This novel certainly does not at all make my favourites list. To begin with, I really don’t like “sea adventure” novels because they seem to have a tendancy to just drone on with details that I cannot at all relate to. However, this is not why I did not like the work.
I am willing to suffer through some boring passages if the novel/work is ultimately really well-written. I just don’t feel like this one is. It seemed to me that the novel was written in a hurried manner (maybe I’m biased because I know he just wrote it so it would get published and because I’m just not a Poe fan, really) and things didn’t really fit; one minute he was protesting the eating of a human being and the next they had olives and were without a care in the world.
However, I will say that this hurried manner might have been Poe’s intention. He set the novel up so that people would believe that it was a true story and writing the story as though he is excited about the material rather than the actual content furthers this purpose. His long explanations of the islands and penguins, etc. also aid in this effect. However, with the details of the story, it seems evident to me that Poe is trying to let us know that it is not actually a true story and that it is being written for the sake of being fatastical and absurd.
All that said, I genuinely detested the book. I thought it was poorly written, ridiculous, over the top and tiresome. It is now (for me) on the same level as Robinson Crusoe (which was formerly my number one least favourite book of all time). As my final statement: how on earth did Pym live…? He was starving way before any of them were!
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I think you really bring up some good points about this novel. Although to me it wasn't as boring or tiresome as some books I've been tortured to go through, it definitely wasn't my favorite either. It was poorly written in the sense of items appearing and disappearing out of nowhere. The whole incident with Tiger vanishing does lessen the validity of the novel, and also the well protected pocketbook and pencil Pym took along for the ride was totally far-fetched. The debate between truth and fiction is strongly shown throughout the text. I agree with you that Pym includes long, detailed descriptions (those in which heightened the extreme 'boringness' of the text) of what would seem to be accurate accounts based on the randomness . For instance, the account Pym makes about the longitude/ latitude directions they venture makes the reader rethink the fiction hypothesis. On the other hand, the scenes with Tiger and such makes one lean more towards fiction. Although this book is not on top of my personal "Horrible" list, it does rank pretty high. And that's true, it does make you wonder how Pym, among all else, was one of two who made it through the end based on the feeble state he must have been in throughout the entire journey!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I did not detest the book quite as much as everyone else. I think most of the negative qualities about the book derive from it's quick composition by Poe. However, as far as most action novels/movies/games etc. go, the audience knows for the most part that the story is fiction and overlooks this in order to enjoy the story. Maybe I am of a more imaginative and adventurous mindset, but I found these negative qualities easily overlooked.
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