шш in review DISCOURSE OF THE OTHER - University of British ...

BOOKS IN REVIEWwith the conviction that attention shouldbe paid to its people and their resourcesrather than to exploration alone.On his famous journey of 1909, accompaniedby Rudolph Anderson (laterhis implacable enemy), he discovered theCopper Eskimo people of Victoria Island.These people used copper implements,and their colouring was muchfairer than any Eskimos yet encountered.He was intrigued by the possibility thatthey might be descendants of the Vikingcolony established in Greenland in theMiddle Ages.When Stef returned to New York hisaccount of Eskimos with blue eyes andrusty hair was greeted with derision inmany quarters, but this discovery madehim into a celebrity. It initiated a seriesof books and widespread lecture tourswhich continued for the rest of his life.Hunt does not make it sufficiently clearhow valid his views were.His subsequent forays into the Arcticwere to prove just as controversial. Themost notorious of these expeditions wasthe Karluk disaster of 1913. The expedition,sponsored by the Canadian government,set out to make a comprehensivesurvey of the central arctic coast aswell as to explore terra incognita. Stefreally worked best on his own, and thepreparations for the ambitious undertakingwere somewhat chaotic. The expeditiondivided into two sections, thenorthern group headed by Stefansson,supported by a brigantine originally usedfor fishing. While Stef went ashore witha hunting party near Port Barrow on thewestern Arctic, a fierce storm blew up,the Karluk went adrift, and in theghastly months that followed, the shipwas sunk and most of the members of thecrew died. Stef was accused of hiringinexperienced men and taking on an unseaworthyvessel. In defence of Stef,Hunt maintains that he had the best andonly men and equipment available.The issue that roused most ire amongStef's critics was his espousal of "thefriendly Arctic" which became somethingof a crusade with him. After five and ahalf years of continuous polar serviceduring which he had lived on game andfish and had discovered approximately100,000 square miles of unknown territory,he claimed that living in the Arcticpresented no difficulties so long as oneadapted to the habits of the natives. Hisopposition came from white supremacistsand those who feared that his commonsenseapproach would undermine themyths of arctic heroism. Hunt could havemade much more of Stef's prescience.His book is disappointing in its lack ofpsychological analysis. There must havebeen something about the man that madeit difficult for other people to work withhim. At times Hunt admits that heshowed poor leadership and irritated hismen unnecessarily by his arrogant attitude.Was he a man of real probity? Whydid he never acknowledge his Eskimochild? Hunt maintains a polite distancefrom his subject, even careful not to becomeinvolved in the disputes of longago. His book does not make excitingreading and the maps are not sufficientlydetailed. Nevertheless, it is a sober, sensiblebook, and Stef would undoubtedlyhave been pleased.PHYLLIS GROSSKURTHRUNE-WRITERDAVID WILLIAMS, Eye of the Father. House ofAnansi Press, $12.95.THIS NOVEL COMPLETES Williams' LacjardinTrilogy, which also includes TheBurning Wood (1975) and The RiverHorsemen (1981). The stories and charactersof all three novels are discrete, thenovels being linked only by the centralimportance of symbolic patterning ineach and by their settings, although only