Dan Simmons's The Terror, Inuit "Legend," and the Embodied Horrors of History

This article highlights a connection between the emphasis on physical embodiment and the use (and appropriation) of Inuit legend in Dan Simmons's 2006 historical horror novel, The Terror. It argues that the neglect with which the biological body is treated in much historical and literary criticism is highly related to the treatment of indigenous knowledges. Simmons's text exploits this connection, emphasizing both the abject materiality of the body and Inuit "legend," in a way that--despite Simmons's own controversial political views--the critic may use to highlight and amplify indigenous voices. Thus, the article also considers recent discoveries of physical material related to the Franklin expedition and the Inuit oral history that led to them.