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By Peter Rejcek
Bledsoe's latest novel about Antarctica explores dynamics
between artists and scientists
Antarctica’s raw beauty has been a natural setting
for numerous books of fiction and nonfiction over the
years. Lucy Jane Bledsoe , a two-time recipient of a grant
from the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic
Artist and Writers Program , has been repeatedly drawn
back to the icy continent over the last decade.
Bledsoe recently published her fourth book based on her
experiences from two trips to Antarctica in 1999-2000
and 2003-04. In the following interview, Bledsoe discusses
what attracts her to the continent and how her latest
effort, “The Big Bang Symphony: A novel of Antarctica,”
is the book that she went to the Ice to write.
1. You’ve made two trips down to the Ice, with “The
Big Bang Symphony: A novel of Antarctica,” representing
your fourth novel in the last 10 years since you initially
ventured south in 1999-2000. What first drew you to Antarctica,
and what about the icy continent continues to attract
you as a writer?
Lucy Jane Bledsoe: I remember telling [former National
Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program
Manger] Guy Guthridge that I wanted to talk to people
who thought of Antarctica as “home.” And he
laughed (good-naturedly) at me. He said no one thinks
of Antarctica as home. Which is probably right. And yet,
I felt there was a rift between the explorers’ ongoing
metaphors about conquering the continent — conquering
anything wild at all — and my feelings of love for
and belonging in wilderness. I wanted to find out if that
would be true in Antarctica, too. Would I find something
essentially homelike there? I think I did. Antarctica
lets us know ourselves on a biological level. As animals,
in other words. Animals who above all else need food,
warmth, shelter. To me, that’s a very comforting
perspective, and it does feel like home.
That same feeling draws me as a writer. In my stories,
I want to find out who people are at our deepest level.
The best way to get to that level is to stress people.
Put them on the edge of their existence. Illness can do
this. Violence can do this. I like to use the extremities
of biological necessity. As well as the extremities of
beauty — in landscape and love.
Put people in these wild places and see how they change,
evolve, or destruct.
2. You’ve written both fiction and nonfiction about
Antarctica. This latest book is a fictional account about
the intersection of three types of people that you meet
in Antarctica — the scientist, the artist and the
support contractor. What does the book have to say about
that dynamic and life on the Ice?
LJB: I’m aware that some folks on the Ice are wary
of artists. For good reason.
We are brought down to interpret the experience, and
in most cases, we never have the depth of understanding
that long-timers have. We’re bound to get some things
wrong. And yet, what I love about the [Antarctic] Artists
& Writers program is that it fosters dialogue between
these three groups of people. It’s rare in our culture
to find programs that ask scientists and artists to converse.
So in “The Big Bang Symphony,” my characters
do have some of those conversations: where does art and
science intersect? The geologist character, near the end,
realizes that she “has been seized by randomness...,”
including a new friend, a new love affair, and “most
of all, most awesomely reason-bashing of all, was this
continent's beauty.” The title of the book comes
from the composer character who is writing music about
the Big Bang, and she and an astrophysicist talk about
their intersecting points of view.
3. The three main characters are all women. As you probably
know, the first American women first joined the U.S. Antarctic
Program 40 years ago, and today women are an integral
part of the program. What did you want to convey by making
all of your protagonists women?
LJB: I wanted to write about the women working in Antarctica
in a matter-of-fact way. As you say, they’ve been
on the Ice for decades now. Yet, when their stories are
told, it’s often in the context of “Now we’re
going to tell you about the women,” rather than writing
about women as being integrated in the community, which
I think they are. My three main characters are women,
but there are several major men characters, too. That
said, many people still think of extreme places like Antarctica
as male territory, and some of the old tropes, like conquering,
are still in place. I thought several different women’s
perspectives might be fresh.
4. What's the most difficult thing about writing a story
based in Antarctica?
LJB: Avoiding purple prose, over-dramatization, hyperbole.
It’s such an intense place. I want to show that intensity,
but that’s hard to do without overwriting. At the
same time, I think minimalist writing is often just a
way to avoid finding the words to say something meaningful.
The absence of words stands in for the meaning. So to
write about the extreme beauty and the intense ways the
continent affects people, making it believable and not
overwritten, was the hardest part.
5. Can we expect more Antarctic-based stories from you
in the future? If so, what’s next?
LJB: Possibly! I’m working on a collection of short
fiction and it includes a couple of Antarctic stories.
I’ve done a collection of narrative nonfiction —
“The Ice Cave: A Woman’s Adventures from the
Mojave to the Antarctic” — in which there is
one long Antarctic piece. I’ve done a nonfiction
kids’ book, “How to Survive in Antarctica,”
and a novel for kids, “The Antarctic Scoop.”
But I have to say, “The Big Bang Symphony” is
the book I came to the Ice to write.
6. Anything else you'd like to add?
LJB: Nope. These were great questions. I’d love
to hear from anyone on the Ice who reads the book and
wants to let me know their thoughts.
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