"Sur" by Ursula K. Le Guin

"Sur" is an imaginative, subversive, feminist adventure tale set in 1909 and in which an international, all female crew, secure an anonymous benefactor, hire a boat and captain, with the intention of being the first ever, to reach the South Pole.  No spoilers here…Sorry.  It is a quick read and can be found in the New Yorker online archives (just subscribe already!)  While the short story format prevents it from being epic, I couldn't help but read "Sur" with Odysseus in mind.  

"to go, to see---no more, no less."

..were the intentions of the main character and narrator Juana.  This, no more, no less...going and seeing, lends the work one of its greatest subversive notes and is a sly critique of the imperial flag planting tendencies of the era in which the story is set.  Sly because it is a clear critique of the dominant system and yet it makes its point not with what is done but what is not done.  For our team of intrepid women planting a flag at the South Pole is not the objective.  No one will ever hear the flag of these women clapping in the wind, but for the reader of Sur, it claps incessantly.