What is The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym about?
After reading an 1836 newspaper account of a shipwreck and its two survivors, Edgar Allan Poe penned his only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, the story of a stowaway on a Nantucket whaleship who finds himself enmeshed in the dark side of life at sea: mutiny, cannibalism, savagery—even death.
Is The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym real?
Poe summoned up in his story the same name of a man who, 50 years later in real life, would be shipwrecked and – exactly as had been described in the book – eaten by his fellow survivors. The novel is framed as a mock memoir in which the eponymous narrator Pym describes a perilous voyage.
Why did Poe write the narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym?
The inspiration for The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym was both modern and American. Poe got the idea from a newspaper. In February 1836, the Norfolk Beacon published a vivid account of the sinking in a storm at sea of a ship named Ariel. Here was the perfect sea story for which Poe had been on the lookout.
What is the setting of the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym?
Arthur Gordon Pym lives on Nantucket, a whaling and fishing island, and his best friend, Augustus, is the son of a whaling ship captain. The two boys drunkenly sail out on Pym’s little boat, Ariel, on Augustus’s impulse.
What happened at the end of the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym?
Here the novel ends abruptly. A short post-scriptural note, ostensibly written by the book’s editors, explains that Pym was killed in an accident and speculates his final two or three chapters were lost with him, though assuring the public the chapters will be restored to the text if found.
What genre is The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket?
Novel
Gothic fictionNautical fictionLost world
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket/Genres
Was Richard Parker a cannibal?
In Poe’s book, Richard Parker is a cabin boy who is stranded and eventually the victim of cannibalism on a lifeboat. There is a dog aboard who is named Tiger. A third Richard Parker drowned in the sinking of the Francis Speight in 1846, described by author Jack London, and later a cabin boy was cannibalized.
What is Poe’s longest story?
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
Who wrote Pym?
Mat JohnsonPym / Author
Why is the tiger named Richard Parker?
Richard Parker and shipwreck narratives The name Richard Parker for the tiger was inspired by a character in Edgar Allan Poe’s nautical adventure novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838).
What is Edgar Allan Poe shortest story?
“The Oval Portrait” is a horror short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, involving the disturbing circumstances of a portrait in a château. It is one of his shortest stories, filling only two pages in its initial publication in 1842.