While a compass might tell us which direction we are going, there is
really only one direction to which it ever points: north. North is the
ultimate point of orientation, but it is also a celebrated destination
for the adventurous, the curious, the solitary, and the foolhardy. In
this fascinating book--updated in this accessible, pocket edition--Peter
Davidson explores the concept of "north" through its many manifestations
in painting, legend, and literature.
Arctic bound, Davidson takes the reader on a journey from the heart of
society to the most far-flung outposts of human geography, packing in
our rucksacks a treasure trove of stories and artworks, from the
Icelandic Sagas to Nabokov's snowy kingdom of Zembla, from Hans
Christian Andersen's forbidding Snow Queen to the works of artists such
as Eric Ravilious, Ian Hamilton Finlay, and Andy Goldsworthy. He
celebrates the different ways our artists and writers have illuminated
our relationship with the earth's most dangerous and austere terrain.
Through Davidson's astonishing but inviting erudition, we ultimately
come to see north as a permanent goal, frozen forever on a horizon we
never seem to quite reach.