Writing Geographical Exploration

"Writing Geographical Exploration offers a revisionist evaluation of the writings of Captain Thomas James. In 1631-2 the Welsh-born explorer spent eighteen months in search of the Northwest Passage on behalf of the Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers and later published a lively and detailed narrative of his voyage. Author Wayne Davies uses James's work as a case study to illustrate how contemporary critical methods of textual analysis can enrich our appreciation of any explorer's account by making us aware of the various cultural and cognitive filters through which exploration narratives are both constructed and interpreted. From this basis Davies provides new perspectives on the many problems faced by James and his crew during a hazardous eighteen months, from navigational uncertainty to coping with treacherous Arctic ice and extreme weather. Although James's work has been largely dismissed since the early nineteenth century, it was highly regarded in previous centuries in surveys of exploration and by various scholars, such as the scientist Robert Boyle and poet Samuel Coleridge. Even if James was not an explorer of the first rank, and failed in his basic quest, he was an able navigator and leader, a perceptive scientific observer, and a master author. His tale of adventure should occupy a more prominent place in the study of exploration, literature and history, not only in Canada, but also in his homeland of Wales."--BOOK JACKET.