The Terrors of Ice and Darkness

by Christoph Ransmayr

Book Overview

A brilliant interweaving of journeys and voyages--geographical, historical, psychological--The Terrors of Ice and Darkness is the riveting account of a narrator obsessed with a certain Josef Mazzini, a young Italian "lost in the arctic winter of 1981" who is himself obsessed with the Imperial Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition of 1873: "At first it was nothing more than a game to try to reduce the circumstances of his disappearance to some sort...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802134599
• ISBN13: 9780802134592
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Very well written and organized but oddly unfinished

For me, this book is a lively substitute for reading the full journals of the two commanders of the 1872-74 Austro-Hungarian expedition. Liberally cited and carefully chosen, contextualized excerpts convey the full drama and horrors of the 1872 voyage. The three levels of narrative (the narrator/Mazzini researcher, Mazzini, and the 19th century explorers) are well blended and less troublesome than they may seem to follow. I was hoping to find more clues for the mysterious disappearance of Mazzini than I found. It seems quite odd that the novelist didn't simply have him jump ship at the northern extremity of the voyage rather than bring him back to Spitzbergen. All-in-all, though this is a gripping novel and brought home the incredible endurance and steel nerves required of such expeditions before the age of comfortable icebreaking expedition ships, helicopters and snow-skidded aircraft.

Fascinating read

This is a very satisfying book... the author has interwoven the story of a 19th century arctic expedition with the modern-day mystery of a man obsessed with the "terrors of ice and darkness." The descriptions of the vast and desolate arctic landscapes are lyrical and moving; after an hour of reading, you may feel so pulled into this world of darkness and ice it is difficult to return ! A must read for any arctic history buff...

Ausgezeichnet

The Kirkus review does not do this book justice. It is quite good, especially for fans of historically accurate novels.