Date

Publication Available
The Spectral Arctic: A Cultural History of Ghosts and Dreams in Polar Exploration

For more information and to download the free PDF version of this publication, go to:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/browse-books/the-spectral-arctic

For questions, contact:
Alison Major
Email: uclpresspublishing [at] ucl.ac.uk


Publishers announce the release of their publication titled "The Spectral Arctic: A Cultural History of Ghosts and Dreams in Polar Exploration." These spectral stories reflect the complex ways that men and women actually thought about the far North in the past. "The Spectral Arctic" re-thinks our understanding of Arctic exploration by paying attention to the importance of dreams and ghosts in the quest for the Northwest Passage.

Publication Summary:

In contrast to oft-told tales of heroism and disaster, this book reveals the hidden stories of dreaming and haunted explorers, of frozen mummies, of rescue balloons, visits to Inuit shamans, and of the entranced female clairvoyants who traveled to the Arctic in search of John Franklin’s lost expedition. Through new readings of archival documents, exploration narratives, and fictional texts, these spectral stories reflect the complex ways that men and women actually thought about the far North in the past. This revisionist historical account allows us to make sense of current cultural and political concerns in the Canadian Arctic about the location of Franklin’s ships.

For more information and to download the free PDF version of this publication, go to:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/browse-books/the-spectral-arctic

For questions, contact:
Alison Major
Email: uclpresspublishing [at] ucl.ac.uk