The Ice People (1968), a Story of Humankind’s Auto-destruction

Abstract

The Ice People (1968), a romantic science fiction by René Barjavel, tells the story of a French scientific expedition in Antarctica, which uncovers the ruins of a 900,000-year-old advanced civilization—the country of Gondawa—and a couple asleep beneath the ice. The scientists manage to wake up the woman Elea, who tells them the story of her world, herself, and her husband Paikan through a translating machine. She also narrates how the war destroyed her civilization and hints that her still-dormant husband has an advanced equation that could give free energy and food to all humans. The book anticipates the future through time travel in the past. Gondawa existed on Earth with one other country, Enisor. Both countries were technologically advanced with a few other weaker countries. Gondawa was demolished by nuclear bombardment from Enisor, so citizens lived in underground cities, filled with plants and animals bioengineered to subterranean life. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight how the story transcended the ideological science-fiction utopia and dystopia using the past through time travel to tell the present and the future of humankind. The author will discuss how technological advances and machines play a significant role in warfare. The discussion will focus on humankind’s repeated mistakes through the course of history, hinting at the future through the downfall of a futuristic civilization that prospered nearly a million years ago. The chapter will conclude that the story of Gondawa is the story of our world and that Gondawa’s future anticipates the future of humankind. In addition, it is a pessimistic perspective on humanity, more than willing to criticize us to our own auto-destruction in the past, present, and future.