No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The ice as leitmotif of a life: Erich von Drygalski, writings and photographs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 September 2019
Abstract
Professional scientist-geographer Erich von Drygalski led the first German expedition to Antarctica in 1901–1903. The expedition saw itself as purely scientific, which turned out to be at odds with the expectations of Imperial Germany at the time. It was one of the first to use photography extensively and effectively to document and record scientific activities and to shape the public’s image of the work that was being done in this remote and unknown part of the world. Ice was the leitmotif of Drygalski’s life. He had prior experience in the Arctic, and the year spent in Antarctica confirmed his nuanced way of viewing the ice: on the one hand, and foremost, scholarly and objective, while still appreciating its aesthetic qualities; on the other, infused with feelings of human vulnerability. Using discourse analysis, this article examines Drygalski’s published work and photographs he chose to illustrate it, in order to investigate what the ice meant to him. In his writings, it was the scholarly, objective attitude which predominated and this may have contributed to the generally lacklustre reception of his Antarctic achievements. The photographs he chose to illustrate his published work, however, were many and varied, often capturing the awe-inspiring beauty of the ice and contributing to good sales of his narrative of the South Polar Expedition.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- © Cambridge University Press 2019
References
Barczewski, S. (2007). Antarctic Destinies: Scott, Shackleton and the Changing Face of Heroism. London: Hambledon Continuum.Google Scholar
Barr, S. (1997). Expedition photography in polar areas. Photoresearcher, European Society for the History of Photography, University of Wales, 6, 47–54.Google Scholar
Dawson, G. (1994). Soldier Heroes: British Adventure, Empire, and the Imagining of Masculinities. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dorrian, M., & Pousin, F. (2012). Seeing from Above: The Aerial View in Visual Culture. London: IB Tauris.Google Scholar
Drygalski, E. von (1897). Grönlands Eis und sein Vorland [Greenland’s ice and its foreshore], Vol. 1. In von Drygalski, E., Vanhöffen, E., Stade, H. & Schumann, R. (Eds.), Grönland-Expedition der Gesellschaft für Erkunde zu Berlin 1891–1893, unter Leitung von Erich von Drygalski (The Greenland expedition of the Berlin Geography Society 1891–1893, under the leadership of Erich von Drygalski). Berlin: WH Kühl.Google Scholar
Drygalski, E. von (1898). Die Ergebnisse der Südpolarforschung und die Aufgaben der Deutschen Südpolar-Expedition [The results of South Polar research and the mission of the German South Polar Expedition]. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Drygalski, E. von (1904a). Zum Kontinent des eisigen Südens: Deutsche Südpolarexpedition, Fahrten und Forschungen des “Gauss” 1901–1903 [To the southern ice continent: the German South Polar expedition, voyages and researches of the “Gauss” 1901–1903]. Berlin: Reimer.Google Scholar
Drygalski, E. von (1904b). The German Antarctic expedition and discussion. The Geographical Journal, 24(2), 129–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drygalski, E. von (1911). Spitzbergens Vereisung (The glaciation of Spitsbergen). In Miethe, A. & Hergesell, H. (Eds.), Mit Zeppelin nach Spitzbergen, Bilder von der Studienreise der deutschen arktischen Zeppelin-Expedition [With Zeppelin to Spitsbergen – Pictures from the study trip of the German Arctic Zeppelin Expedition] (pp. 177–184). Berlin, Leipzig, Vienna, Stuttgart: Deutsches Verlagshaus Bong & Komp.Google Scholar
Drygalski, E von (1912). Vorwort (Foreword), Deutsche Südpolar-Expedition 1901–1903, v2, Geographie und Geologie (v–viii). Berlin: Reimer.Google Scholar
Drygalski, E. von (Ed.). (1923). Deutsche Südpolar-Expedition 1901–1903, v3, Meteorologie 1. Berlin: Reimer.Google Scholar
Drygalski, E. von (1989). The Southern Ice-Continent: The German South Polar Expedition aboard the Gauss 1901–1903, translated by Raraty, M. M.. Bluntisham: Bluntisham Books.Google Scholar
Drygalski, E. von & Machatschek, F. (1942) Gletscherkunde (Glaciology). Vienna: Deuticke.Google Scholar
Elzinga, A. (2001). Otto Nordenskjöld’s quest to internationalise South Polar research. In Elzinga, A., Nordin, T., Turner, D. & Wråkberg, U. (Eds.) (2004) Antarctic Challenges: Historical and Current Perspectives on Otto Nordenskjöld’s Antarctic Expedition 1901–1903 (pp. 262–290). Gothenburg: Royal Society of Arts and Sciences.Google Scholar
Elzinga, A. (2007). South Polar imaginations and geopolitical realities — Contextualising Otto Nordenskjöld’s scientific internationalism and its limits. In Rabassa, J. & Borla, M. L. (Eds.), Antarctic Peninsula and Tierra del Fuego: 100 years of Swedish-Argentine scientific cooperation at the end of the world, proceedings of Otto Nordenskjöld’s Antarctic Expedition 1901–1903 and Swedish scientists in Patagonia: a symposium held in Buenos Aires, La Plata and Ushuaia, Argentina, March 2–7, 2003 (pp. 143–158). London: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Elzinga, A. (2016). Cornelia Lüdecke, Deutsche in der Antarktis. Expeditionen und Forschungen von Kaiserreich bis heute [Germans in the Antarctic: Expeditions and research from imperial to modern times]. Berlin: Chr. Links Verlag 2015. Journal of Northern Studies, 10(1), 116–126.Google Scholar
Enzberg, E. von. (1898). Fridtjof Nansen: Ein Lebensbild [Fridtjof Nansen: a biography]. Dresden, Leipzig: Verlag von Cal Reiβner.Google Scholar
Finley, G. (1979). The genesis of Turner’s “Landscape Sublime”. Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 42(2/3), 141–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gee, J. P. (1990). Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. London: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Gee, J. P. (2011). An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Geographical Journal. (1932). Review: The Gauss Antarctic Reports Deutsche Südpolar Expedition, 1901–1903. von Drygalski, E. (Ed.). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co. 1905–1931. The Geographical Journal, 79(6), 506–508.Google Scholar
Glasberg, E. (2012). Antarctica as Cultural Critique: the Gendered Politics of Scientific Exploration & Climate Change. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenland Expedition of the Berlin Geographical Society. (1894. Feb. 22). Nature, 399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hergesell, H. (1911). Die Fahrten des Fönix (The voyages of the Phoenix). In Miethe, A. & Hergesell, H. (Eds.), Mit Zeppelin nach Spitzbergen, Bilder von der Studienreise der deutschen arktischen Zeppelin-Expedition [With Zeppelin to Spitsbergen – Pictures from the Study Trip of the German Arctic Zeppelin Expedition] (pp. 227–262). Berlin, Leipzig, Vienna, Stuttgart: Deutsches Verlagshaus Bong & Komp.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, G. (2017). Sir John Franklin’s Erebus and Terror Expedition: Lost and Found. London: Adlard Coles Nautical.Google Scholar
Joerg, W. L.G. (1950). Obituary: Erich von Drygalski. Geographical Review, 40(3), 489–491.Google Scholar
Journal of Glaciology. (1948). Review. Gletscherkunde. E. von Drygalski F. Machatschek Vienna: Frank Deuticke, 1942, 1(3), 149–150.Google Scholar
Journal of Glaciology. (1958). Obituary. Professor (Emeritus) Fritz Machatschek—1876–1957, 3(24), 322–323.Google Scholar
Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading Images (2nd ed.). London, New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leslie, A. (2012). The Arctic voyages of Alfred Erik Nordenskiöld. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lüdecke, C. (1995a). Die deutsche Polarforschung seit der Jahrhundertwende und der Einfluß Erich von Drygalskis [German polar research since the turn of the century and the influence of Erich von Drygalski], Dissertation, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich. Berichte zur Polarforschung, 158. Retrieved from https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/26336/1/BerPolarforsch1995158.pdf
Google Scholar
Lüdecke, C. (1995b). Erich von Drygalski und die erste deutsche Antarktisexpedition (1901–1903): Eine Nachlese aus den “Antarktischen Intelligenzblättern” [… Comments from the “Antarctic Intelligencer”], Acta Borussica, V, 257–285.Google Scholar
Lüdecke, C. (2014). Geschichte der antarktischen Entdeckungen [History of Antarctic discoveries]. In Lozán, J. L., Grassl, H., Notz, D., & Piepenburg, D. (Eds.), WARNSIGNAL KLIMA: Die Polarregionen ]Climate alert: the polar regions] (pp. 29–35). Hamburg: Wissenschaftliche Auswertungen.Google Scholar
Lüdecke, C. (2015). Deutsche in der Antarktis: Expeditionen und Forschungen vom Kaiserreich bis heute [Germans in the Antarctic: Expeditions and research from imperial times to the present]. Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag.Google Scholar
Lüdecke, C., Brogiato, H. P. & Hönsch, I. (2001). Universitas Antarctica: 100 Jahre deutsche Südpolarexpedition 1901–1903 unter der Leitung Erich von Drygalskis [Universitas Antarctica: 100 years German Polar expedition 1901–1903 under leadership of Erich von Drygalski]. Leipzig: Institut für Länderkunde.Google Scholar
Luedtke, B. (2010). Constructing the polar world: the German encounter with the Arctic and Antarctic. MA thesis, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, retrieved from https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/10217/38366/2010_Spring_Luedtke_Brandon.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Google Scholar
Lutz, C. & Collins, J. (2003). The photograph as an intersection of gazes: The example of National Geographic. In Wells, L. (Ed.) The Photography Reader (pp. 164–179). Abingdon UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
McCorristine, S. (2010). The supernatural Arctic: An exploration. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 9(1), 47–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miethe, A. & Hergesell, H. (Eds.) (1911). Mit Zeppelin nach Spitzbergen, Bilder von der Studienreise der deutschen arktischen Zeppelin-Expedition [With Zeppelin to Spitsbergen, Pictures from the Study Trip of the German Arctic Zeppelin Expedition]. Berlin, Leipzig, Vienna, Stuttgart: Deutsches Verlagshaus Bong & Komp.Google Scholar
Millar, P. (2017). The tension between emotive/aesthetic and analytic/scientific motifs in the work of amateur visual documenters of Antarctica’s Heroic Era, Polar Record, 53(270), 245–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, W. J. (2003). Erich von Drygalski. In Exploring polar frontiers: a historical encyclopedia, 1 (pp. 196–198). Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.Google Scholar
Moerder-von Drygalski, R. (1964). Erich von Drygalski zum hundertsten Geburtstag am 9. Februar 1965 [Erich von Drygalski on the hundredth anniversary 9 February 1965], Polarforschung, 34(1/2), 263–266. Retrieved from http://epic.awi.de/27896/1/Polarforsch1964_1-2_6.pdf
Google Scholar
Müller, D. (2009). Fotografie und Südpolforschung um 1900 [Photography and South Pole Research in 1900] In Hüppauf, B. & Weingart, P. (Eds.), Frosch und Frankenstein: Bilder als Medium der Popularisierung von Wissenschaft [Frog and Frankenstein: images as a medium of the popularisation of science]. (pp. 233–254). Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.Google Scholar
Murphy, D.T. (2002). German Exploration of the Polar World: A History, 1870–1940. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Myers, G. (1990). Every picture tells a story: Illustrations in E. O. Wilson’s Sociobiology. In Lynch, M. & Woolgar, S. (Eds.), Representation in scientific practice (pp. 231–265). MIT Press: Cambridge MA.Google Scholar
Nansen, F. (1897). Farthest North: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship “Fram” 1893–96 and of a Fifteen Months’ Sleigh Journey by Dr. Nansen and Lieut. Johansen. New York: Harper & Brothers.Google Scholar
Nature. (1946). Review, Gletscherkunde. Dr. E. von Drygalski Dr. F. Machatschek. Vienna: Franz Deuticke, 1942. Nature, 158, 218–219.Google Scholar
Nordenskjöld, O. & Andersson, J. G. (1905). Antarctica, or Two years Amongst the Ice of the South Pole. London: Hurst & Blackett.Google Scholar
Oishi, K. (2015). The genealogy of the scientific sublime: glaciers, mountains and the alternating modes of representation. In Clark, S. & Connolly, T. (Eds.), British romanticism in European perspective (pp. 26–44). Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, Hampshire.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raraty, M. M. (1989). Note on the translation. In von Drygalski, E. (Ed.), The Southern Ice-Continent: The German South Polar Expedition aboard the Gauss 1901–1903. Bluntisham: Bluntisham Books.Google Scholar
Richter, K. F. & Winter, S. (2014). Landmarks: GIScience for Intelligent Services. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riffenburgh, B. (1993). The Myth of the Explorer: The Press, Sensationalism, and Geographical Discovery. London: Belhaven Press.Google Scholar
Ryall, A., Schimanski, J. & Wærp, H. H. (2010). Arctic Discourses. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Simpson-Housley, P. (1992). Antarctica: Exploration, Perception and Metaphor. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiggesbäumker, G. (1983). Erich von Drygalski 1865–1949. In Freeman, T.W. (Ed.) Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies. 7, 23–29. London: Mansell.Google Scholar
Wagner, H. (1905). Beschprechung “Zum Kontinent des eisigen Südens” [Discussion: To the southern ice continent], Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, 346.Google Scholar
Wohl, R. (1994). A Passion for wings: Aviation and the Western imagination 1908–1918. New Haven: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wråkberg, U. (2007). The quest for authenticity in narratives of Northern Borderlands, Nordlit, 22, 193–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar