Wouldn't Parker have loved to be here for this moment?
In glancing over other bloggers' posts, I sense a bit of disgruntlement with the book, its gruesomeness, its rather flat ending, and, in general, its apparently blatant dishonesty. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym forces us deal with some fairly weighty questions: was NAGP intended to be read as a literal adventure story or a dramatic satire? was Edgar Allan Poe an unpolished adventure writer or a compromising impoverished genius? should we eat the unethically survivalist shipmate or the unbelievable preserved olives first?
I think yes to all the latter responses. The more I scrutinized this novelette I found a sort of tongue in cheek narration. Pym is knowledgeable on every possible narration although he left home as a rather uneducated imp. His plethora of encyclopedic jargon on every topic makes him seem bombastic rather than likeable. While this could be read as Poe's attempt at making Pym the seasoned traveler, I feel like Poe is satirizing the typical omniscient protagonists of contemporary literature, showing that all the knowledge in the world won't keep you from sailing off into murky white oblivion. By including extravagant peril scenes, Poe was able to point out deeper themes, such as the lines between honesty and sensationalism, boldness and stupidity (if such a line exists there!). Lastly, definitely eat the olives first.... because the alternative just puts you in a Poe horror story.
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I like your interpretation of Pym’s tangents. During my first reading, I quickly became bored with his lengthy descriptions and saw them only as Poe’s attempts at filling space, a blatant sign of his status as an artisan. Your interpretation, however, offers a perspective which I was probably too biased to notice. Just as people can be susceptible to Barnum effects and find symbolism where there may not be any, merely because they went actively searching for it, I did the opposite. Upon deciding that Poe did not put much thought into this piece, I stopped considering the possibility that any part of Pym’s adventure could be taken at more than face value. The main cause for my position was the style and flow of the work. Instead of reading like a coherent novel, I agree with the point brought up in class that Pym reads more like a series of semi-related short stories, strung together in whatever ways seemed at least somewhat plausible, and which would be entertaining.
ReplyDeleteInstead of reminding me of a great American novel like Tortilla Flat or The Sound and the Fury, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym reminded me more of a drama series on television, a made for t.v. mini series, even. Many parts of the story seemed to be amended by Poe as he went along, instead of falling into place in some great laid-out plan with a central theme. For example, many people mentioned that they saw no sense in leaving Peters alive as long as Poe did. In my opinion Poe only did this because Peters offered braun which Pym lacked and by drawing upon this Poe could offer a quick explanation for Pym getting out of all sorts of precarious situations. Also, while cannabalism is often written about to show the most base and desperate aspects of human nature, such as in Lord of the Flies, I don’t believe Poe used it in this sense. For sure, Pym and his comrades were in a desperate situation, but the tone of the scene did not seem to be emphasized in that way. Instead, it really seemed that Poe merely needed a fitting way to get rid of a character whom was lending nothing to the story.
While I believe that many aspects of Pym can be analyzed in order to reach profound conclusions about truth and fiction, etc, from the style of writing, I feel like this was more of an act of lucky happenstance for Poe, instead of his plan.
This is a very thoughtful assessment of your evolving response to the book, Jackie. I like what you say at the end, that some aspects of the novel might be lucky happenstance, but that doesn't mean that it can't also be interesting or artistic! Lots of things happen in the process of creating a novel or even a term paper that might be lucky or unplanned, but the best writers capitalize on those accidents. In other words, I'm suggesting that unplanned writing and great writing are not mutually exclusive.
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