''Arqtiq: A Story of the Marvels at the North Pole'' is a
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...
n
adventure novel
Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction.
History
In the introduction to the ''Encycloped ...
, published in
1899
Events January
* January 1
** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...
by its author,
Anna Adolph. The book was one element in the major wave of
utopian and dystopian fiction
Utopian and dystopian fiction are subgenres of speculative fiction that explore extreme forms of social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality ...
that marked the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Genre
''Arqtiq'' participates in, bridges, and hybridizes several related literary genres and subgenres of its time. Some writers applied
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
viewpoints to utopian fiction; Elizabeth Corbett's ''
New Amazonia
''New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future'' is a Feminism, feminist Utopian and dystopian fiction, utopian novel, written by Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett and first published in 1889 in literature, 1889. It was one element in the wave of utopian an ...
'' is one pertinent example, among others. A number of late-nineteenth-century novels looked forward to the invention of the airplane, as Adolph's book does; these works can be classed, at least generally or peripherally, as
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
. ''Arqtiq'' combines this "airplane fiction" with utopian feminism, as does Jones and Merchant's ''
Unveiling a Parallel''.
''Arqtiq'' also partakes in the exotic subgenres of
hollow Earth
The Hollow Earth is a concept proposing that the planet Earth is entirely hollow or contains a substantial interior space. Notably suggested by Edmond Halley in the late 17th century, the notion was disproven, first tentatively by Pierre Bougue ...
or
subterranean fiction
Subterranean fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction, which focuses on fictional underground settings, sometimes at the Inner core, center of the Earth or otherwise deep below the surface. The genre is based on, and has in turn influenced, ...
, and
lost-world or lost-race fiction. Like Mary Lane's ''
Mizora
''Mizora'' is a feminist science fiction Utopian and dystopian fiction, utopian novel by Mary E. Bradley Lane, first published in 1880–81, when it was serialized in the ''Cincinnati Commercial'' newspaper. It appeared in book form in 1890. ...
'', Adolph's ''Arqtiq'' gives these forms of adventure fiction a feminist twist.
Stories of travel to the
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
or
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...
recurred throughout the nineteenth century.
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
's ''
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket'', written and published in 1838, is the only complete novel by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The novel is set between 1827 and 1828 and relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, wh ...
'' is the most famous of these; there were various others.
Finally, Adolph couches her story as a dream, linking it to a whole host of
fantasies
Fantasy is a genre of fiction.
Fantasy, Fantasie, or Fantasies may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* Fantasia (music), a free-form musical composition
* ''Fantasie'' (Widmann), a 1993 composition for solo clarinet by Jörg Widmann
* ...
that employ the dreaming motif.
Story
The plot of ''Arqtiq'' involves a woman who invents an aircraft, a sort of hybrid of airplane and balloon. She decides to fly it to the North Pole, accompanied by her husband, father, and friends (characters based on the author's own relationships). After crossing the continent to New York, they travel northwards and reach the Pole. At first they perceive only a flat plain surrounded with icebergs; but the narrator detects a crystal city beneath the ice. The aeronauts land and meet the inhabitants, called the Arq. The Arq maintain a culture of gender equality and high technology. Communication is facilitated by the Arqs'
telepathy
Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
; the narrator soon develops the same psychic ability. Despite their isolation, the Arq are devout Christians.
Adolph's ''Arqtiq'' has been characterized as "An eccentric novel combining elements of science fiction and religious fundamentalism," and an "exuberantly incoherent" book that also touches upon the work of
John Symmes, a lunar meteorite, and "lunar people who are tiny and nasty".
Everett F. Bleiler
Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...
with Richard Bleiler, ''Science-Fiction: The Early Years'', Kent, OH, Kent State University Press, 1990; p. 5.
See also
* ''
The Great Romance''
* ''
The Milltillionaire''
* ''
Sub-Coelum''
References
External links
Arqtiq: A Study of the Marvels at the North Poleby Anna Adolph at gutenberg.org
* {{librivox book , title=Arqtiq: A Study of the Marvels at the North Pole , author=Adolph
Feminist utopian novels
1899 science fiction novels
1899 fantasy novels
1899 American novels
American science fiction novels
American fantasy novels
American adventure novels
Science fantasy novels
Novels set in the Arctic
Fiction about the Hollow Earth
Novels set in subterranea
Feminist science fiction novels