A Woman in the Polar Night

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It's very much worth the search though, because of the beauty of the writing. The author spent a year in Spitsbergen in the Arctic, with her husband and another hunter, in a tiny cabin miles away from civilization and other people, isolated by the weather and the long polar night. She's able to find the majesty in the landscape and the animals, despite the loneliness and fear when the men leave on hunting expeditions lasting for days. It was such a peaceful read, it acted as a balm, although it did not leave me wishing to experience it for myself. The writing is part memoir and a travelogue of sorts that does not keep its arc or sights on geographical indicators. Rather, it is a brisk yet deeply philosophical look at nature, the bonds between human and animals, the way human comfort can be stripped down to the barest essential when faced with the existential crisis of survival and the way, the human mind and spirit can wax, wane and make small steps to start all over again when nothing familiar exists except your own solitary self. It is a slim book that carries within valuable insights of how the desperate search for food means having to let go of sentimentality or how the need for human company can be fraught. Ritter's wry commentary over house duties, the depth of her contemplations on life and social ties, her emotional bonding to the animals she grows familiar with, the way she takes to life in sub zero temperatures on her own, all make for a compelling read. Conjures the rasp of the skin runner, the scent of burning blubber and the rippling iridescence of the Northern Lights..." Sara Wheeler, author of Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica This rediscovered classic memoir tells the incredible tale of a woman defying society's expectations to find freedom and peace in the adventure of a lifetime.

Christiane Ritter- Künstlerin, Abenteurerin, Ehefrau und Mutter, doch vor allem eine Frau, die ihrer Zeit voraus war. He swears at women in the Arctic, their frivolity and obstinacy, which are quite out of place here considering how inexperienced they are.' In this extraordinary adventure, a reluctant visitor to the Arctic thrives in the awesome and unforgiving landscape. The sweet stories in this book were the ones about a white fox adopting them, as well as a seal later on. And at least neither of these men, who were hunting for both of those animals, harmed them.

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Christiane Ritter, an Austrian artist, lived with her husband, a hunter in Spitsbergen, for a year. Hunters lived solitary and dangerous lives but thrived on the challenge. Christiane’s husband, Hermann, invited her to join him and another hunter because they wanted a ‘housewife’. Over the winter, she would be left on her own while they went hunting. No electricity, no facilities, no running water, nothing but a tiny stove to heat the tiny hut which was barely a bunk’s length wide and which would mostly be completely immersed in snow. This would be an adventure in contemporary, tech-driven times but this was 1934. I’ve been drawn lately to books about people living off the grid. The crazier our society becomes, the more enticing an isolated existence sounds. But maybe not in the Arctic Circle. Maybe somewhere that at least has vegetation and temperatures above freezing. Maybe somewhere with individual days and nights: “For here there are no days because there are no nights. One day melts into the next, and you cannot say this is the end of today and now it is tomorrow and that was yesterday.”

What would cause a woman to want to go live in the Artic for a year? The young woman in this story is married to a man that is a hunter/trapper who takes expeditions to the Artic and lives in a hut on the small island of Spitsbergen. He asks her to come live with him, and that is all it took for her to leave their young child. She takes off on a boat with a mirror, a feather bed, books, camel hair clothing, spoons, and herbs. Speaking of herbs, you have to find some way to spice up the meals that they end up eating. The feather bed and books were a good idea too, but everything in the hut got damp, very damp. But I once spent the night in a jungle with a wet wool blanket, and it kept me warm, so maybe feather beds are like that, still warm when damp. When her husband asks Christiane to join him for a year in Spitsbergen, Ritter imagines many days spend cooking and painting while her husband hunts artic foxes. But the Arctic is far from peaceful: normal temperatures are 25 degrees below, hunting foxes, seals, and even polar bears are vital for survival, and in wintertime the sun doesn’t rise for four months. mulle nii kohutavalt meeldib, kui mõni inimene reisib kohta, kuhu (või asjaoludel, millistel) mina iial ei reisiks, ja siis suudab sellest kirjutada raamatu, mis peaaegu et paneb mu ümber mõtlema.In Anbetracht der Erstveröffentlichung und der davor angetretenen Reise muss man den Mut der Autorin anerkennen. Die Malerin ließ ihr Kind bei der Mutter und reiste zu ihrem Mann nach Spitzbergen. Aufgrund der damaligen Zeit war Ritter eine wahre Abenteurerin.

The savage magnificence of the landscape carries the book for me, but the interactions between Ritter (an Austrian artist), her husband and a young Norwegian adventurer, are cheerful and sincere, and also a highlight. Christiane writes in a spare and straightforward manner. She is very descriptive of the landscape, animals, weather, and the three's activities such as hunting, cooking, meals, going on hikes. You feel like you are right there with them in this isolated winter world. It was fun to read how her attitude towards her arctic home changed over the course of the year. In the valleys the wind howls, over the plain the snow is driven like a glistening river, but calm and unmoved the mountains soar into the star-glittering heavens.” Ich bin so froh, es als Hörbuch genossen zu haben, denn beim Lesen hätte ich bestimmt am Schreibstil zu knabbern gehabt. So konnte ich mich einfach fallen lassen und mit der Protagonistin die Polarnacht durchleben und staunen. Ich weiß nicht, woher diese Faszination für Bücher, die im ewigen Eis spielen rührt, aber ich bin jedesmal wieder hin und weg.

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Layout - so on top of being bored to tears with the subject, I actually didn't understand a lot of her writing. Most of the time I had no idea where she even was, she referred to every stopping point as 'the hut' which had me totally lost - taking me yet further out of the story. And I felt she almost wanted her writing to be so 'beautiful' that she never actually got to the point, it was just descriptive words. Most of the book was about their surviving the long year, and then her writing about the beauty of the place. I wish that I could see it for maybe a week. A rediscovered classic memoir – the mesmerizingly beautiful account of one woman’s year spent living in a remote hut in the Arctic