"Endurance" (1959) - Alfred Lansing's Retelling of Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1917 Antarctic Expedition

[DonRocks]

I often have two (or three) books going at the same time.  Currently I'm reading

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (Alfred Lansing)

I read Lansing's version of "Endurance" before I knew anything about Shackleton (about twenty years ago), and it remains the single most compelling non-fiction experience of my life. I had *no idea* what was going to happen; now, the story has been sensationalized and ruined for people.

To anyone unfamiliar with the story: I urge you to buy Lansing's version, and to immediately cover up the photographs in the middle (earlier editions didn't have the photographs at all, and you're much, *much* better off without them). Do not look at them until you finish the book.

Again, I consider this the single most enthralling, arguably the greatest, work of non-fiction I've ever read, but for you to say the same thing, you'll need to remain completely unfamiliar with the story throughout the book.

[LauraB]

I often have two (or three) books going at the same time.  Currently I'm reading

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (Alfred Lansing)

I read Endurance back in the '90s and it left an indelible mark. Not long thereafter the National Geographic Society had an exhibit of Shackleton's voyage which featured the actual James Caird whaler in which he and the others traveled from Elephant Island to South Georgia.  My companions and I, who had all read the book, were absolutely stunned at the sight of this boat.  It was 23 feet long.  It seemed so small for such an epic journey.

[DonRocks]

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (Alfred Lansing)

Let me know when you get to the sea leopard scene - arguably the single most harrowing (non-fiction) thing I've ever read which may, by definition, make it the single most harrowing thing I've ever read.

[porcupine]

^I finished the book last night.

[DonRocks]

Let me know when you get to the sea leopard scene - arguably the single most harrowing (non-fiction) thing I've ever read which may, by definition, make it the single most harrowing thing I've ever read.

^I finished the book last night.

You do realize that after this laconic response, you owe me/us a fuller answer!

Did you know the ending in advance?

Did you see the pictures in advance?

What did you think?

I really think that part of the "gravity" of this tale is not knowing what's going to happen, and I fear that if you did, you won't have fully appreciated the highly improbable - almost impossible - nature of it. I Hate (uppercase H) the pictures being in this book, and I honestly wonder if anyone will ever become so fully entranced and captured by this story again, as much as I was (and also Member Number One - every few days I'd get an email from her: "This book is stressing me out, D!") I gave a copy of the book to Jon Karl, taping pieces of paper over the pictures, and he, too, said it was the most enthralling non-fiction story he'd ever read. The scene with the sea leopard was one of the most terrifying things I've ever read.

[DonRocks]

And you should realize, after eight and a half years of knowing me, that if I'm inspired by something I'm a quarter-decent writer (if I bother to edit), and that if I'm not inspired, I suck. 

Endurance was very well told, but in a mostly chronological fashion and a very reportorial style.  I thoroughly enjoyed it but was not inspired to write anything.  One thought did occur to me when I finished it: if it had been a work of fiction, I would've been rolling my eyes and saying "this is too unbelievable to work".  Knowing that the story is entirely true... wow.

I had only a general notion of how it was going to end (didn't know any details), so I wouldn't say it was ruined for me in any way.

In contrast, I recently finished Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, about the climbing disaster on Mt. Everest in May of 1996, and am currently halfway through his account of Christopher McCandless' life, Into the Wild.  I'm finding both of these more compelling than Endurance, but I am not going to try to argue that they are better in any way.  For some reason the stories resonated better with me, and I'm enjoying the writing.

For one thing, in both books Krakauer does not write chronologically.  It's particularly compelling in Into The Wild.  He tells the story in pieces and then takes breaks to flesh it out in other ways, for example by telling the stories of the auxilliary characters, or by telling the stories of others in 20th century America who did more-or-less what McCandless did, or by relating his own into-Alaska experience.  As a result I get a much greater sense of immediacy reading his books, though I know that sounds counter-intuitive.  Maybe I should say that I'm getting a deeper understanding.  The characters are very three-dimensional and real to me.  In Endurance, I couldn't keep the players straight.

I honestly don't see how "Endurance" isn't universally regarded as the greatest non-fiction book ever written, precisely because it was told journalistically, in chronological order - but learning from other people's opinions is what broadens you as a person, and I do respect your opinion. Damn you.

 

I recently finished Endurance. It was an amazing story and well told, but I agree with porcupine, the characters weren't fleshed out enough for me. With one or two exceptions, the men in the story seemed interchangeable and I had difficulty keeping them straight.

I also agree that had it been fiction, I would have found it unbelievable. It seems improbable to me that people living in those conditions could maintain such a positive attitude for that long a period. I wonder if the men who recounted the tale to the author didn't put a more positive spin on the events. Sometimes when people look back on things, this happens.

Nevertheless, it was a well-written account of an incredible story, and I am glad I read it.

[DonRocks]

The previous post consisted of excerpts of posts made in the "What Are You Reading" thread (I didn't want to move the entire posts because they dealt with more than just "Endurance").

---

This is significant, and occurred late last year:

"Century-Old Antarctic Images Discovered In Captain Scott's Hut" (a media release by the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust)

The photographs were not taken by Frank Hurley of the Endurance (recall that the Endurance never reached Antarctica); rather, most likely by Arnold Spencer-Smith who was part of Shackleton's larger Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition - Spencer-Smith was a crewman on a ship which laid supplies for Shackleton and his ill-fated expedition.

The photos themselves are here.