In Antarctica: An Amundsen Pilgrimage

By Jay Ruzesky

Jay Ruzesky recalls a childhood of snow caves, literary ambitions, and a fascination with polar exploration that was ignited by the genes he shares with famed Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. As a boy, Ruzesky was captivated by Amundsen's diaries: an Antarctic exploration aboard Belgica when Amundsen was a twenty-five-year-old mate bent on earning his stripes; his historic navigation of the Northwest Passage from 1903 to 1906 where he intentionally froze in with his ship Gjoa over the winters to drift with the pack ice; and his triumph onboard his ship Fram to be the first to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911.Now a poet and teacher of English at a small university on Vancouver Island, Ruzesky became motivated by the approaching centennial of Amundsen's South Pole accomplishment to pursue his own quest to Antarctica--not only as a following of Amundsen's footsteps, but also a pilgrimage to a near-mythical place where heroes were made and died. He books his voyage aboard a 71-metre ice-strengthened research vessel, Polar Pioneer , bound for Antarctica.Ruzesky skilfully interweaves three stories creatively extrapolated from Amundsen's experiences on both Belgica and Fram , and his own observations leading up to and during his voyage on Polar Pioneer . In the tradition of Bruce Chatwin and with a poet's heart, Ruzesky offers a historically accurate tale while traversing both time and place--paralleling a century of explorers' dreams from Pole to Pole with stops in Canada, Norway, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Antarctica. In Antarctica Book Trailer from Jay Ruzesky on Vimeo.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0889712824
• ISBN13: 9780889712829
• Release Date: April 2013
• Publisher: Nightwood Editions
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.8"