Lindsay Millerick

Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

(This picture was found on: http://fremdeng.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fourth-quarter-blog-nonfiction-vs-fiction-books )

 

After reading Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket” I am left with many questions. But there is one in particular that is gnawing at me.

Why is there ramblings of nonfiction sandwiched in the middle of the book!?

Jammed between two fictitious and suspenseful accounts of misadventure and survival, there begins a random account of what seems to be pure fact. Ramblings about birds and cohabitation, and accounts of many sailor’s journeys, all non pertinent to the exciting tales that proceed and exceed this strange tangent.  He described in vivid detail the appearance of royal penguins, “The head is of a glossy and most brilliant black, and feet also…They carry their heads high, with their wings drooping like two arms…” (Poe, pg.112). This is followed by another detailed accounts of the albatross. Then a few short pages later we begin to hear about several different voyages, also in detail.

Fellow classmate GSIZEMORE7, has put this into a different perspective for me, proposing that this part of the story is more believable, and provides the reader with a sense of reliability, rather than the confusion I initially felt when reading it.

Perhaps Poe had embraced his shortcomings as a novelist, and with the utmost determination to finish the book, he added facts to help lengthen his story, and demonstrate his intelligence. It is also possible that he experienced, as many writers do, the dreaded “writers block” and simply could not nourish his creative flow.

In researching his life, I discovered Poe was no stranger to addiction, and frequently abused alcohol and drugs. The effects of drug and alcohol abuse had a profound affect on his personal life, and therefore likely influences his writing style. Someone who uses so frequently often comes in and out of lucidity, which represents the construction of the novel in the way that it seems to weave in and out of certain (different) writing styles.

FUN FACT:

In the novel Poe describes an event where the shipmates draw straws in order to determine who is to be killed for the purpose of food, as it turns out many years later an event like this actually happened: http://www.cracked.com/article_18421_6-insane-coincidences-you-wont-believe-actually-happened.html

Resources:

-To learn what I did about Poe and his life, take a look at the following website:  http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-01302.html