By highlighting the disciplinary contiguities existing between territorial studies and literary studies, the volume examines the representations of Antarctica in a series of narratives in English that constitute a rich repertoire of languages of the geographical imaginary. The ice continent has in fact configured itself as an empty space which, over time, has coincided with the desire to reach knowledge of the natural world, lending itself to a 'colonial' appropriation not so much in a physical and material sense as in terms of verbal and iconographic. In English culture the space of the far South has inspired a variety of stories, from the chronicles of explorers in the early decades of the twentieth century to contemporary female and dystopian narratives. From Captain Scott to Beryl Bainbridge, from Cherry-Garrard to science fiction, an Antarctic 'psychotopography' has been created in which the charm and mystery of an anomalous place are reflected, deeply anchored to the imaginative dimension. |