'Hell With A Capital H'.An epic story of Antarctic
Survival.
It can be said that there is an over- abundance of epic
Antarctic survival stories however, this one is the best. Led by Victor Campbell,
(an inspired choice by Scott) the Northern Party survived an Antarctic winter
in a snow drift burrow. Make no mistake, this is a real tale of hardship, heroism
and endurance. It is a story of classical proportions and deserves another airing
and analysis. The question is, does this book do it justice? It would be so easy
when writing yet another modern résumé of one aspect of heroic age
exploration to criticise and question using modern views and hindsight. Scott,
especially used the Navel class system as a means of maintaining discipline and
control. Cambell, did likewise with the Northern party. We can today look back
with amazement at how 'officers' and 'men' were treated differently. Katherine
Lambert's book makes a study of the relationships within the party, she points
out these 'class' differences without modern analysis and this is important. It
wasn't until after the First World war that people began to question and change
these attitudes. There was in Campbell's 'man management' system a precarious
balance and I feel that this is adequately expressed in this book. It is not perfect
though, and the poor author is never going to live it down that in a footnote
on page 138 she describes that 'When Oates's body was found, it was discovered
that he cut his boots open (easier to force his frozen feet in). Hmmm, the
fact that Oates body had been discovered is news to me. Despite that, this is
a good book and yes, it does this marvellous, inspiring story justice and that
is what counts.
Published by Pimlico in 2002.
