The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket: Psychological introspection in A Maritime Journey

Abstract

This paper aims to disclose Pym’s epistemological and gnostic quest as the revelation of the psychological introspection of the author. I argue that Poe uses the arcane white shrouded figure as an apocalyptic power to paint a surreal realm that overlaps his spiritual realm discussed in Eureka. The shrouded figure is a self-reflection of Pym, or more accurately, of Poe himself. In the novel, nature engages in the process of decomposition or dissolution, by which Poe associates Gothic space with the theme of the elimination of the ego that reaches its peak when the shrouded figure appears. The three interrelated aspects of my analysis—the terrifying narrative of southwards adventure, a Hollow Earth as a Utopian / Dystopian world, and the geometric structure of the quincuncial network—all point in the same direction: Pym is a novel in which the writer / protagonist, through the narrative structure of God’s providential injunction, integrates his exploration of every imaginable form of spiritual survival and transcendence into spaces of horror on Earth that do not permit transcendence.

Keywords

• Self-Reflection
• the white shrouded figure
• the quincuncial network