(Ü/PS) Frozen Dreams: (Re)Writing the (Ant)Artic since 1700

(Ant-)Artic explorations have largely been considered "heroic failures" rather than the maritime successes that the British Admiralty had once hoped and aimed for. With tales of malfunctioning equipment, bad planning, spoiled food, illness, madness, and cannibalism, polar voyaging has enjoyed a particularly ambiguous position in the discourse on British exploratory voyaging. Though both the North and South have been the subject of popular culture, some (Ant-)Arctic disasters have recently assumed new geopolitical and cultural significance in debates on national identities, national heroes and the "theatre of exploration" (Lewis-Jones 2020).
In this seminar, we will trace the history of British polar voyages, spanning the time from the late 16th century until the voyages of 'modern explorers', and will explore the culture and politics of polar exploration and the making of its heroes. Through a variety of texts, from poems, to novels, to films and series, we well examine the (inter-)national, (geo-)political, cultural and social implications that the British strive to discover and govern earth's most northern and southern territories brought with and explore debates and controversies over Englishness/Britishness, patriotism, class, gender and colonialism.