Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962) was Canada's greatest modern arctic explorer, theorist, writer, and pioneer ethnologist. For the first quarter of the twentieth century his ideas captured the imagination of Canadians and gave them a sense of Canada's nor
The first comprehensive account of one of the great sagas of Arctic exploration and discovery, the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913–1918, led by the ethnologist/explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson and the zoologist Dr. Rudolph M. Anderson. There are details of the Expedition’s successes and tragedies, including the discovery of all but one large island north of the Canadian mainland, the accumulation of considerable scientific information and valuable collections, and the personal feud of the Expedition’s two leaders. Four appendices list Expedition personnel, fifty-three geographical sites in the Arctic named after them, locations of their diaries and collected specimens, and the thirteen government volumes arising from the Expedition.
"Vilhjalmur Stefansson is widely known for his groundbreaking Canadian Arctic explorations of the early 1900s. He acquired a reputation almost larger than life with his discovery of the Copper Inuit - a hitherto unknown people - his insistence on living as the local people did, and, with Natkusiak, his Inuit co-explorer, his adventurous forays onto barren ice for months at a time. He was a fixture in the New York Greenwich Village scene and, later in his life, taught at Dartmouth College. However, despite his detailed field diaries and the frenzy of publicity that followed his every move, his private life has remained largely unknown." "Then, in 1987, an accidental discovery in a flea market of hundreds of private letters and documents proved to be those belonging to Stefansson, and they told a story of private relationships, in particular with two southern women, Orpha Cecil Smith, to whom Stefansson was engaged, and the novelist Fannie Hurst, with whom Stefansson was involved for many years. Moreover, letters between some of Stefansson's friends as well as his own field diaries alluded to an important relationship Stefansson had with an Inupiat woman in the Arctic, Pannigabluk, and to their son, Alex." "Gisli Palsson has followed the trail of these sources and conducted many interviews with Stefansson's northern descendants, uncovering a complex and perhaps torn personality. In Travelling Passions, we have a much more complete picture of the man who figured so largely in the imagination of the early twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.
A first-hand account of explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson's five-year expedition to the Canadian Arctic, including encounters with the local Inuit people and descriptions of the region's geography and wildlife. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Impressive in its scope and scholarship, this book presents the first comprehensive and authoritative account of the storied Canadian Arctic Expedition and the personal animosity of its co-leaders: the intrepid explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson and the respected scientist Rudolph Anderson. The volume details the expedition's successes and tragedies, including the discovery of islands never before mapped and the sinking of the flagship Karluk. After 90 years, all the elements of this important and compelling story have finally been woven into a single volume. It is long overdue. The book includes 84 illustrations and maps, a detailed bibliography, and several appendices. The author is uniquely qualified to tell this story. His father was Diamond Jenness, a scientist on the expedition, and he knew or met seven other expedition members, including both Stefansson and Anderson.