156 REVIEWS

there is naturally much common ground. The two texts are
probably best viewed as complementary, each providing
comprehensive views of a field in which the necessarily
meticulous description, classification, and interpretation
of field evidence benefit from the widest appreciation of
the variety of glacial environments. In this respect, the use
of numerous Alaskan examples in Hambrey's book is a
useful complement to the largely Scandinavian examples
of Bennett and Glasser.

In summary, the authors have achieved their aim of
producing a concise, accessible text that conveys their own
enthusiasm for the subject, and it should be recommended
to all who have an interest in learning about, teaching, or
researching in glacial geology. (Richard Hodgkins, De-
partment of Geography, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8
1SS.)

I MAY BE SOME TIME: ICE AND THE ENGLISH
IMAGINATION. Francis Spufford. 1996. London: Faber
& Faber. 372 p, illustrated, hard cover. ISBN 0-571-
14487-X. £15.99.

The English polar explorers of the first part of the present
century had a supreme capacity for understatement and
unintentional irony. Robert Falcon Scott recorded that the
Antarctic continent was a place that: 'comes nearer to
satisfying my ideal of perfection than any condition I have
ever experienced....No words of mine can convey the
impressiveness of this wonderful panorama displayed to
my eye.' Yet, the stated attitudes of the members of the
Scott expedition towards the Antarctic interior were often
quite ambivalent. The Antarctic was not only a desolate
and foreboding space, it was also intensely poetic and
beautiful. Positive images of nature could be combined
with an appreciation of the harsh charms of the polar
world: the long polar nights, the changing rhythms of light
and darkness, and the dangerous polar blizzard.

The cultural and ideological significance of polar ex-
ploration is the subject matter of Francis Spufford's I may
be some time. The poles did undoubtedly fire the imagina-
tions of English polar explorers and administrators. As
with their European and Soviet counterparts, the poles, as
the literal and figurative ends of the Earth, were often
considered remote, inaccessible, unattainable, and, there-
fore, as worthy adversaries. Within English public culture,
the subsequent conquest of the poles was considered
indicative of industrial progress and modernity, techno-
logical prowess, masculine endeavour, scientific curios-
ity, national prestige, and humankind's mastery over the
natural world. However, the English record on polar
exploration was undoubtedly mixed, as explorers either
implanted the British flag on the polar wastes and claimed
everything they could see for Great Britain or died some-
where en route. The members of the former group were
often uncertain of their geographical position, whilst those
of the latter group later became immortalised. Thus, the
failure of the Scott expedition was to be of lasting cultural
significance within England, judging by the stream of

newspaper stories, works of fiction, state-sponsored me-
morials, and postage stamps generated in the aftermath.

However, Spufford's account of polar exploration is
far more wide-ranging than just Scott's expeditions. It
stretches from a discussion of the eighteenth century and
the Burkean sublime to nineteenth-century popular Eng-
lish literature. Spufford's account, through the employ-
ment of generous quotations and extracts, touches upon
the varied geographical imaginations of nineteenth-cen-
tury polar writings. This does produce a paradoxical
consequence, however. On the one hand, his account is
rich and varied in terms of sources and contextual back-
ground, especially as it relates to the writings of Charles
Dickens, Sir John Franklin, and Jane Austen. It is a potent
mixture of historical scholarship and a form of literary
criticism. There are many rich insights, such as noting the
growing popularity of polar images and references within
the urban landscape and the production of commemorative
commodities such as pottery and cigarette cards. On the
other hand, the writing style is long-winded and often
tedious in relating key points. A more concise version of
this book might have been more effective, had some of the
details pertaining to the descriptions of the polar landscape
or polar personalities been compressed. The descriptions
of Clements Markham are classic in this respect, as the
reader is bombarded with anecdotes and asides that ulti-
mately detract from some interesting observations about
either Markham's relationship with Scott or his dreams of
imperial conquest and territorial aggrandisement.

The final pages of Spufford's account return to the ill-
fated Terra Nova expedition and the last moments of
Scott's party, in a tent somewhere on the polar ice. The
poorplanning of Scott, the arrogance of ClementsMarkham,
and Oates' spirit of self-sacrifice are joined together for
one last moment. The British Empire had acquired another
dead hero. Visual technologies associated with the cinema
and photographic journalism played their part in reproduc-
ing the thrills and perils of polar exploration for English
audiences. The tragic failure of Scott was later to be used
for another form of imperial incitement: this time for the
troops fighting for king and country in the muddy fields of
Flanders.

In spite of some reservations over the turgid writing
style, this is an important book, and it one that is likely to
have enduring significance. Within polar studies, there
has been a tendency to be remarkably uncritical of polar
exploration in terms of thinking about its importance in
shaping public culture, ideas about nature, and national
identity. A dominant, and largely whiggish, approach to
the history of exploration has also prevented more critical
appraisals of those expeditions and their ideological sig-
nificance. Spufford has produced a book of considerable
scholarship, which draws together many relevant sources.
It is a pity, however, that the referencing is not more
thorough, given the extensive quotations and inferences.

There are a number of key themes that Spufford could
and probably should have addressed within this book.
Whilst Spufford may not be aware of the growing aca-



REVIEWS 157

demic literature on the cultures of imperial exploration, it
seems surprising that the book should end on the demise of
the Scott expedition. What is interesting about the Scott
expedition is precisely its enduring relevance of the polar
ice for Engl ish audiences in the post-Scott era. Why are the
English, as opposed to the Scots, Irish, or Welsh, so
fascinated with things polar? Spufford has nothing to note,
for example, on the culture of polar exploration in late
twentieth-century Britain. This is important because it
touches upon not only the commemoration of past polar
explorers such as Scott but also public responses to con-
temporary polar personalities such as Fiennes, Stroud, and
Swan. In a post-imperial age, imperial institutions par
excellence, such as the Royal Geographical Society and
The Times, continue to promote polar heroics either through
generous coverage or sponsorship, in spite of the fact that
the polar continent has been thoroughly mapped. Whilst
Spufford's book is full of insight and historical detail, it
does not help address the enduring legacy of polar explo-
ration to the English imagination and, in that sense, it was
disappointing to this reader. (Klaus Dodds, Department of
Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London,
Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX.)

THE EAST-WEST INTERFACE IN THE EURO-
PEAN NORTH. MargaretaDahlstrom, Heikki Eskelinen,
and Ulf Wiberg (Editors). 1995. Uppsala: Nordisk
Samhallsgeografisk Tidskrift. vi + 155 p, maps, soft cover.
ISBN 91-972338-4-6.

The Cold War has officially been pronounced as over, and
this has definitely led to a greater emphasis on regionalism,
especially its implications for the peripheral, marginalised
areas within nation-states. In the decentralized, restruc-
tured, and consolidated world economy that has emerged
since the 1980s, with new communications technologies,
new forms of corporate organization, and new business
services having intensified 'time-space compression,' the
logic and apparatus of statehood is not conducive to trans-
national integration. The regional alternative to statism
seems potentially compensatory, in terms of the quality of
world order, for both the erosion of hegemonic stability
and the more acute forms of pathology that are afflicting
the weak nation-state. However, almost any generaliza-
tion about regionalism is suspect because of unevenness of
different regional settings and of the varying degrees to
which economic, political, and cultural life has been re-
gionalized. Also, because formal regional structures are
still being constituted overwhelmingly with state actors as
members, the framework of nation-states continues to be
a source of friction. The main reason for this, of course, is
that the functional logic of statehood hinges on reinforcing
differences between nations while reinforcing similarities
within nations. The key questions that arise therefore are:
can a new geopolitical equilibrium be established between
'national-territorial' and 'local' interests through regional
integration? Can regional frameworks help in realizing the
critical shift from 'dominance' to 'non-dominance' as the
fundamental principle of political governance? The ques-

tion is, in other words, how to achieve and sustain 'positive
regionalism,' one that promotes environmental
sustainability, human rights, human-resource develop-
ment (especially in relation to vulnerable minorities and
indigenous peoples), and demilitarization of both space
and mind?

The central focus of The east-west interface in the
European north is on cross-border interaction and coop-
eration between western and eastern Europe in the so-
called 'northern periphery,' that is, between the northern-
most parts of Finland, Norway, and Sweden and the
northwestern corner of Russia. Both the experiences of
and the preconditions for trans-national cooperation in the
European north — currently manifest in the efforts of the
North Calotte Committee and the Barents region initiative
— are critically investigated from socio-cultural, eco-
nomic, and political perspectives. What does the end of the
Cold War mean, in practice, for people in the northern
periphery of Europe? Can a common northern identity
across the east-west divide in the Euro-Arctic be forged,
or are Russians and the inhabitants of the Nordic countries
fated to live in different worlds? How real and meaningful
is the cultural gap between the two, and how will it affect
trans-national business cooperation in the area? Will the
peripheral regions of the north be able to overcome the
legacy of peripherality and effectively participate in the
profound technological and organizational restructuring
of the Nordic and Russian economies in an environmen-
tally sustainable manner? These are the kinds of questions
raised in this book.

The book consists of 10 chapters, including a concise
introductory essay. In chapter one, the editors point out
that a new northern dimension has been added to the
European integration process by the EU membership of
Finland and Sweden, and they describe the cross-border
interaction in the north as a 'strategy for regional develop-
ment in more peripheral parts of neighbouring countries'
(page 1). They argue that, notwithstanding several major
structural differences between the partners concerned (that
is, governments of the four countries involved, eight sub-
national regions, and representatives of indigenous peo-
ples), there is a common stake in the sustainable develop-
ment of the European north. Security, ecology, and
economy are pinpointed as the major driving forces behind
the cooperation efforts in the resource-rich Euro-Arctic,
which, 'with its remote location, harsh climate and vast
territory...has been a typical geographical periphery. Its
socio-economic developments have been controlled by
external decision-makers, mainly from the national capi-
tals' (page 3).

In chapter two, Kimmo Katajala writes about the role
and great impact that the major metropolis of St Petersburg
had on eastern Finland during the nineteenth and early part
of the twentieth centuries, in almost all sectors of produc-
tion. Correspondingly, the development of the transport
networks was closely tied to the demands of industry and
trade. Although this influence was almost erased by the
October Revolution, current developments have clearly