Poe ranks high as a poet and short story writer, but his only novel did not turn out too well. He wrote it because he needed money; and instead of adhering to his lofty artistic standards, he catered to popular taste.
Poe is not unique is his predilection for shorter works. Chopin wrote excellent etudes and nocturnes, but his longer piano concertos are not so highly regarded. Moreover, the genius of the Roman poet Horace lay in short works, such as his excellent odes. He freely acknowledged that this was the case. For this reason, when asked to write an epic, he flatly refused to do so and recommended his fellow poet Varus, whose works are unfortunately lost.
The title of Poe’s novel is “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.” It concerns a sea voyage in which Pym experiences one crisis after another. Poe pretends that Pym himself wrote most of the story – all except the opening chapters and the concluding note.
With the help of his friend Augustus, Pym becomes a stowaway on a ship called the Grampus. Augustus hid him below in the hold, where the cargo was stored. He supplied Pym with such necessities as food and drink and a mattress on which to sleep.
Pym eventually ran out of food, and Augustus failed to come with further sustenance. Pym decided to return to the deck, but he could not open the trap door because a heavy weight had been placed upon it. There was a real danger that he might die from lack of sustenance.
When Augustus was finally able to bring him relief, he found himself in the midst of a second crisis. Mutineers had taken over the ship, and killed all the innocent sailors except Augustus. Pym had to remain hidden, but at least he had food.
Fortunately, there was a disagreement among the mutineers on whether or not they should become pirates. With the help of Dirk Peters, who disliked the concept of piracy, Augustus and Pym regained control of the ship. All the would-be pirates were killed except a man named Parker, who surrendered. Augustus was badly wounded in the fight.
Violent weather led to another crisis. They managed to survive the storm, but the ship had lost much of its rigging, and the lower parts of the ship, including the place where the food was kept, became filled with water. Because of the buoyancy of the cargo, the ship did not sink; but it became an aimlessly floating hulk.
The four survivors eventually were in danger of dying of hunger and thirst. Initial attempts to retrieve food from the storeroom ended in failure.
Parker proposed cannibalism as a means of survival. He suggested lots as a means of determining who should be eaten. Pym opposed the idea, but he was outnumbered. The four drew straws. Parker drew the short straw, and became food for the others.
Eventually hunger and thirst threatened them once more. Pym happened to remember that he had deposited an axe in a convenient place, and he was able to retrieve it. They chopped their way through the deck to the storeroom and retrieved some provisions.
The wound that Augustus had suffered did not heal. It grew progressively worse and eventually resulted in death.
Finally the two survivors were picked up by a British ship called the Jane Guy. This vessel was about to trade and catch seals in the South Sea and the Pacific. It was under the command of the somewhat irresolute Captain Guy.
The ship was still in the Atlantic when it picked up Pym and Peters. It sailed east past the Cape of Good Hope and landed on Kerguelen Island. Then the vacillating captain decided to return westward to a group of islands called Tristan da Cunha in the south Atlantic.He then headed southward.
At that time, Antarctica had not yet been discovered. Captain Cook and others had sailed far south, but had to turn back when their way was blocked by ice. So Poe could freely invent his own polar geography. In addition, Poe was influenced by the theories of John Cleves Symmes, who thought that milder climate existed beyond the southern ice fields and that strong ocean currents carried water toward the South Pole, where a vortex descended to the center of the earth.
After vainly attempting to locate some elusive islands called the Auroras, the Jane Guy headed south to the supposedly balmy polar region. The current carried the ship southward at a reasonably rapid rate. When they were less than 17 degrees from the South Pole, they encountered an island in the midst of a dark-colored sea. The name of the island was Tsalal.
The dark-skinned natives of the island pretended to be friendly, and kept up the pretence for several days. As the ship was about to leave, the chief insisted that the sailors pay a final visit to their village. Six sailors remained on board; the others went with the natives.
It was a trap. When the sailors were in a narrow passage with heights on either side, the native caused an avalanche that killed everyone except Pym and Dirk Peters. The two were afraid that they were buried alive, but they managed to climb to the heights. They then helplessly watched as the natives attacked the Jane Guy in canoes and rafts, killed the sailors of board, and then took many useful commodities off the ship..
The natives then set fire to the ship. Since they did not know anything about explosives, many remained in the vicinity. When the inevitable explosion took place, many natives died, and all but two of their canoes were destroyed.
Pym and Peters were still beset by dangers. For many days, they could not find a way to climb down from the heights. They found a few things to eat, but the food was unsatisfactory, and it was becoming scarce. In desperation, they made their way down a steep cliff. Pym almost died in the process.
Fortunately, the two remaining canoes were unattended. They ran toward them with natives in pursuit. They took one canoe; and after some hesitation decided to scuttle the other to hinder pursuit. During their getaway, they killed several of the natives and took one captive.
The current carried the canoe southward to a hot, white-colored sea. The captive native, filled with dread, lay trembling at the bottom of the canoe. The sea became hotter, and the canoe approached what looked like a white curtain or cataract, and gigantic white birds kept emerging into view from beyond this veil. The captive native died in terror.
As the canoe approached the cataract and was about to plunge into a chasm, a giant white human figure stood in the way.
At this point, the narrative breaks off. A concluding note explains that Pym, who somehow survived the ordeal and returned home, died before he could complete the narrative.
The note also explains the actions of the inhabitants of Tsalal. They had a fear of anything white, so they felt that they had to kill their white-skinned guests. This is also why the captive native died of fright when he was borne to the white-colored sea with a host of gigantic white birds.
Reference
“Arthur Gordon Pym and Related Tales”; Edgar Allan Poe; J. Gerald Kennedy, editor