Synopses & Reviews
EDGAR ALLAN POE was born the son of itinerant actors in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809. A year after his birth, his father abandoned the family, and his mother died of tuberculosis. Poe was taken into foster care by John Allan, a successful merchant in Richmond, Virginia. He attended the University of Virginia for a year, but left after running up severe gambling debts, which led to an estrangement from his foster family. In 1827, while a private in the U.S. Army, he published his first book of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems. After his discharge, he pursued a literary career and found editorial jobs at a series of periodicals, including the Southern Literary Messenger, which serialized The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. He became well-known as a scathing critic, and his reviews earned him the epithet “Tomahawk Man.” In 1835, Poe secretly married his cousin Virginia Clemm, but despite nonstop writing—criticism, poetry, short stories, and experimentation with fictional genres, including the detective novel, which he virtually invented with the publication of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)—he received scant recognition for his efforts until the publication of “The Raven” in 1845. The poem’s instant popularity gave him new visibility in literary circles, but his personal situation remained plagued by poverty and drink, and the illness and ultimate death of Virginia in 1847. In 1849, he was found semiconscious outside a Baltimore tavern. Taken to the hospital, he lingered for four days but never recovered. On October 7, Poe died at the age of forty.
Synopsis
The only novella by this literary giant: A thrilling sea adventure that turns increasingly bizarre Entranced by the sea and eager for adventure, sixteen-year-old Arthur Gordon Pym stows away on the Grampus, a whaling ship captained by the father of his best friend, Augustus Barnard. But a mutiny upsets the boys' plans, and when Arthur comes up from the hold, he is forced to fight for his life. Arthur, Augustus, and two other sailors overthrow the mutineers and take control of the ship, only to face impossible physical hardships, as the ship drifts further south and they are buffeted by terrible storms.
Just as the Grampus sinks into the sea off the coast of Brazil, surrounded by sharks, Arthur is picked up by the British brig, the Jane Guy, which is heading towards the South Pole to investigate rumors of a temperate climate south of the sixtieth latitude. They encounter a hostile tribe on the strange island of Tsalal, where the color white doesn't exist, and traveling further south, find themselves entering a huge cloud of mist, from which an enormous shrouded white figure begins to emerge, as the novel ends. Poe's only longer work has disturbed and fascinated readers since its first appearance in 1838-- he drew on real explorers' journals to create this ultimate combination of a nineteenth-century tale of the sea and the perfect evocation of psychological terror and ominous phenomena that he was so justly famous for.
About the Author
EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849) was one of the greatest 19th-century American writers. Born in Boston, his life was marked by poverty, alcoholism, critical failure, and a tragic marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. He is known for his poetry, especially "The Raven," and his macabre short stories, including "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." He is also considered the inventor of the detective story. He died at the age of 40 in Baltimore, of unknown causes.