Antarctic, The: An Anthology

The harsh and beautiful Polar Regions have inspired some wonderful writing. These two anthologies collect together some of the very best, from the classic accounts of Scott, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Fridtjof Nansen and John Franklin through pieces of short fiction from Jules Verne and H.P. Lovecraft to contemporary writing by Barry Lopez and Jenny Diski. With an admirable lack of self-effacement, each editor includes a piece of their own writing: Francis Spufford reprints his imaginative account of Scott’s final hours from the excellent I May Be Some Time; and Elizabeth Kolbert, who has written widely on the subject of climate change, selects ‘Shismarref, Alaska’ from her Field Notes From A Catastrophe.