The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

by Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Kopley (Introduction)

Overview

Poe found the germ of the story he would develop into ARTHUR GORDON PYM in 1836 in a newspaper account of the shipwreck and subsequent rescue of the two men on board. Published in 1838, this rousing sea adventure follows New England boy, Pym, who stows away on a whaling ship with its captain's son, Augustus. The two boys repeatedly find themselves on the brink of death or discovery and witness many terrifying events, including mutiny, cannibalism, and frantic pursuits. Poe imbued this deliberately popular tale with such allegorical richness, biblical imagery, and psychological insights that the tale has come to influence writers as various as Melville, James, Verne and Nabokov.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140437485
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/01/1999
Series:	Penguin Classics Series
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.61(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American poet, short-story writer, writer of detective fiction, and critic. After publishing this novel he wrote TALES OF THE GROTESQUE AND ARABESQUE (1840) and THE RAVEN AND OTHER POEMS (1845). Richard Kopley isProfessor in the Department of English at Pennsylvania State University and Vice-President of the Poe Studies Association.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Edgar Allan Poe: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

Appendix A: Sources for the Novel

1. From R. Thomas, Remarkable Shipwrecks, A Collection of Interesting Accounts of Naval Disasters (1813)
2. From John Cleves Symmes, Symzonia: A Voyage of Discovery by Captain Adam Seaborn (1820)
3. From [James McBride], Symmes’s Theory of the Concentric Spheres (1826)
4. From Jane Porter, Sir Edward Seaward’s Narrative of His Shipwreck (1831)
5. From Archibald Duncan, The Mariner’s Chronicle (1804–05)
6. From Jeremiah N. Reynolds, The Voyage of the Potomac (1834)

Appendix B: Contemporary Reviews

1. From The New-Yorker (1 August 1838)
2. From The New-York Mirror (11 August 1838)
3. From Albion (18 August 1838)
4. From Knickerbocker Magazine (August 1838)
5. From Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine (September 1838)
6. From Family Magazine (1838)
7. From The Torch (13 October 1838)
8. From The Spectator (27 October 1838)
9. From The Monthly Review (October 1838)

Appendix C: Other Writers’ Responses to Pym

1. From Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851) and Israel Potter:His Fifty Years of Exile (1855)
1. From “The Mast-Head,” Chapter 35 of Moby-Dick
2. From “The Whiteness of the Whale,” Chapter 42 of Moby-Dick
3. From “Chapter 12. Israel Returns to the Squire’s Abode—His Adventures There,” in Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile
2. From Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal (1857)
1. “La Géante”
2. “A Voyage to Cythera”
3. “Travel”
3. From Jules Verne, Le Sphinx des glaces (1897)
4. From Henry James, The Golden Bowl (1904)

Select Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

It is Poe’s greatest work.”—Jorge Luis Borges

From the Publisher

"This scrupulously prepared, thorough, and extremely useful edition of Poe's only novel will thrill students, instructors, and general Poe aficionados in equal measure. Indeed, the map of Pym's voyage, incredibly appearing here for the first time, is worth the price of admission alone! The developed and informative introduction, meticulous footnotes, well-considered bibliography, and carefully selected appendices combine to offer a model of accessible and impressive scholarship ideal for the classroom or for the general reader of Poe. Even experts are likely to glean new insights from this top-notch edition."

Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock Central Michigan University

"This new edition of Poe's only completed novel represents a welcome option for instructors. The edition features a comprehensive critical introduction detailing the history of Pym scholarship and critical approaches, a detailed chronology of Poe's life, and three valuable appendices that reprint Poe's most important literary sources, a healthy selection of contemporary reviews, and responses by other writers such as Melville and James. The selection of sources and reviews will delight instructors eager to teach the novel in its nineteenth-century context."

Leland S. Person University of Cincinnati