''Arqtiq: A Story of the Marvels at the North Pole'' is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

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 ''Encyclopedi ...

, published in

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

by its author, Anna Adolph. The book was one element in the major wave of

utopian and dystopian fiction Utopian and dystopian fiction are genres of speculative fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to ...

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 viewpoints to utopian fiction; Elizabeth Corbett's ''

New Amazonia ''New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future'' is a feminist utopian novel, written by Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett and first published in 1889. It was one element in the wave of utopian and dystopian literature that marked the later nineteenth and e ...

'' 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 (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

. ''Arqtiq'' combines this "airplane fiction" with utopian feminism, as does Jones and Merchant's ''

Unveiling a Parallel ''Unveiling a Parallel: A Romance'' is a Feminism, feminist science fiction and Utopian and dystopian fiction, utopian novel published in 1893 in literature, 1893. The first edition of the book attributed authorship to "Two Women of the West." Th ...

''. ''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, and lost-world or lost-race fiction. Like Mary Lane's ''

Mizora ''Mizora'' is a feminist science 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. ''Mizora'' is "the first portra ...

'', 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 axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

recurred throughout the nineteenth century.

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

's ''

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket'' (1838) is the only complete novel written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the ''Grampus' ...

'' 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 W ...

; 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" ...

with Richard Bleiler, ''Science-Fiction: The Early Years'', Kent, OH, Kent State University Press, 1990; p. 5.

References

Utopian novels 1899 science fiction novels 1899 American novels Novels set in the Arctic Hollow Earth in fiction Novels set in subterranea Feminist science fiction novels

External links

Arqtiq: A Study of the Marvels at the North Pole
by Anna Adolph at gutenberg.org * {{librivox book , title=Arqtiq: A Study of the Marvels at the North Pole , author=Adolph

Genre

Story

See also

References

External links