- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (May 1 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0192837710
- ISBN-13: 978-0192837714
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 222 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,653,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
'a fine introduction to a fascinating writer' The Observer
Book Description
And now I found these fancies creating their own realities, and all imagined horrors crowding upon me in fact'. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym is an archetypal American story of escape from home and family which traces a young man's rite of passage through a series of terrible brushes with death during a fateful sea voyage. But it also goes much deeper, as Pym encounters various interpretative dilemmas, at last leaving the reader with a broken-off ending that defies solution. Apart from its violence and mystery, the tale calls attention to the act of writing and to the problem of representing truth. Layer upon layer of elaborate hoaxes include its author's own role of posing as ghost-writer of the narrative; Pym - his only novel - has become the key text for our understanding of Poe. This edition offers eight short tales which are linked to Pym by their treatment of persistent themes - fantastic voyages, gigantic whirlpools, and premature burials - or by their ironic commentary on Poe's mystification of his readers.
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First Sentence
My name is Arthur Gordon Pym. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
My name is Arthur Gordon Pym. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poe's Only Novel,
By
This review is from: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Related Tales (Paperback)
Poe's only novel, inspired by a real life account, is a surprisingly rousing seafaring yarn that, at times, suggests the hand of Joseph Conrad or Herman Melville (whose later classic "Moby Dick" is much more famous but clearly owes this one a huge debt) than that of the unhinged paranoiac who authored some of the most enduring horror tales of all time (the nautical details and jargon are convincing and yet entirely imagined, as he spent no time in the water). But that's the first third: as protagonist Pym earns his sea legs, things take a turn for the macabre--a bloody mutiny, cannibalism, a ship of corpses--before he ends up in a fantasia of Antarctica that owes more to the two-fisted, racially-inflammatory potboilers of Edgar Rice Burroughs than, say, the journals of James Cook. The tale wraps up abruptly on a cosmic note anticipating "2001: A Space Odyssey" or anything from David Lynch. A tough slog at times, but a unique and rewarding read...
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poe's One and Only Novel:,
By
This review is from: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Related Tales (Paperback)
In this novel I had the same feeling I used to have watching or reading Treasure Island. It is one of the best adventure novels I have ever read.It speaks about an adventure seeker, a Mr. A. Gordon Pym. He tries to leave the luxury of his little city Nantucket, where he used to live with his father. One friend of his convinces him to travel. The first voyage was a total disaster. But he did not quit his dream. He went on yet another ... Man, it was the most chilling experience I ever had. It is not like anything you dream, it is even stranger. No goblins nor trolls appear hear, yet still, Poe can really bring the horror to your heart. A mutiny is added to the singular experience Pym had, and then Cannibalism. And after you thought the story finished, you see that Poe starts a new story which not as impressive as the first, yet turns the attention to some other direction. The end was a bit shaky. I did not like it at all. I usually do not like open endings. That was the only reason I gave 4 instead of 5 stars. Overall, I would recommend you to read it in the middle of the night (if you do not have anything else to do), with a cup of tea, and with no one else around! You would enjoy it even more.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poe's Best Long Work -- And His Only, Even,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Related Tales (Paperback)
At 150 pages or so, Arthur Gordon Pym is the closest Poe came to a novel. Rife with his characteristic polarization and dreamscape plots, this stands, in my opinion, as one of Poe's best. The short stories included only add to the mainstay, and it's a great value.
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