August / Gothic Novel Reading: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Poe

In August, we will be reading The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Poe.

Please post your comments in this thread.

I'm excited! I'll start reading it tonight.

I can't wait to read this one, but I cannot start it untill I get back from vaccation.

Now that I am back home I have started reading the book, haven't got that far yet, but I love the fact that thus far it is set at sea, as my tastes tend to lean that way. I do have an enjoyment for tales of sea-faring adventures.

I just love the atmosphere that Poe created with the narrator trapped in the darkness of the hold of the ship, and now finding himself locked inside, with seemingly know way to get out, and not knowing what is happening above him. It could make you feel claustrophobic just to think about it. I am eager to see what happens next.

It turns from a story about mutiny and mayhem into a sort of science fiction novel. But I don't see how it can be termed a Gothic novel.

Yes, that it does, I thought the opening moments of the book portraying his being trapped down below the ship in the darkness, and the fear of not knowing what was going on, the danger of the mutiny, and than when they were trying to survive, and that ship of the dead passed them by, was all quite fabulous.

Than of course being that it is Poe, it would take a sudden turn away from reality and enter into a rather strange new world filled with terror.

Though I have to say I enjoyed the first moments of the story the best, I loved the way he was able to still capture horror and create a gripping scene that was grounded within reality.

Perhaps this story loosely fits into the term gothic, while it does not hold many of the elements that are most often found in the classic gothic novel, it could be argued to meet some of the requirements. It sets up an atmosphere of mystery and suspense which alludes to the supernatural, it evokes (or is intended to evoke) strong feelings of horror and terror. It sets up a very strong setting of gloom and horror which strongly draws from the external environment to reflect these feelings, and foreshadow events to come.

The primary elements missing in this story compared to the classical gothic novel is the lack of a damsel in distress.

Cool design but image looks very flat form the render would look cool if the mountains in the background where blurred and at a darker tone


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