The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule

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The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule

3.55 of 5 stars 3.55 · rating details · 77 ratings · 17 reviews

A legend, a land once seen and then lost forever, Thule was a place beyond the edge of the maps, a mystery for thousands of years. And to the Nazis, Thule was an icy Eden, birthplace of Nordic "purity." In this exquisitely written narrative, Joanna Kavenna wanders in search of Thule, to Shetland, Iceland, Norway, Estonia, Greenland, and Svalbard, unearthing the philosopher...more

ebook, 304 pages

Published January 30th 2007 by Penguin Books (first published February 2nd 2006)

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Aug 27, 2011 Erik rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction-for-a-fiction-guy

I have always been a dreamer. I have always been that guy, the guy who you would always catch staring off into space, dreaming of what it would be like be somewhere else, to be in a place completely foreign and new with endless discoveries and landscapes straight out of a fantasy. In my early to mid twenties, whenever I’d envision the perfect getaway, I always imagined a place cultured and refined, a place filled with interesting history far away from all those fangled beaches where tourists guz...more I have always been a dreamer. I have always been that guy, the guy who you would always catch staring off into space, dreaming of what it would be like be somewhere else, to be in a place completely foreign and new with endless discoveries and landscapes straight out of a fantasy. In my early to mid twenties, whenever I’d envision the perfect getaway, I always imagined a place cultured and refined, a place filled with interesting history far away from all those fangled beaches where tourists guzzle frilly umbrella drinks, children run amuck, and some irritating tour guide is always dictating your schedule for you… (However, now at 35, I wholeheartedly retract that statement after experiencing the tropical awesomeness of Mexico during my honeymoon).

Still, many travelers stick to their guns when they decide their destinations. For many, the ideal vacation is a solo-sojourn to a remote part of the globe, (and I do mean remote). Joanna Kavenna is such a traveler. Her nonfiction debut, The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule, is a mythology-infused travelogue that extends to the farthest reaches of the known, and unknown, areas of the northern hemisphere, (Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Estonia, and the Shetland Islands). It may not be a stretch to proclaim that no writer has ever chronicled the otherworldly beauty and sheer isolation of the icy north has well as Kavenna. Her poetic passages leave you longing for her next destination, her next discovery, hoping that she will never stop searching for Thule, because with every crystal-blue fjord and every gleaming glade that Kavenna describes, you will want to be right there with her. I almost wanted to plan a trip to the Norwegian fjords immediately after reading.

Thule is a place of a legend, a sort of Atlantis of the north. The first accounts of its existence come from the Greek explorer, Pytheas, who claimed to have discovered it during the 4th century. Pytheas described Thule as a place of endless splendor beyond the borders of the known world, a place shrouded with, “mist, sea and land, a frozen ocean, a midnight sun in the summer, a twilight sky throughout the winter.” Since its alleged discovery, Thule has been referenced and romanticized in literature by writers as diverse as Virgil, Shelly, Poe, and even Charlotte Bronte. Whispers of a “superior” race existing in this beautiful land later led the Nazis to claim that Thule was the ancient origin of the Aryan race. During the early years of the Third Reich, a “Thule Society” was even created as a means of culminating Aryan propaganda. Kavenna doesn’t shy away from this darkened history to the subject, and even makes some detours in Berlin to investigate the Nazi affiliation with Thule. Her spirited curiosity leads her to many people with vastly different lifestyles: Viking warrior descendents, seal-skinning Enuits, Shetland Island pub-goers, Norwegian women forced into exile due to their Nazi blood ties, drunken Russian coal miners, and even the President of Estonia, (who firmly believes his country to be the one and only Thule). All of Kavenna’s encounters with these people are fascinating, but what will ultimately captivate you are the passages devoted to the landscapes themselves. You will feel like you have found the world’s most best kept secrets. The translucent fields of ice and the deep blue fjords of the distant north offer a sublime beauty far away from the things of man. By the time I got to the end of the book, I couldn’t have cared less whether Thule existed or not because I felt I had already experienced everything that all of the poets and writers have ever said about it.(less)

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Feb 12, 2009 El rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: wanderlust, cultural-studies-and-other, lit-crit

Thule is one of those mysteries of geography, like Atlantis, over which people like to argue - did it or did it not really exist? It has appeared in literature for an incredibly long time, but so much in literature has been passed down over centuries without much to back it up - like an urban legend. It seems every one wants to claim a piece of Thule, and has "origins" in Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Estonia and on and on. The author here goes on a physical journey to try to find some proof in ea...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Olduvai rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, non-fiction

“Some said ‘Toolay’, some said ‘Thoolay’, a very few said ‘Thool’. Poets rhymed Thule with newly, truly and unruly, but never, it seemed with drool.”

The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule was far better in theory than in execution. Former journalist Joanna Kavenna (yes the same one whose book, The Birth of Love, is on this year’s Orange Prize longlist) has a fascination with Thule, which was first described by Greek explorer Pytheas, who claimed to have reached it in 4th century BC....more “Some said ‘Toolay’, some said ‘Thoolay’, a very few said ‘Thool’. Poets rhymed Thule with newly, truly and unruly, but never, it seemed with drool.”

The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule was far better in theory than in execution. Former journalist Joanna Kavenna (yes the same one whose book, The Birth of Love, is on this year’s Orange Prize longlist) has a fascination with Thule, which was first described by Greek explorer Pytheas, who claimed to have reached it in 4th century BC. Thule is supposed to be a “land near a frozen ocean, draped in the mist. Thule was seen once, described in opaque prose, and never identified with any certainty again. It became a mystery land, standing by a cold sea. A land at the edge of the maps.”

And somehow, ‘Thule’ became a word used to stand in for anything. e.e.cummings writes of the ‘Ultima Thule of plumbing’. A Thule society was set up in Munich, members included Hitler and Rudolf Hess. A US airbase in Greenland still retains the name of Thule.

Kavenna gives up her cushy job in London and travels through Shetland, Iceland, Norway, Estonia, Greenland and Spitsbergen. What a journey, eh? But the book is a bit of a letdown. Perhaps not entirely her fault, for how many ways can one describe lands of ice, snow and fjords?

I wasn’t expecting to read about Nazis and the World War when I came across this book. But Kavenna is quite determined to explore more about the Thule Society, interviewing Krigsbarn (children born to Norwegian mother, Nazi father) who were thought to be mentally ill, or who were simply shunned and hidden away in children’s homes or mental institutions after the war. She travels to Greenland, desperate to step foot on the US airbase of Thule, and is finally given a few hours to wander around. But it doesn’t make for anything interesting or insightful really. In the end, I had more interest in her shipmates onboard the Aurora Borealis, travelling around Greenland in this former icebreaker, stopping at settlements along the way, like the six German scientists who shared her table:

“Soon they just wanted everyone else to vanish; they said they disliked queuing behind the for food, and passing them life-jackets and waiting while they fumbled for change at the bar. But they kept it up, toasting each other, greeting each other in the mornings like long-lost friends, treading on each other’s toes in the queues and then pretending it was all an accident.”

Or the two employees at the deserted, opulent Villa Ammende in Estonia, where Kavenna is the only guest. And as she leaves, she wonders if the guy who runs the reception and the waitress live it up during this low season:

“The bacchanalia only stopped when the bell tolled through the corridors; then they put on their uniforms and became solemn and monosyllabic. As I drove off I imagined the man on the desk whipping off his grey suit and donning a red velvet smoking jacket, slinking into the billiard room to pot a few balls, before his first whisky of the day.”

Something tells me that Kavenna’s works of fiction might be a better read.

So The Ice Museum summed up: An intriguing endeavour, but in the end, not really a journey that interested me very much, although it did inspire a little bit of wanderlust (I do have a soft spot for tales of arctic exploration).(less)

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Aug 30, 2008 Bettie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: published-2005, nonfiction

oooh this is going to be a chore, the writing style has little merit so I am hanging on for some delicious factoids.

jewel #1 - Arne Naess: it's good to have another look at this man who, incidently, has moved to the edges of suburbia now - lol

jewel #2 - Burton's visit to Iceland; Auden's visit to same.

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Jan 13, 2012 Warnie B. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: russia-ukraine-belarus, scandinavia, non-fiction, arctic, travel, history, read-in-2012, myths-and-legends, cover-candy, central-europe

Hmmmm. I really thought I would eat this up, despite the mediocre reviews I kept seeing for it. It has all the elements that usually entrance me--travel, the Arctic, mystery, ancient history, a gorgeous cover (I know, I know, you're not supposed to judge)--and yet somehow it still all fell flat.

Part of the problem for me was that I couldn't quite figure out what Kavenna was trying to do here. The title implies a sort of research journey into the origins and location of Thule, but while Kavenna...more

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May 28, 2008 Christian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Christian by: Page-A-Day Calendar

I can't help but compare this book of the frozen north to Rising Fire, which was also a travel memoir set around a topic (Volcanoes). Ice Museum does a much better job of staying within the realm of the topic itself; the author, while always present, rarely becomes a focus. And there's no new age diversions (well, unless your opinions on climate change skew in Crichton's direction).

A couple issues though. The prose can be thick sometimes, and there's really only so many ways to describe sunrises...more

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Dec 25, 2011 David R. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This one is gorgeously written: the language is almost poetry. But Kavenna is attempting some kind of travelogue in the northwest Atlantic and that mission isn't really well fulfilled. I don't know that much more about Iceland or Svalbard or any of the other "Thule" candidates, but at least the journey is somewhat spellbinding in a different way.

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Aug 28, 2010 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The author has provided an intriguing exploration of the northern-most tips of Europe in search of the lost kingdom of Thule. This ice-laden kingdom was first explored by Pytheas in the fourth century BC and Kavenna provides part history-part travelogue as she sets about trying to locate its exact position. Along the way the author provides both beautiful descritions of the harsh unforgiving landscapes of the Shetlands and Iceland, synopses of Grennland and Estonia society, a history of Aryan su...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Dan Barton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

...ONLY THE PAST IS IMMORTAL.

DECIDE TO TAKE A TRIP, READ BOOKS OF TRAVEL
GO QUICKLY! EVEN SOCRATES IS MORTAL
MENTION THE NAME OF HAPPINESS: IT IS

ATLANTIS, ULTIMA THULE, OR THE LIMELIGHT,
CATHAY OR HEAVEN. BUT GO QUICKLY . . .
“PERSONAE,” DELMORE SCHWARTZ (1913-1966)...more

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Oct 02, 2010 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, geography, mythology, exploration, arctic, origin, myths, nazi, party, iceland, greenland, svalbard, norway, united, kingdom, shetlands, estonia, wilderness, fridtjof, nansen

In this book, Joanna Kavenna writes about places that are of great interest to me - Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard, and others - but in a way I frequently found off-putting. Her brief is to search for Thule, the mythical northern land of the ancients, but her musings on the Thule myth frequently prevent her from writing about the fascinating people and places that pass before her eyes. Only in the final chapter, about Svalbard, does she integrate her thoughts about Thule effectively into the narra...more

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Dec 27, 2008 Phoebe rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scotland, iceland, norway, greenland, estonia

I love reading about cold places. I think it is hereditary.

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Apr 24, 2007 LA Bourgeois rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Exotic Travelers

Shelves: booksof2007

I picked up this book expecting an examination of the myths of Thule (which I knew nothing about) and found a travelogue along with some history, but not much about the myths. I barreled through this book as quickly as possible since I'm more interested in pop-anthropology than travelogues (I'd rather go there than read about it). However, now I know where the Thule ski racks come from, although I find I'm disturbed by the choice of the name after the whole Nazi references.

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Oct 03, 2007 Lisa Kelsey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like travelogues

A lyrically written history and travelogue of the extreme north regions. The theme of the book centers around a search for the legendary land of Thule first written about by Greek explorer Pytheas in the fourth century BC. Interestingly, a proto-Nazi group called the Thule Society met in Munich in the twenties and thirties, discussing the supposed homeland of their Aryan ancestors. Their ideas went on to inform some of the cultural mythology of the Nazis.

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Jun 14, 2011 jen8998 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Part travelogue, part history and fable, Kavenna's book The Ice Museum details her quest for the land of Thule. First referenced by the Romans, no one appears quite sure where Thule is and the author ends up vising Norway, Estonia, Iceland, Greenland, The Shetland Islands and Germany. Kavenna finds Thule has as many meanings as it does possible locations, from a symbol of nature to an ideology. Fascinating and unique

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Feb 22, 2009 Abbey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mountains-ice-water

Wow this edition needed an editor. Cut, cut, cut. Would have loved it if I could have gotten through the redundant sentences.

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Jan 06, 2008 Itsbecka rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An interesting tale of the search for Thule...especially if you've been to Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard, Norway, etc.

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Mar 17, 2008 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love north.

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May 17, 2013 Antonomasia marked it as noted · review of another edition

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May 06, 2013 Kristal rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 05, 2013 Adrienne is currently reading it · review of another edition

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Shelves: scandinavia

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Shelves: wish-list

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About Joanna Kavenna

Joanna Kavenna is a prize-winning British novelist and travel writer.

Kavenna spent her childhood in Suffolk and the Midlands as well as various other parts of Britain. She has also lived in the United States, France, Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic States.

These travels led to her first book, The Ice Museum, which was published in 2005. It was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award in that...more

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