or for them; they managed several of the final big 'firsts' possible on this planet; they are from the last age of heroes and their stories, though debated and rewritten, are powerful. One protaganist's journey across the ice is a metaphor for coming to terms with both the myth and the reality of the "old boys".

There is a temptation to attempt to fit KSR's works into a single future history. Antarctic science is used in the Mars program. This is as true in the real world as it is in KSR's writing. Antarctica is thematically in accord with the Mars trilogy: there is the intense interest in science and concern for ecological questions; there is a warm, human perspective; there is a cold and unforgiving world. However, this need only mean that this is the work of the same man. He didn't actually visit Antarctica until after the Mars trilogy was virtually finished but, like many of his characters, he wants to go back. This may explain why the novel fits better into the genre of Antarctic writing than into the science fiction genre. There is a danger in this book that the reader may be similarly mesmerised by the ice. Antarctica is a continent that almost no-one initially experiences first-hand and this taste is as honest as any. In a certain sense the novel has been a success if it leads the reader on to Apsley Cherry-Garrard's The Worst Journey in the World and the many books, good and bad, lined up behind that masterpiece.

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