Abstract
Literary fictions about unknown territories date back to antiquity, being that these empty spaces on the maps have been a source of inspiration and projection of archaic fears and desires. Antarctica was the last territory to be discovered on Earth since it was not until 1819 that human biengs set foot there. Therefore, in modern literature, the expedition to the unknown south has a rich tradition, mixing great adventures, horrors, and omens. In this article, I analyze five texts in which the journey to the white continent is imagined as a catabasis—travel to hell—as well as a provocation (hybris) to universal order: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1798) by ST Coleridge, The Narrative of AG Pym (1838) by EA Poe, The Sphinx of the Ice Fields by J. Verne (1897), At the Mountains of Madness (1936) by HP Lovecraft, and The Conquerors of Antarctica (1945) by the Chilean F. Coloane. A comparative reading of these works shows structural and symbolic repetitions that account for a critical key: the power of wild nature over the human record and the catastrophe to which the spirit of conquest and domination can lead.
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