Confessions of an Igloo Dweller: Memories of the Old Arctic [Hardcover]

James Houston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 16, 1996

James Houston lived among Inuit in the Canadian Arctic between 1948 and 1962. He slept in their igloos, ate raw fish and seal meat, wore skin clothing, traveled by dog team, hunted walrus,learned how to build a snowhouse, and raised a family. While doing so, he helped change the Arctic. Impressed by the natural artistic skills of the people, he encouraged the development of exhibits and sales of Inuit art in the south - sales that have brought millions of dollars to its creators. Confessions of an Igloo Dweller, a wonderful piece of storytelling, recounts Houston's fascinating and often hilarious adventures among a confident, smiling people who spoke no English. Taking readers into the heart of Inuit culture, it joins the tradition established by Fridtjof Nansen, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, and Farley Mowat. A book full of adventure and anecdote as well as the delights of art and the hazards of cold, it is illustrated with forty drawings by the author.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A chance visit to the Arctic in 1948?when Canadian author-artist Houston (The White Dawn) was invited to fly with an aviator friend on a medical emergency at an isolated post?dictated his future for the next 14 years. Stirred by the endless white landscape and the engaging warmth of the Inuits, he connived to return as a Northern Service officer and eventually became the first administrator of western Baffin Island. An artist himself, he recognized the artistry of the people in their carvings and drawings, and became a major force in bringing them to worldwide popularity. He introduced the Inuits to printing and money, oddities they had not known. In turn, they introduced him to their cooperative society, taught him their hunting skills and shared their food, stories and ways of living. His memories of those years, written with a modesty that belies his own accomplishments, peoples the Canadian Arctic with unique individuals and describes a mode of life that, for better or worse, he himself did much to change. Illustrations by the author.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

From 1948 to 1962, Canadian artist-writer James Houston lived among Inuit residents of Arctic Quebec. (He uses the term Inuit rather than Eskimo, which has recently fallen out of favor.) He was one of the first white men to appreciate the value of Inuit carvings and initiated a program to gather, sell, and display in galleries the ivory, antler, whalebone, and stone artifacts. All along, he promoted the carvings and native printmaking as industries for improving the Inuit economy. His "confessions" are really recollections about his activities on both sides of Hudson Bay and Baffin Island. Often accompanied by his wife, he took dogsled treks, built and slept in igloos, hunted walrus, and climbed a frozen waterfall. Sprinkled in the text are 40 of his drawings, which illustrate such commonly used items as a seal-oil lamp, copper-mine ulu, and goose-wing brush. Reading Houston's memoirs, you become inspired by his joy at living in and learning about the Canadian Arctic. Jennifer Henderson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; First Edition edition (April 16, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395788900
• ISBN-13: 978-0395788905
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,022,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Yes, but is it Art?", August 14, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Confessions of an Igloo Dweller: Memories of the Old Arctic (Hardcover)

First this is a book about art. If you have ever wondered how those most beautiful Eskimo sculptures and prints have found their way to your local gallery; this book tells you how.

Mr. Houston was the first artist to recognize and search out the Inuit artforms and to deliver them to the art markets "outside". In every detail, name by name, you can read about the Inuit art culture from the very first stone figures and bone scluptures, to the latest prints.

Second this is a book about Arctic. Adventure on a epic scale. Mr. Houstons' honeymoon was one of the very few trips from east to west across Baffin Island by sled. Mr and Mrs. Houston spent years in the Arctic living in the Inuit way; both their sons spoke Inuktitut in preference to English and preferred raw seal meat to... well that was all there was to eat.

Sadly there are in this book no prints of the Inuit art, nor photos of the artists, nor any example of the art described in the text. For all the journeys by sled, boat, plane, and on foot there are no suitable maps. For a book about a culture that is so completely linked to geography, there are no maps for the reader to follow nor plates for the art lover to love.

The most astonsihing event of the book occurs on page 9. A very young Mr. Houston steps off of a plane in the Hudson's Bay Arctic, looks around, and flatly refuses to live any place else; He stays for 15 years.

You can add Mr. Houston to the list with Barry Lopez, William Vollmann , Farley Mowat, and John McPhee; thoes writers that get the Arctic Expericence

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping, non-judgemental, true-life narrative., June 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Confessions of an Igloo Dweller: Memories of the Old Arctic (Hardcover)

This is one of the finest first-person, historical narratives I've read for many years. Mr. Houston provides a unique, non-judgemental series of observations and first-hand stories about the Inuit and his own experiences living among them and working with them and, most importantly, learning from them. He is very honest in relating his own foibles and potentially life-threatening mistakes. His style is very easy to read and personal and I could not put this book down after starting it. Mr. Houston lived a highly privileged and unique life among a pre-literate but very evolved group during a crucial turning point for their culture. This is a rare and wonderful narrative.

4.0 out of 5 stars A really good book, September 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Confessions of an Igloo Dweller: Memories of the Old Arctic (Hardcover)

Really enjoyable. This man's interraelationship with a disappearing culture and the hurdles he faced in the Arctic wilderness are tangible and detailed. Mostly this book is about a youth (his own) - lost but still remembered. I read Joseph Conrad's Youth at the same time and the themes were quite similar.