The Terrors of Ice and Darkness (German: Die Schrecken des Eises und der Finsternis) is a 1984 novel by the Austrian writer Christoph Ransmayr. It tells the stories of the 1872–74 Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition, of a young Italian man who disappeared in 1981 while researching the expedition, and of the narrator, who tries to figure out what happened to the Italian.
![]() First edition (German) | |
Author | Christoph Ransmayr |
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Original title | Die Schrecken des Eises und der Finsternis |
Translator | John E. Woods |
Language | German |
Publisher | Brandstätter |
Publication date | 1984 |
Publication place | Germany |
Published in English | 1991 |
Pages | 256 |
ISBN | 9783854470434 |
Publication
editThe book was published in Germany in 1984. An English translation by John E. Woods was published in 1991 through Grove Press.[1]
Reception
editPublishers Weekly wrote: "This aggressively intelligent narrative transforms the polar regions into unusually fertile ground."[2] Geoffrey Moorhouse wrote in The New York Times: "Were it not for the invented character of Mazzini there would be no justification for categorizing Mr. Ransmayr's book as a novel at all. ... As a result, this is to some extent a book of information about difficult travel in one of the bleakest places on earth." The critic wrote that the book also is "about a number of psychological factors inseparable from quests", and "most important of all, the novelist strips away the spurious glamour that usually attaches itself to the idea of hard traveling."[3]
References
edit- ^ The terrors of ice and darkness. OCLC 742440587. Retrieved 2017-02-14 – via WorldCat.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: The Terrors of Ice and Darkness by Christoph Ransmayr". Publishers Weekly. 1991-07-01. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
- ^ Moorhouse, Geoffrey (1991-08-11). "A Soul Can Freeze at 40 Below". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
External links
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