POLAR MEDIA

The sheer inaccessibility of the North and South Pole makes them a crucible for the persistent questions of access and data visualization that characterize the information age. As Robinson's novel Antarctica (1998) grapples with fictions that characterize representations of science, his South Pole exhibits what Jameson calls the properly utopian structure as a kind of world reduction, in which not merely breathable atmosphere but custom, human relationships, and finally political choices are pared down to the essentials. Set in the near future, this social science fiction about dire consequences of global warming addresses complex issues of environmental activism and post-industrial globalization, and illustrates the perils and perks of polar travel in the age of digital media.