Some notes on Pym (1837-8)

1. Some notes on Pym (1837-8) Thomas W. Lawson (1902 – 1907; largest pure sailing ship, and schooner, ever built)

2. first 70 pp. approx. • Pym more follower than leader during Ariel cruise • Pym’s stay near box appears cozy but turns dangerous; notice how man-made goods (lumber, casks, etc.) become life-threatening obstacles (good and bad of Ind. Rev.; items representative of civilization) • friendship motif tested via double telling of box episode (Chs. II & III; IV & V); learn how Aug. hesitates, good luck only saves Pym (crashing of bottle, dropping of knife) • dog’s emergence overlaps with Pym’s reduction to basic survival instincts as supplies dwindle • contradictions emerge (e.g., details about letter delivered by dog) • control of ship retaken from mutineers via “superstition” (Hartman Rogers’ corpse) • shipwreck/storm takes place as they pass Tropic of Cancer (Gr. myth.: water sign; associated with paranoia, mood swings, etc.; also one of 12 Labors of Herakles, where hydra and crab do battle with Herak. [see “Pym Heroism” file in “materials: selected_notes: poe” directory for more info.]) • myth. associations with box episode too (i.e., labyrinthine passages made from lumber, etc.; cord attached to box and leading to trap door; myth of Theseus and Minotaur obvious parallel; Herakles’ 7th Labor has him wrestling Cretan Bull, same bull killed by Theseus at Marathon, who later goes to Crete to defeat Minotaur, half-man child of Cretan Bull)

3. pp. 70 – 130 approx. • Peters replaces Aug. as Pym’s companion; Peters more seasoned sailor • thirst and hunger reduce Pym and survivors to cannibalism, prior to rescue by Jane Guy, but Pym displays greater rationality than other characters (bathes them in water to reduce effects of thirst, alcohol, etc.) • Jane Guy carries smaller goods than Grampus (scissors, knives, trinkets, etc.) • Pym and Peters remember previous experiences only as “frightful dream” • peculiar emphasis on albatross/penguin nesting habits on Kerguelen’s Isl. (rookery’s geography) • discrepancies; leave Kerg.’s Isl. on Nov. 12; then pick up supplies on D’Acunha and leave Nov. 5 • heavy emphasis on latitudes/longitudes and citing of previous expeditions as Jane Guy heads further south (scientific, factual atmosphere created, locating everything precisely in space and history; some islands not found where supposed to be [e.g., Auroras]) • Pym brags that all previous voyages made still leave 300° of long. unexplored in crossing of Ant. Circle; mentions that his own “experience” will “falsify” (125) conclusions held about region by Royal Geographical Society of London (est. 1830) • Pym glad to open “eye of science” (130) to new discovery, whatever consequences

4. pp. 130 – 178 • Pym indicates in footnote (130) that his dates/coordinates may lack “accuracy” • discovery of inhabited isl.; color contrast (black vs. white); also emphasis on diff. belief systems (islanders believe schooner is living creature); Pym thinks it’s all “affected” though (133; facade) • island as strange/exotic place (135-6; emphasis on rock and water); houses in Klock-klock as primitive structures; islanders largely naked, only Wampoos clothed to extent • lunch at Too-wit’s breaks rules of diplomacy (e.g., Pym and company refuse lunch of “palpitating entrails,” saying they had “hearty déjeûner” [140; cf. cannibalism ep.]) • Cap.’n Guy interested in collecting isl.’s sea cucumbers; post to be set up for this (142); digression on nature and financial value of sea cucumbers follows (143-4) • peculiarity of speed with which cucumber-drying post set up; via “agreement”; how do negotiations occur without fluency in the language? • orchestrated cave-in ends economic agreement; Pym and Peters only survivors of “tempest of…destruction” (151; cf. Grampus’ shipwreck) • Pym and Peters disagree over indentations on wall of chasm (163; new voice in final note indicates Peters’ interpretation correct) • mad descent from cliff and escape by canoe results in “apathy” and cliffhanger via “shrouded white figure” (174-5) near S. Pole

5. nautical info. • one league = three nautical miles • one knot = one nautical mile/hr • one fathom = six feet • one nautical mile = 1.5 km and 1.2 miles approx.