8 h 1 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your escape to sea leaves you trapped below deck while mutineers seize the ship above?
Arthur Gordon Pym longs to leave Nantucket behind. With help from his friend Augustus Barnard, he hides aboard the whaling brig Grampus, unknown to its captain. But the adventure he chooses soon becomes a struggle to stay alive. In the dark hold, Pym depends on a friend who has dangers of his own to face.
In The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Edgar Allan Poe turns a sea voyage into something stranger and darker. Mutiny, storms and hunger test Pym, while the loyal sailor Dirk Peters becomes a vital companion. Ship details, dates and latitudes give this tale the texture of a true account, even as it draws toward uncharted waters.
What you’ll discover
- A dangerous longing Follow a restless young man whose curiosity keeps pulling him away from safety.
- Terror below deck Enter the cramped darkness of the hold, where a secret passage becomes a trap.
- Loyalty under strain Meet Dirk Peters, a feared sailor whose fierce loyalty matters in Pym's worst hours.
- Facts that unsettle See how precise nautical details make Poe's increasingly strange events feel disturbingly real.
- Questions beyond survival Explore fear, deceit and the appeal of danger as adventure gives way to mystery.
Who will love it
For readers who love sea adventures, dark tales and puzzles about what a story means, and anyone curious about Poe beyond his short fiction.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Nantucket boy longs for the sea
- Pym hides in the hold and nearly dies
- A mutiny takes the ship above him
- A false ghost and a storm at sea
- Starvation, a hard choice, and rescue
- South toward ice, warm water and Tsalal
- Fear, deceit and the pull of danger
- Black and white, race and the unknown
- A hoax built from facts
Who’s who
- Arthur Gordon PymA restless young man from Nantucket who tells the story and keeps choosing danger over safety, driven by curiosity about the sea.
- Augustus BarnardPym's bold friend, the captain's son, who shares his dreams of voyages and helps him hide aboard the Grampus.
- Dirk PetersA strong, rough sailor, half Native American, feared by others but fiercely loyal to Pym in the worst hours.
- Captain BarnardAugustus's father, master of the whaling brig Grampus, who has no idea that his son's friend is hidden in his ship.
- Captain GuyMaster of the schooner Jane Guy, a trader and sealer who is eager for profit and willing to push far to the south.
- TigerPym's dog, who hides with him below decks and shares the dark and the hardships of the voyage.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 8 h 1 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Les Aventures d’Arthur Gordon Pym
by Edgar Allan Poe · 1838
Arthur Pym hides aboard a ship and trades safety for mutiny, storms and the lure of uncharted southern seas.
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In short
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is the only full-length novel Edgar Allan Poe wrote. It first appeared in 1838, after parts of it ran in a Richmond magazine, the Southern Literary Messenger.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Nantucket boy longs for the sea
The story is told by Pym himself, looking back on his youth. He grows up in Nantucket, where his father is a respectable trader in sea supplies. The island lives by whaling, and ships and sailors fill every conversation. Young Arthur is sent to school, but his mind is always on the water.
His closest friend is Augustus Barnard, the son of a sea captain. Augustus has already made voyages, and he feeds Pym's hunger with tales of the Pacific and its islands. The two boys talk late into the night about shipwrecks, strange peoples and faraway coasts. Pym admits that these stories, more than any sensible plan, push him toward a life afloat.
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What is The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym about?
It tells of a young man from Nantucket who stows away on a ship, survives mutiny, storm and starvation, and then sails south into unknown polar seas. It mixes sea adventure, horror and mystery.
Is Arthur Gordon Pym a true story?
No. Poe wrote it as fiction in 1838 but presented it as a true account, with a preface and sailing detail drawn from real voyage books. Some early readers were unsure whether it was real.
Who is Dirk Peters in Pym?
Dirk Peters is a powerful, rough sailor of mixed Native American descent who joins Pym and Augustus after the mutiny. He becomes Pym's loyal companion through the later dangers of the voyage.
The author
Edgar Allan Poe
1809–1849 · American poet and fiction writer
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was an American writer and literary critic. He was born in Boston and lived in Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. He wrote poems, short stories, and a novel. His poem The Raven appeared in 1845. He died in Baltimore in 1849.
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