Writing geographical exploration : James and the Northwest Passage, 1631-33 / Wayne K.D. Davies.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davies, Wayne K. D. (Wayne Kenneth David)

Contributor:

Arctic Institute of North America

Series:

Northern lights series.

Northern lights series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

James, Thomas, 1593?-1635?.

James, Thomas.

Northwest Passage--Discovery and exploration--British.

Northwest Passage.

Arctic regions--Discovery and exploration--British.

Arctic regions.

Arctic Regions.

Discoveries in geography.

British.

Narration (Rhetoric).

Physical Description:

xvi, 317 pages : illustrations, maps, portrait ; 27 cm.

Place of Publication:

Calgary : University of Calgary Press, [2004]

Summary:

Writing Geographical Exploration summarizes the various factors that influence the writing and interpretation of exploration narratives, demonstrating the limitations of the assumption that there is a direct relationship between what the explorer saw and what the text describes. Davies offers a revisionist evaluation of Captain Thomas James, who spent eighteen months in search of the Northwest Passage in the 1630s, to illustrate how modern textual analysis can enrich the appreciation of a traveller's account. Though James's work has been dismissed in the modern period, his work was highly regarded in previous centuries by scientist Robert Boyle and poet Samuel Coleridge. James was not a first-rank explorer, but he was an able navigator and leader, a perceptive scientific observer and a master author who produced a thrilling tale of adventure that should occupy a more prominent place in exploration writing and history, literary theory, and post-modern geography.

Notes:

Includes index.

Co-published by the Arctic Institute of North America.

Includes bibliographical references: pages 298-308.

ISBN:

1552380629 :

OCLC:

54065751