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The Arctic Light: Commentary on Andrea Barrett's The Voyage of the Narwhal |
| Section: BOOK WORLD / COMMENTARY |
| Author: Jill E. Rendelstein |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/1999 |
| Size: 3,491 Words, 20,251 Characters |
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For a moment, Captain Ahab's contemptuous eyes held my vision, but I retracted from his glare; Dr. Frankenstein's tortured whispers and diary ramblings echoed in my ears as the Ancient Mariner's albatross glided slowly past my window, circling in its own mysterious path. These images flooded my thoughts as I began reading Andrea Barrett's Voyage of the Narwhal.
Moby-Dick, Frankenstein, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are reminiscent of a time when ships, sailors, and captains were revered, and the whole world was in awe of their explorations. When they returned from their travels, the public begged for stories about what they had done and seen. These novels revealed obsessions. No matter the cost to themselves or their crew, the men would not end their quests. Because Barrett alludes to these works of literature, her new sea adventure brings back these land-bound journeys in echoing waves.
The ocean washed over me, and my chair began to rock as in my mind I embarked with Erasmus, the main character, on his dangerous voyage. I fell in love with the mutating faces of the enemy, white ice, held my breath when the glacial waters took hold of the unprepared crew, and turned off my air-conditioning when the men nearly froze to death on the ship. This novel has taken me through uncharted arctic waters, I thought; the plot was not the same. Barrett had extended the voyage far beyond the travels of the original sailors.
Yet I still had to know what Barrett had actually intended to reveal. Were the underlying themes of The Voyage of the Narwhal truly unique when compared to other sea adventure books? And most important, if The Voyage of the Narwhal does support new themes, what particular life experiences had led her to create this novel? When Barrett arrived, I saw that she was tall but delicate; her soft, graying hair had been brushed back from her shoulders to reveal a kind face. When she approached me in the soft pastel-colored lobby of her hotel, we shook hands and smiled at one ano...
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... rearrange, and extend those interpretations into new ones for the benefit of new readers. Barrett has done that with her novel.
I sat back from my computer and closed my eyes. Trying to picture an unpicturable light illuminated my own thoughts. Perhaps we should view The Voyage of the Narwhal in a new light. Maybe Andrea Barrett's novel, like the arctic light, is really "only like itself."
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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