In July 1897, Swedish engineer Salomon August Andrée attempted to reach the North Pole by hydrogen balloon, launching from Svalbard with two companions. The expedition failed when the balloon lost hydrogen and crashed onto the ice after two days, with all three men perishing during their attempt to walk south; their remains and journals were not discovered until 1930.

Andrée's tragic expedition inspired extensive literary reflection on heroic failure, imperial ambition, and the limits of technology against nature. Strindberg wrote about the expedition, while later poets and novelists used the story to explore themes of masculine hubris, the romance of polar exploration, and the gap between technological confidence and natural reality, making it one of literature's most compelling exploration narratives.