"The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym..." - читать интересную книгу автора (Poe Edgar Allan)

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 the Southern Literary Messenger, a monthly
magazine, published by Mr. Thomas W. White, in the city of Richmond.
He strongly advised me, among others, to prepare at once a full
account of what I had seen and undergone, and trust to the
shrewdness and common sense of the public- insisting, with great
plausibility, that however roughly, as regards mere authorship, my
book should be got up, its very uncouthness, if there were any,
would give it all the better chance of being received as truth.
Notwithstanding this representation, I did not make up my mind
to do as he suggested. He afterward proposed (finding that I would not
stir in the matter) that I should allow him to draw up, in his own
words, a narrative of the earlier portion of my adventures, from facts
afforded by myself, publishing it in the Southern Messenger under
the garb of fiction. To this, perceiving no objection, I consented,
stipulating only that my real name should be retained. Two numbers