Sexual Polarities: Shelley’s Frankenstein and Polar Exploration as a Search for Origins Beyond ‘woman’

Polly Gould

doi:10.7557/13.1189

Authors

Polly Gould Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design; Wimbledon College of Art

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/13.1189

Keywords:

Mary Shelly, Frankenstein, Ursula Le Guin, Ernest Henry Shackelton, Polar Landscapes,

Abstract

This paper is about our parents and our predecessors in life and in literature. It specifically interrogates the choice of Polar landscapes for the playing out of narratives of gender difference in stories of Arctic and Antarctic exploration. I have chosen to pay attention to three narratives: Shackleton's South, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Ursula Le Guin's short story Sur. They all take place in the icy expanse of the Arctic and Antarctic. I will read them in the light of the question of origins: ‘where do I come from?'

Author Biography

Polly Gould, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design; Wimbledon College of Art

Polly Gould is a writer and artist based in London. She makes
works with drawing, sound, video and performance. Her work is
concerned with landscape and mourning, and our relationships as speaking subjects exploring questions of voice, power and desire, and presented in a live form as performance lectures. Gould lectures in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Wimbledon College of Art.