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A Woman in the Polar Night

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Published in 1938, ‘A Woman in the Polar Night’ by Christiane Ritter based on the author’s experiences in the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen is considered a cult classic with the original German book translated into over seven languages, never going out of print over the years. The English translation was done by Jane Degras in 1954 and this really pretty edition was published by Pushkin Press in 2019 – I’d imagine I saw it on a few blogs at the time. But I once spent the night in a jungle with a wet wool blanket, and it kept me warm, so maybe feather beds are like that, still warm when damp. I didn’t expect January to bring me a 5-star read, and I certainly didn’t expect to find it in the Arctic. It also pained me that they felt there was absolutely no wrongdoing in going to that part of the world for absoultely no reason, other than their own self exploration and to kill innocent wildlife.

Yet A Woman in the Polar Night enchanted me completely, giving me shivers and taking my breath away. Like you, rather less keen on the hunting/trapping stuff, but of course it fits in with the context and the way of life in that region. I would struggle with the hunting, although I know it’s necessary, but thank you for the fox warning!In Anbetracht der Erstveröffentlichung und der davor angetretenen Reise muss man den Mut der Autorin anerkennen. The young woman in this story is married to a man that is a hunter/trapper who takes expeditions to the Artic and lives in a hut on the small island of Spitsbergen. The writing is part memoir and a travelogue of sorts that does not keep its arc or sights on geographical indicators. I read this at the perfect time, with the sun here starting to feel warm, high temperatures are above freezing, and our heavy snow-pack is finally starting to melt. I know we all got a bit concentrated on whether the whale museum in the last book was a hunting museum, but I have to say this is a book with a lot of hunting in it.

The year is as if outside of time: she never reminisces about her life back home, and barely mentions their daughter. Christiane’s husband, Hermann, invited her to join him and another hunter because they wanted a ‘housewife’.By the end you see that the experience has changed her: she’ll never fret over trivial things again. Ritter's wry commentary over house duties, the depth of her contemplations on life and social ties, her emotional bonding to the animals she grows familiar with, the way she takes to life in sub zero temperatures on her own, all make for a compelling read. Them - as mentioned above, I didn't like any of them, I didn't care what experiences they went through or how they felt about it, but above all, I couldn't stand they sense of self entitlement that came with their experience. I've been vegetarian since I was four and cannot imagine hunting, especially for something under so much threat as polar bears; the attitudes toward hunting have to be taken within the context of the book's time. It won't be too lonely for you because at the northeast corner of the coast, about sixty miles from here, there is another hunter living, an old Swede.

She brings to life so vividly the stark landscape of this tiny Arctic island and the hardships she endures.Ritter manages to articulate all the terrible beauty and elemental power of a polar winter” – Gavin Francis.

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