Universitt Augsburg SoSe 2005

Lehrstuhl fr Amerikanistik 14.07.2005

Hauptseminar Recent American Fiction
Dozent: Prof. Dr. Zapf
Referentinnen: Andrea Breiner, Annette Frhlich,
Melanie Schramm, Carmen Seyfried

Ursula K. Le Guin: Sur

1. Biography
- born on the 21st October 1929 (youngest of 4 children)
- attended Radcliffe College and Columbia University,
graduating with an M.A. (1952)
- 1953: married Charles A. Le Guin 3 children
- her earliest writings were non-fantastic stories of imaginary countries only little
was published
- began to publish regularly in the early 1960s regarded as one of the best science
fiction autors
- known for her ability to create a believable world populated by strongly sympathetic
characters
- noted for her exploration of Taoist, anarchist, feminist and sociological themes and
exemplary style
- got lots of prizes for her work

2. Science Fiction and typical elements

Science Fiction is a form of literature and film dealing with the impact of imagined science
and technology upon society and persons as individuals. The borders of sci-fi are not well
defined and the dividing lines between its sub-genres horror and fantasy are often fluid. A
story could for example describe a very unusual society and its` unusual reactions to a
scientific discovery. Sometimes, SF refers to any literary fantasy including a scientific factor
as the essential, story-orienting component. Such literature consists of a careful and informal
extrapolation of scientific facts and principles or it ranges to far-fetched areas contradicting
such facts and principles. It could also be, that the science in the story is disproven or events
predicted in the story don`t happen or happen in extremely different ways. SF can also be a
`discussion` about the influence of new scientific or social development.

Examples of Science Fiction elements in Sur:

- the description of the landscape sounds very unrealistic (p. 2021)
- it`s about a future development of the manhood, as women wouldn`t have been able to
go on such an expedition in a patriarchal world at the beginning of the 20th century
- science and the discovery of the South Pole as the main topics

3. Summary of the short story Sur

The short-story Sur is told by the narrator in 1929 about twenty years after the expedition of
nine resolute, adventurous women from South America to the South Pole. This group of
women sets off in secret to this mysterious and unknown continent in the South as they can`t
tell their fathers, husbands or brothers. Having got to know each other one day before
departure, they start on Captain Pardo`s ship the Yelcho to the Pole, where they arrive some
weeks later in 1909. After several weeks, they finally arrive on the Barrier, where they decide

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to set up their base, even against Pardo`s arguments against this plan. Having arranged that
the Yelcho should collect them at the same place in next years` February, the women are
finally on their own on the Pole. There, they experience several extraordinary things like a
beautiful antarctic landscape, dangerous blizzards, extremely cold weather and the birth of the
10th member of the expedition.

4. The Exploration of the South Pole by Amundsen and Scott

Roald Engebreth Gravning Sir Robert Falcon Scott

Amundsen
*16.07.1872 Oslo
18.06.1928 ?
14.01.1910: Ship reaches the Ross-Sea
establishes base camp in the Bay of
Whales and several depots of food
20.10.1911:Expedition starts (crew of 5
members)
equipment: ski, sledge dogs
14.12.1911: Crew reaches the South Pole
establishes camp named Polheim
15-20 miles per day/return 30 miles per
day
Amundsenscrew reached the South Pole
very precisely, only 200m away
07.03.1912: Successful discovery got publicFebr. 1913: Death of Scotts crew was
Amundsen wrote a book about this journey
The Conquest of the South Pole 1910-1912 Had we lived I should have had a tale to
*06.06.1868 Devonport
29.03.1912 Antarctica
01.06.1910: TheTerra Nova leaves
London, heading towards the South Pole
Oct. 1911: Expedition starts from base camp
equipment: ponies, snowmobiles, sledge
dogs
18.01.1912: Crew reaches the South Pole
they had to suffer bad weather conditions
only 13 miles per day
on the return the whole group died due to
bad health (skorbut)
Scott was 450 meters away
publicized
Scotts`diary was published posthumously:
tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage
of my companions which would have stirred
the heart of every Briton.
He became a national hero

Today there exists the Amundsen-Scott-South Pole Station

5. Textual Analysis
5.1. Time and Space of the story
- 17th August 1909: first meeting: Punta Arenas; Chile (p. 2011)
- 18th August 1909: start of the expedition (p. 2012)
- 19th August 1909: entered the pack ice it took three days to get through (p. 2013)
- 21st August 1909: entered Ross Sea a little east of Longitude West 160
sailed west along the Barrier face towards Ross Island and McMurdo Sound
- Yelcho anchored in Arrival Bay women got off the ship and walked to Hut Point
(p. 2013)
- September: returned to Orca Bay and set up their camp there (p. 2015)
- October: Carptain Pardo and his crew leave

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 that night they began to plan the Southern Journey (p. 2016)
- November: short practice trips and depotlaying reached latitude 83 43
- Teams: (p. 2017)
o Support team of supplies going right up onto the glacier to prospect routes
and leave depots for the return journey
o Southern Party (2 teams) followed five days behind the support team and
met the women returning between Depot Ercilla and Depot Miranda 15th
November
- reached some footprints of Mr. Shackleton (p. 2018)
- the day after: first saw the great glacier Florence Nightingale Glacier (p. 2018)
15 days on the glacier
at last they got up the altiplano (twelve thousand feet)
- Carlota and their group wanted to go back (p. 2019)
- 22nd December 1909: reached the South Pole (p. 2019)
- 19th February 1910: Yelcho returned to Orca Bay to pick them up again (p. 2021)

5.2. Narrator
- nameless 1st person narrator (woman); limited point of view
- a lot of convincing detail (exact descriptions, time references) and emotional appeal
(fear, pain)
- contradiction: the 1st sentence tells us that this report is going to be hidden away in the
attic, but in fact it appeared in the New Yorker

5.3. Characters
Narrator
- has no name and is from Peru
- is fascinated by several reports of South Pole expeditions, especially of the Britsh
National Antarctic Expedition of 1902-1904 by Captain Scott (p. 2010)
- she seems to be adventurous as she has the desire to go and see
- she is the first leader; seems to regret the expedition (p. 2020); lost some toes on the
Pole (p. 2012) and is proud to have not left any footprints
- has two children: Rosita and Juanito
Juana
- Peruvian cousin and friend of the narrator
- Encourages the narrator to go on the expedition (p.2010) and proposes to write to
Carlota. Juana places herself on one level with Scott (p. 2010)
- Juana is the well-trained, strong part of the group
Carlota
- from Chile; through her, they meet their benefactor for the expedition
- Carlota, the second leader, is resolute and determined to achieve their goal (p. 2010)
Teresa
- from Peru; she was brought up by servants and went to school in a convent
- married at 16; seems to be very naive doesn`t know for a long time, that she is
pregnant gives birth to her child on the Pole and names her girl Rosa del Sur
Captain Pardo
- Luis Pardo is the captain of the Yelcho, which is a ship of the Chilean Government
- brave officer with a gallant crew (2008) and a man of honor (2022)
- Protects the women and wants them to be safe; very caring (2012)
Others: Berta, Zoe, Eva, Pepita, Dolores

5.4. Themes

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emanzipation (feminization of a masculine legend)
- superficially read: celebration of female power
o a role-reversal: the women take a male adventure and extend human
boundaries
o they succeed and do it even better than men as they dont abandon family
responsibilities neither do they dominate each other
- but in reality: the women didnt explore the South Pole!
its a story of longing for the forbidden; a story of women with hunger for
adventure, stifled through years of home duties
- the narrators repeated denial of any desire for fame cant be taken for face-value
the story is exactly the opposite of what the narrator declares it to be: a
claim to fame; a claim to the forbidden territory of achievement, endeavour,
exploration
Taoism Chinese philosophy, religion and science
- Tao Te Ching Buch vom Weg und der Kraft

Yin&Yang: two complementary forces which interplay on one another

(a spot of yin in the yang half as well as a spot of yang in the yin half)
theory of interdependence between the world of nature and the events of man
Le Guins science is as fantastic as her fantasy is scientific
reality cant exist without fantasy vice versa

Tao (way/path/road)
It is the path (Tao) that all events take and as such it includes the way (tao) an
individual perceives and acts (Bittner, 4)
the movement of the tao is return true voyage is return
Le Guins imagination moves in circles (circle of life)

5.5. Style and Symbols

- Personification
- Comparisons connected with nature elements
- Religious symbols
- Footprints

Bibliography:
Bittner, James W. Approaches to the Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1984.
Schweikle, G. und I. (Hrsg.) Metzler Literaturlexikon: Begriffe und Definitionen; Metzler, Stuttgart, 1990.
www.wikipedia.org, www.ursulakleguin.com/Bio.html,
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/U/Ur/Ursula_K._Le_Guin.htm,
http://www.feministische-sf.de/einzelne_autorinnen/fsf_ursula-leguin.html .