The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym Of Nantucket
contributor: Eric Lease Morgan (Infomotions, Inc.)
creator: Poe, Edgar Allen
date: 0000-00-00
extent: 404462
format: text/plain
language: en
publisher: Eris Etext Project
rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/GPL/2.0/
source: 1
subject: water
subject: augustus
subject: time
subject: peters
subject: sea
subject: vessel
subject: account
subject: following
subject: pages
subject: poe
subject: edgar
subject: allen
subject: narrative
subject: arthur
subject: gordon
subject: pym
subject: nantucket
subject: american
subject: literature
type: text
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sort title: Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym Of Nantucket, The
full text: 1850 THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET by Edgar Allan Poe PREFACE PREFACE UPON my return to the United States a few months ago, after the extraordinary series of adventure in the South Seas and elsewhere, of which an account is given in the following pages, accident threw me into the society of several gentlemen in Richmond, Va., who felt deep interest in all matters relating to the regions I had visited, and who were constantly urging it upon me, as a duty, to give my narrative to the public. I had several reasons, however, for declining to do so, some of which were of a nature altogether private, and concern no person but myself, others not so much so. One consideration which deterred me was, that, having kept no journal during a greater portion of the time in which I was absent, I feared I should not be able to write, from mere memory, a statement so minute and connected as to have the appearance of that truth it would really possess, barring only the natural and unavoidable exaggeration to which all of us are prone when detailing events which have had powerful influence in exciting the imaginative faculties. Another reason was, that the incidents to be narrated were of a nature so positively marvellous, that, unsupported as my assertions must necessarily be (except by the evidence of a single individual, and he a half-breed Indian), I could only hope for belief among my family, and those of my friends who have had reason, through life, to put faith in my veracity- the probability being that the public at large would regard what I should put forth as merely an impudent and ingenious fiction. A distrust in my own abilities as a writer was, nevertheless, one of the principal causes which prevented me from complying with the suggestion of my advisers. Among those gentlemen in Virginia who expressed the greatest interest in my statement, more particularly in regard to that portion of it which related to the Antarctic Ocean, was Mr. Poe, lately editor of…