It was quite some time since I wrote a post about book beginnings and pages 56. These two memes are hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice. I have recently been to Norway and visited Tromsö. There you will find the very interesting Polar Museum which highlights the impressive polar adventurers history of Norway. Two of the most famous ones are Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen. I couldn't help myself buying a book about them - The Lives of Nansen and Amundsen by Hans Olav Thyvold. There are more in-depth books about their achievements but this is a shorter one highlighting the most important things in their life. A very interesting book and a review will come soon.
BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS
From Preface by Hans Olav Thyvold
"Polar heroes are not like other heroes. Not in Norway, in any case. In a country where skiing is treated with almost religious enthusiasm, skiers are national icons. With all due respect to the femmil, the dreaded fifty-kilometre cross-country skiing race, the march to the South Pole took fifty-seven days. And the downhill track at Kitzbühel is certainly dangerous, but the Arctic pack ice is definitely more so - even if you aren't hauling a sled behind you."
About Fridtjof Nansen
"As the hero of a novel, Fridtjof Nansen would almost certainly have been rejected by any decent publisher. And even the most daring of Hollywood producers would have wondered if the bounds of credulity weren't being stretched by this sort of character:
Young scientist, ground-breaking and artistically endowed, also a terrific athlete, performs mind-boggling feats of courage - including fighting polar bears - in terrain where no human being has previously set foot, becomes a national hero of somewhere that isn't a nation by leading its people to self-respect and independence, and then, later in life, grids up his loins to save millions of people in remote lands.
The Nobel Prize.
The End.
But this really is the life of Fridtjof Nansen in a nutshell, and he is still the one person who, more than any other, has shaped Norway's identity - from families going on a Sunday skiing outing to diplomats mediating in distant conflicts. it is extremely hard to imagine the Norwegian nation without Fridtjof Nansen, the only person ever to have been portrayed on our banknotes twice."
About Roald Amundsen
"Roald Amundsen was first.
His name is on the list along with those of Marco Polo and James Cook, Yuri Gagarin and Leif Eriksson, Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong. Men whose achievements inspire dreams in ways we do not really comprehend. Men to whom we still attribute superhuman qualities, long after their human frailties have been exposed for all to see.
Roald Amundsen is one of a handful of historic personages know to every Norwegian. Wikipedia soberly refers to him as 'an explorer of polar regions', which is an apt enough description -but in la limited sense. There was a lot more to Roald Amundsen. Few, if any, Norwegians have engendered so much national fervour and pride as him. "
THE FRIDAY 56
About Fridtjof Nansen"In the autumn of 1907 Nansen received a visit from Roald Amundsen. The 35-year-old captain had gained international recognition after navigating the North-West Passage in his modified sealer, Gjøa. The tyro polar conqueror had a plan - or rather, he had Nansen's old plan. He wished, quite simply, to carry out another Fram expedition across the Polar Sea. The conquest of the North Pole was obviously the kingpin of his plan, for Amundsen's scientific ambitions and abilities were nothing like Nansen's."
About Roald Amundsen
"In the years that followed, Amundsen was still formally engaged in the Fram expedition. It was just that first he had so many lectures to give, so many dinners to attend and so many influential (and, specifically, rich people to meet - always with the official goal in mind of reaching the North Pole by Nansen's method. However, his urge to do so left much to be desired; viewed from the world's most resplendent hotel suites, the prospect of Nansen's 'at least five years' in the Arctic was no longer so tempting."
Sounds good! Here's mine: “THE GUILT TRIP”
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting adventure. I hope you enjoy the book. Here is my link: https://cindysbookcorner.blogspot.com/2021/08/first-line-friday-12-this-time-around.html
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy the book. It is one of these stories that you hardly can make up as a fiction book. Sometimes real life is so much more exciting.
DeleteQuite fascinating!! Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteYes, an interesting read. They went through so much hardship. Hard to imagine these days.
DeleteSome sentences get you instantly, some not! But it's a fun exercise to look at them!
ReplyDeleteThey are take out of context and is more clear when you read the book. Fascinating people though.
DeleteSounds like an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteIt really was. Considering that it is real life efforts that went into the exploring of the pools it is amazing what man can do.
DeleteI need to give this book a closer look--thanks for featuring it!
ReplyDeletePlease do, I think it is worth it. I will check out his other works as well.
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