A late 20th century fictional biography of the 19th century polar explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), whose disappearance in the Canadian Arctic prompted an unheralded -- and unsuccessful -- search and rescue. Sir John, once the governor of Tasmania, was the subject of a S&R thanks to the tireless agitation on his behalf by his wife, the Lady Jane. Nadolny (who also wrote an inventive biography of the god Hermes) uses Franklin's life as a point of departure for an inward exploration of the life of a deliberate man. A reprint of the excellent Freedman translation, originally published to much acclaim in German in 1987.  (ARC59, $16.95)