Stories of Arthur Gordon Pym

Edgar Allan Poe's only completed novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, follows a young New England man who, out of a thirst for adventure, secretly puts to sea. With the help of the captain's son, he stows away on a whaling ship, where he is soon confronted with the horrors of life at sea: mutiny, a murderous massacre of the crew, a brutal storm and a desperate fight for survival. After being shipwrecked and suffering the torments of starvation, the survivors are rescued by a British ship and set out on an incredible voyage to the Southern Ocean, where fantastic but also terrifying discoveries await them. Poe enriched the story with allegorical and biblical elements as well as psychological insights, influencing a number of later writers, and deliberately left its conclusion open and mysterious.