Historic and scientific detail in early Antarctic speculative fiction

Antarctica has long been a source for narratives. The literary history of Antarctica has included both non-fiction accounts of explorers and scientists and fictional tales set in the south polar region. The latter works make great use of the former to establish a necessary level of realism. Non-fiction accounts of Antarctica from Cook, Reynolds, Morrell, Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen, and Byrd are examined. At the same time, six pieces of Antarctic speculative fiction, by Edgar Allan Poe, James DeMille, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Martin Leahy, H.P. Lovecraft, and John W. Campbell are analysed to determine their inclusion of historical and scientific details. References to current discoveries in palaeontology, geology, evolution, and medicine are noted. An intertwining series of fiction and non-fiction texts are presented that build upon one another as the secrets of the south polar region are revealed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Antarctic canon is the product of this intertwining and upon the inclusion of historical and scientific accuracy within its speculative fiction.