A Hero for the Atomic Age: Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon-Tiki ExpeditionPeter Lang, 2010 - 252 pages Nomination for Best Foreign Film at the 2013 Academy Awards In English and many other languages the name 'Kon-Tiki' has become a byword for adventure and the exotic. The journey of the Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 1947 became one of the founding myths of the postwar world. In the voyage of six Scandinavians and a parrot on a balsa raft across the Pacific Ocean the classic journey of discovery was re-invented for generations to come. Kon-Tiki spoke of heroism, masculinity, free-spirited rebellion against scientific dogmatism, and the promise of an attainable exotic world, while it updated these mythological staples to fit the times. After years of relentless media exploitation of the 101-day raft journey, Heyerdahl emerged as the protagonist in a legend that helped to create a new postwar West. A Hero for the Atomic Age tells the story of how Heyerdahl organized an expedition to sail a balsa raft from Callao in Peru to the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia, and explains how he turned this physical crossing into an epic narrative that became imbued with a universal appeal. The book also addresses, for the first time, the problematic nature of Heyerdahl's theory that a white culture-bearing race had initiated all the world's great civilizations. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Man and the Myth | 7 |
Making the KonTiki | 31 |
From Raft to Brand | 53 |
The Seamless Craft of Writing Legend | 73 |
To Review a Classic | 95 |
The KonTiki Film and the Return to Realism | 113 |
A Lone Hero of Adventurous Science | 133 |
Common terms and phrases
Adam Helms Adams fotspor American April argued Atlantic audience became become Bjørn Rørholt Bombard brand British Carson cinema civilization claimed classic colonial Cousteau created crew culture culture-bearing documentary epic exotic exoticism explorer fantasy Fatuiva frontier Grieg Günther Gyldendal Harald Grieg hero Heyerdahl's book Hollywood Ibid idea islands Jacoby journey Knut Haugland Kon-Tiki book Kon-Tiki Expedition Kon-Tiki film Kon-Tiki Museum KTA Oslo Kvam legend letter to Thor Lévi-Strauss London lone genius Mannen og havet masculine modern myth narration narrative National native nature Norway Norwegian ocean Olle Nordemar Pacific Peter Celliers Peter Quennell Philip Unwin Polynesian popular postwar sea primitive primitivism publicity published Raaby racism radio raft reviewers romantic scientific scientist Señor Kon-Tiki Stanley Unwin Stockholm sublime Swedish Tarzan theory Thomas Olsen Thor Heyerdahl Tiki Tiki culture Tiwanaku Torstein Raaby travel book travel writing Viking voyage Watzinger West Western white race wilderness wrote York