The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction
THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM. OF NANTUCKET.
Preface
Narrative of A. Gordon Pym.
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 23 bis
CHAPTER 24
Note
EXPLANATORY NOTES
THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET
Edgar Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, the son of impoverished actors. Orphaned when he was not yet three, Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. After a major falling-out with his foster father in 1827, Poe left Richmond for Boston, where he arranged for the publication of his first book of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems. He published two additional books of poetry—Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829) and Poems (1831)—and began to publish short stories and book reviews, gaining an editorial position at the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond in 1835. Perhaps already privately married to his thirteen-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm, he married her publicly in May 1836. By this time, he had begun work on his novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, early chapters of which were published in the Messenger of January and February 1837. But on January 3, 1837, Poe lost his job (very likely owing to his drinking), and he moved to New York City, where he completed the book. Pym was published by Harper & Brothers on July 30, 1838. Poe had by then moved to Philadelphia, where he came to serve as an editor for two periodicals—Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and, later, Graham’s Magazine—and where he published a collection of short stories, Tales of The Grotesque and Arabesque (1840), as well as many additional short stories, including the prize-winning “The Gold Bug” and the first modern detective story, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” However, his wife, Virginia, developed tuberculosis. Returning to New York City in 1844, Poe soon reached the peak of his fame with the publication of “The Raven” in 1845. That year also saw the publication of both Tales and The Raven and Other Poems—but Poe’s drinking led to the failure of his weekly, the Broadway Journal. Settling in Fordham, Poe continued to write and to care for Virginia; she died in January 1847. In his final years, Poe wrote some of his most celebrated poetry—“The Bells,” “Eldorado,” and “Annabel Lee”—and his cosmological prose poem, Eureka (1848). On October 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore.
Richard Kopley, associate professor of English at Penn State DuBois, is the author of numerous studies of Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville; editor of Poe’s Pym: Critical Explorations and Prospects for the Study of American Literature: A Guide for Students and Scholars; and coeditor of the journal Resources for American Literary Study. He is also vice-president of the Poe Studies Association.
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First published in the United States of America 1838
This edition with an introduction and notes by Richard Kopley
published in Penguin Books 1999
Introduction and notes copyright © Richard Kopley, 1999
All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849.
[Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym]
The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket / Edgar Allan
Poe ; edited with an introduction and notes by Richard Kopley.
p. cm.—(Penguin classics)
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN : 978-1-101-15722-0
1. Whaling ships—Fiction. 2. Stowaways—Fiction.
I. Kopley, Richard. II. Title. III. Series.
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