The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

English language

Published June 5, 1999

ISBN:
9780140437485

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2 stars (1 review)

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) is the only complete novel written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the Grampus. Various adventures and misadventures befall Pym, including shipwreck, mutiny, and cannibalism, before he is saved by the crew of the Jane Guy. Aboard this vessel, Pym and a sailor named Dirk Peters continue their adventures farther south. Docking on land, they encounter hostile black-skinned natives before escaping back to the ocean. The novel ends abruptly as Pym and Peters continue toward the South Pole. The story starts out as a fairly conventional adventure at sea, but it becomes increasingly strange and hard to classify. Poe, who intended to present a realistic story, was inspired by several real-life accounts of sea voyages, and drew heavily from Jeremiah N. Reynolds …

6 editions

My review...

2 stars

There is no danger of this ever becoming a favorite of mine. The basic travelogue format of the novel, does not resolve itself (there are several missing chapters according to Poe). The early sections of the tale lead us to a rather brutal, senseless mutiny, and cannibalism. The final section becomes a travelogue again ending in yet more senseless violence. Yep, this is not my cup of tea.