Peter Foreman

Pisuktuk of the Arctic Peter Foreman

In his old schooner the 'Octavius' a huge shaman, called Pisuktuk by the Inuit, has wandered over the vast and desolate wastes of the Arctic for generations, witnessing the ravages caused by the white men. One day he rescues an Englishman, Leon Vaughan, who, on a journey to fulfill a lifetime's ambition to see the Arctic, crashes on the ice. The two men become good friends until the day that Leon discovers the real identity of his host. Then all his overweening ambition takes possession of him and he makes a daring bid for fame and fortune. His plan leads him into a maze of trickery and deception which eventually ends in a terrible and tragic conclusion. This is a tale of darkness and deceit and a warning against the 'hubris' of modern humanity's worship of science and technology. Leon's egoistic pursuit of his ambitions plunges his girlfriend Sonia, Pisuktuk, and himself into destruction - just as humanity's ambitions in the Arctic must inevitably destroy that beautiful wilderness. In the story Eskimos and Samis appear as real people worthy of our sympathy. Yet there is another, stranger dimension to the story involving Pisuktuk's mysterious encounter with a young woman when he pours out his life story to her while she is in a state halfway between waking and sleeping. The result is a fantastic creation of myth and fiction which the young woman believes she has dreamed. Eventually it became one of the most celebrated stories in the world.