Unstable Places and Generic Spaces: Thrillers Set in Antarctica

This chapter examines the contribution of the thriller to Antarctica’s place identity. It begins with the claim that, while all places are hybrids of nature and culture, a “natural” place like Antarctica, with which most humans have so little experience, is more reliant on “cultural” associations than densely inhabited locations. Antarctica is a setting beloved of popular genres, not least the thriller. This chapter uses a combination of “distant reading” and “close reading”—with a focus on Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station (1998)—to argue that Antarctica has special appeal for thriller writers due to its unusual geopolitics, geographical isolation, extreme climatic conditions, and, most importantly, its icescape.