The South has long since cast its spell on our collective imagination. Writers and artists, from Goethe and Poe, to Gauguin, Lawrence and Kerouac, were captivated by it. Landscapes of ice and snow, sand and sea, have lured explorers southwards for centuries, often with fatal consequences. South explores the idea of the South, following in the footsteps of Cook, Scott, John Muir and others as they recount their journeys. From Europe in the seventeenth-century to the American Deep South in the nineteenth; from Borges' Buenos Aires to the streets of South London today.

The South has long since cast its spell on our collective imagination. Writers and artists, from Goethe and Poe, to Gauguin, Lawrence and Kerouac, were captivated by it. Landscapes of ice and snow, sand and sea, have lured explorers southwards for centuries, often with fatal consequences. South explores the idea of the South, following in the footsteps of Cook, Scott, John Muir and others as they recount their journeys. From Europe in the seventeenth-century to the American Deep South in the nineteenth; from Borges' Buenos Aires to the streets of South London today.