[NEN]≫ PDF The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Penguin Classics Edgar Allan Poe Richard Kopley 9780140437485 Books

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Penguin Classics Edgar Allan Poe Richard Kopley 9780140437485 Books

Download As PDF : The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Penguin Classics Edgar Allan Poe Richard Kopley 9780140437485 Books

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Penguin Classics Edgar Allan Poe Richard Kopley 9780140437485 Books

This is one of two of Mr. Poe’s works referred to by Stephen King in his book ‘Roadwork,” the other being “Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.” Both refer to the experience of a person at the moment of death. I did not realize when I started reading this (a freebie from Amazon) that it is Poe’s only novel, and a long one it is! Interestingly, I also started reading an H. P. Lovecraft compendium, which includes “At the Mountains of Madness,” which refers to the Pym narrative. So, before going further in the Lovecraft story, I vowed to finish the Poe story.

And a very long and at times very draggy story it is: the tale dates from 1838 and tells of the protagonist being helped by his friend, the son of a sea captain, to stow away on the “Grampus,” for a sea adventure. The narrative actually is fairly exciting for the majority of this first part of the book, entailing mutiny, a shipwreck, cannibalism for survival, and meeting up with another ship whose crew is rotting corpses. They are eventually rescued by another ship, the “Jane Guy,” whose crew is on a trip to the South Pole. This second part of the book is a very lengthened geography and maritime lecture, enumerating many longitude/latitude locations and the various small islands of the South Pacific (a good atlas/globe/GoogleMaps at the ready helps). I found this part boring and interminable.

The third part enters into the realm of fantasy, in that the environs of Antarctica (again the map) is of a more temperate climate and peopled by primitive tribes who are initially friendly but who turn out to be savage and murderous. There are a number of what appear to be ancient symbolic runes that are not fully explained, and the ending, in which the survivors escape in a canoe only to view a very mysterious large figure, abruptly ends the tale. I’ve read some possible interpretations, but remain frustrated.

Interestingly, those guys at Amazon included an excerpt from Felix Parma’s book, “The Map of the Sky” at the end. It’s a fantasy in which the protagonist is H. G. Wells, and how he came to write “The War of the Worlds.” In this book (I’m part way through it), Mr. Poe is a gunnery sergeant on the “Annwan,” the exploration ship headed by Jerimiah Reynolds, to test the “Hollow Earth Theory” (which maintains that the South Pole is the entrance to the center of the Earth, which has its own climate and civilization). In actuality, Poe was reportedly strongly influenced by Reynolds in writing this story. “The Map of the Sky” goes on to indicate that a Martian craft had crashed in the Antarctic, with an escaped Martian wreaking havoc on the “Annwan’s” crew and is responsible for its destruction, but those details are for another review.

Three stars, then, for “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.” By the way, I’ve also finished “In the Mountains of Madness,” and its review will be included in the Lovecraft compendium review. Good story.


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The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Penguin Classics Edgar Allan Poe Richard Kopley 9780140437485 Books Reviews

I've read that this book influenced Herman Melville and Jules Verne among others. There is no doubt about that. A few times I actually thought I was reading Moby Dick. Some of the descriptions were real chores to plow through as a reader. Later in the story I thought I had stumbled onto Mysterious Island or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I really enjoy Poe's poetry and short stories, but this...all I can say is that if anybody knew how to end a story it was Poe. Whether this ending was what he had in mind when he started writing or just took this ending on the fly, we will never know, but wow! When he decided it was time to end it, he ended it. There have been other books that have left me wanting for more but none like this. Was this ending a joke or sheer genius? I prefer to think genius. Anyway, four stars. Too wordy and cerebral to be five stars for me. Oh, and I see where Jules Verne actually wrote a sequel to this book as did Charles Romeyn Dake. I've ordered both. Should be fun.
I bought this book to read for a school project about the bizarre coincidences between it and a real-life event that happened well after the book was written. I don't want to give away too much of the story for those of you not familiar with it, but if you read this book and look up Richard Parker and the Mignonette you will find the TRUE story that this fictional book parallels. It's very fascinating, although sad and grisly. I did enjoy the book although I think I enjoyed it mostly because I knew the parallels already, so it was interesting to run across them as I read the book. Keep in mind that it was written by Edgar Allan Poe back in 1838 so the language is a bit more formal than our everyday English we use now, but with that in mind I really enjoyed the book.
I have a hard time giving a writer of Mr. Poe’s stature 2 stars, but if it wasn’t for his notoriety, this would likely be a one star review.
This was published in 1838, so of course it follows a different pace and literary style. I am careful to not detract from this review because of the different literary epoch. I have read Melville and Vern. I appreciate the different style of those eras and do not detract because of it in a modern review. However, in any epoch, this book has severe shortcomings.
This is almost three short narratives hammered into one book. Modern readers will have to accept the long lead in to the actual adventure. The first action series is an archetypical lost at sea story, with piracy, mutiny, ghost ships, close encounters, and stranding on uncharted isles. If this had been the entire novel, it might have been acceptable. Unfortunately, Mr. Poe drags us through this episode without a satisfying end by throwing us into another section with almost no realistic connection to the first section. The reader endures almost a third of the book in this dry, unrealistic scientific diary.
We then enter a long, and frankly boring, entomological description of islands and fauna that might seem fitting of Darwin, if only it wasn’t pure fiction. We endure a good third of the book in this false narrative of a scientific discovery. The only saving grace would have been actual knowledge and instruction of actual, natural, orders. Sadly, this is pure fiction with only a cursory nod to reality.
The last third of the book takes us to a place so removed from actuality that it becomes pure fantasy. We find some tropical tribe, though less developed than those of southern pacific civilizations, known to western cultures of the mid 1800s. Our protagonists, having survived multiple catastrophes, finds a fantastical reality at the south pole, that resembles equatorial tribes. He has the polar regions magically warming so that he can have elements and cultures that are familiar in an exotic way.
Poe, writes his characters into a winless situation, then simply abandons them to some unrecorded history that they supposedly survived. This was a lazy end, almost as though the author got tired of the story and simply wrote a quick, convenient ending.
If you might enjoy a look at the literary view of Science Fiction in the mid 1800s, this is a worth while rad. Otherwise, check out, “The Hunger Games.”
This is one of two of Mr. Poe’s works referred to by Stephen King in his book ‘Roadwork,” the other being “Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.” Both refer to the experience of a person at the moment of death. I did not realize when I started reading this (a freebie from ) that it is Poe’s only novel, and a long one it is! Interestingly, I also started reading an H. P. Lovecraft compendium, which includes “At the Mountains of Madness,” which refers to the Pym narrative. So, before going further in the Lovecraft story, I vowed to finish the Poe story.

And a very long and at times very draggy story it is the tale dates from 1838 and tells of the protagonist being helped by his friend, the son of a sea captain, to stow away on the “Grampus,” for a sea adventure. The narrative actually is fairly exciting for the majority of this first part of the book, entailing mutiny, a shipwreck, cannibalism for survival, and meeting up with another ship whose crew is rotting corpses. They are eventually rescued by another ship, the “Jane Guy,” whose crew is on a trip to the South Pole. This second part of the book is a very lengthened geography and maritime lecture, enumerating many longitude/latitude locations and the various small islands of the South Pacific (a good atlas/globe/GoogleMaps at the ready helps). I found this part boring and interminable.

The third part enters into the realm of fantasy, in that the environs of Antarctica (again the map) is of a more temperate climate and peopled by primitive tribes who are initially friendly but who turn out to be savage and murderous. There are a number of what appear to be ancient symbolic runes that are not fully explained, and the ending, in which the survivors escape in a canoe only to view a very mysterious large figure, abruptly ends the tale. I’ve read some possible interpretations, but remain frustrated.

Interestingly, those guys at included an excerpt from Felix Parma’s book, “The Map of the Sky” at the end. It’s a fantasy in which the protagonist is H. G. Wells, and how he came to write “The War of the Worlds.” In this book (I’m part way through it), Mr. Poe is a gunnery sergeant on the “Annwan,” the exploration ship headed by Jerimiah Reynolds, to test the “Hollow Earth Theory” (which maintains that the South Pole is the entrance to the center of the Earth, which has its own climate and civilization). In actuality, Poe was reportedly strongly influenced by Reynolds in writing this story. “The Map of the Sky” goes on to indicate that a Martian craft had crashed in the Antarctic, with an escaped Martian wreaking havoc on the “Annwan’s” crew and is responsible for its destruction, but those details are for another review.

Three stars, then, for “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.” By the way, I’ve also finished “In the Mountains of Madness,” and its review will be included in the Lovecraft compendium review. Good story.