From Golden Age to Climate Change: A Sixteenth-Century Dutch Account from the Arctic Permafrost
Résumé
If a polar explorer from centuries past could speak, what might he say about climate change today? In Waarachtige beschrijvingen uit de permafrost [Strange and Perfect Account from the Permafrost, 2022], contemporary Dutch author Donald Niedekker (1963—) offers an original answer to this question. This paper examines how Niedekker’s anti-heroic, revisionist reworking of Arctic exploration offers a nuanced yet powerful reflection on global warming. In addition to textual analysis, it draws on memory studies and ecocriticism frameworks to situate the novel within a broader counter-heroic exploration discourse.

