This commented bibliography asks for the origin of Edgar Allan Poe's idea of the hollow earth which he describes in his only novel: "Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym". It's subdivided in four parts: 1. Related material in Poe's own writing, 2. Poe's indebtedness to previous literature, 3. Poe's sources for the maritime occurrences, descriptions of islands, accounts of previous voyages of discovery in Arthur Gordon Pym, 4. Poe's sources for the events on Tsalal, especially the black-white antagonism, and for the South Pole cataract.
Contents
I. Related material in Poe's own writing
II. Poe's indebtedness to previous literature
III. Poe's sources for the maritime occurrences, descriptions of islands, accounts of previous voyages of discovery in A.G.Pym
IV. Poe's sources for the events on Tsalal, especially the black-white antagonism, and for the South Pole cataract
I. Related material in Poe's own writing
In "MS. Found in a Bottle" (first published in 1833) the narrator tells of his adventures on a strange ghost ship which at the end of the story - when the narrator encloses his manuscript into a bottle and throws it overboard - plunges into a tremendous whirl-pool at the South Pole.
In "The Unparalleled Adventure of one Hans Pfaall" (first published in 1835) the narrator, on his balloon voyage from Rotterdam to the moon, catches an indistinct glimpse of the North Pole and perceives a dark hole "occasionally deepened into the most absolute blackness."
In yet another story which was, however, published some years after Pym, viz. "A Descent into the Maelström" of 1841, the narrator is rescued from a tremendous whirlpool off the coast of Norway.
II. Poe's indebtedness to previous literature
Killis Campbell, "Poe's Reading", Texas Studies in English, 5 (1925)
pp. 166-96, attests Poe's tremendous, but uneven reading background and confirms his intimate acquaintance with Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner" as well as his knowledge of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and of the French authors Rabelais and Voltaire. Also documented is Poe's knowledge of the Bible.
Floyd Stovall, 'Poe's Debt to Coleridge', Texas Studies in English, 10 (1930), pp.70 -127, collates some passages of "The Ancient Mariner" and "MS. Found in a Bottle" (pp.77 - 78).
III. Poe's sources for the maritime occurrences, descriptions of islands, accounts of previous voyages of discovery in A.G.Pym
George E. Woodberry, in Poe's Works, ed. Stedman and Woodberry, Chicago, 1899, vol. V, pp. 355 -5 , demonstrates Poe's indebtedness to Captain Benjamin Morrell's A Narrative of Four Voyages, to the South Sea, North and South Pacific Ocean, Chinese Sea, Ethiopic and Southern Atlantic Ocean, Indian and Antarctic Ocean. From the Year 1822 to 1831. Comprising Critical Surveys of Coasts and Islands, with Sailing Directions. And an Account of Some New and
Valuable Discoveries, including the Massacre Islands, Where Thirteen of the Author's Crew were Massacred and Eaten by Cannibals. To which is prefixed a Brief Sketch of the Author's Early Life, New York: J.&J.Harper, 1832. According to Woodberry, Poe takes from Merrell descriptions of the islands of Kerguelen, Tristan da Cunha, the Aurora Islands, and of the catching of bèche-de-mer.
Robert Lee Rhea "Some Observations on Poe's Origins", Texas Studies in English, 10 (1930), pp.135 - 46, shows that Poe uses in his narrative some 700 words out of J.N. Reynolds's Address on the Subject of a Surveying Exploring Expedition to the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas. Delivered in the Hall of Representatives on the Evening of April, 3, 1836. With Correspondence and Documents, New York: Harper und Brothers, 1837 (Poe had reviewed the address in the Southern Literary Messenger of January, 1837, where he speaks very highly of it: cf. Complete Works, Virginia edition, vol. IX, 306-314). The passages copied by Poe from Reynolds's address refer to voyages of discovery in the South Sea previous to the expedition of his Captain Guy in A.G.Pym, especially to the voyages of Captain Cook. According to Rhea, Poe also seems to have drawn directly upon Captain Cook's Voyages for names and descriptions of birds and fish. From Reynolds Poe seems to have taken also the name of Barnard and an account of the slaying of a crew of a ship that was taking bêche-de-mer by natives of Fiji.
D.M. McKeithan, "Two Sources of Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym", Texas Studies in English, 13 (1933), pp.116 - 137, defines more precisely Poe's debt to Captain Morrell's Four Voyages (see above) and points out another source, mainly for accounts of shipwrecks, sufferings at sea, etc., viz. Archibald Duncan's The Mariner's Chronicle; Being A Collection of the most Interesting Narratives of Shipwrecks, Fires, Famines, And other Calamities incident to A Life of Maritime Enterprise; With authentic Particulars of the extraordinary Adventures and Sufferings of the Crews, their Reception and Treatment on distant Shores; and a concise Description of the Country, Customs, and Manners of the Inhabitants: Including an Account of the Deliverance of the Survivors, 4 volumes, Philadelphia, 1806.
Keith Huntress, "Another Source for Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym", American Literature, XVI (March 19&ë), p.19 -25, discovers another supplementary source: R. Thomas, A.M., An Authentic Account of the Most Remarkable Events: Containing the Lives of the most noted Pirates and Piracies. Also, the most remarkable Shipwrecks, Fires, Famines, Calamities, Providential Deliverances, and Lamentable Disasters on the Seas, in most Parts of the World, 2 Vol., New York, 1836 .
Randel Helms, "Another Source for Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym", American Literature, XLII (1970), pp.572 - 75, points out yet another probable source: Jane Porter's Sir Edward Seaward's Narrative of His Shipwreck. Helms quotes Poe from a letter to Duyckinck as having written that "Sir Ed. Seaward's Narrative is the more skilful book" than Robinson Crusoe in its ability to "deceive by verisimilitude."
IV. Poe's sources for the events on Tsalal, especially the black-white antagonism, and for the South Pole cataract
Sidney Kaplan in his introduction to an edition of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (New York: Hill and Wang, 1960) explicitly refuses to be interested in the sources for the maritime part of Pym, but gives a survey of Poe's sources for the final part of the voyage (Tsalal and after) including a deciphering of the Hebrew names of and the Hebrew words used by the natives of Tsalal (pp. xi - xxiii). Upon the sources which he identifies and upon quotations from Poe's criticism Kaplan bases an interpretation that says in essence that A.G.Pym is an expression of Poe's (the white Southerner's) dread and contempt of negroes.
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- Quote paper
- Reiner Ruft (Author), 1973, Poe's Sources for his Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. A commented Bibliography, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/511394
