THE BALLOONIST

by MacDonald Harris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1976

Chilling and comic by turn, this carefully fashioned tale is an unusual mixture of Arctic adventure and Parisian love story with philosophic overtones. The cool, ironic intelligence at work in such earlier Harris novels as Trepleff (1969) and Bullfire (1973) is again brought into play. Told with fin de siecle elegance, the story is as ingenious, quaint and highly polished as an antique machine on view in a glass case. The narrator is Gustav, a wry Swedish scientist who captains a balloon expedition to the North Pole in 1897. With him in the dangling wicker basket are Waldemar, a forthright but dense American journalist, and Theodor, a slim youth of Persian appearance who is not what he seems. As they glide perilously above the ice, Gustav recalls his unsatisfactory affair with 19-year-old Luisa, an early feminist both wise beyond her years and frivolous, who occasionally dresses in men's clothes. She threatens the singlemindedness of his scientific researches so they are forever at odds. The dangers of the Arctic trip in a wind-beset flimsy balloon become a metaphor for the human condition, and the icy wasteland of white on white a wish for a death that would bring an end to unsolvable conflicts. Harris' pessimism may seem arbitrary, but the pain in the novel is what makes it more than a curious invention.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1976

Categories: FICTION