Pym is a great delirious fever nightmare of a novel, barely a novel at all, influencing everything from Moby-Dick to Lovecraft. It shares with TreasurPym is a great delirious fever nightmare of a novel, barely a novel at all, influencing everything from Moby-Dick to Lovecraft. It shares with Treasure Island an archetypal feel: when Poe describes being lost at sea and debating cannibalism, you think, "So this is where my brain got that image from."
It's fairly insane, as books go. There's Poe's usual fascination with being buried alive, and as thrilling a description of vertigo as I've ever read. He seems to have had no particular structure in mind; he hated the idea of novels and wrote this one for money. He changes gears at will. The dog Tiger appears from nowhere and disappears to nowhere. And then there's that ending.
It's racist as hell. I mean, the evil black cook and jabbering natives would be bad enough on their own but that's just scratching the surface here: the entire book is about black and white, black representing everything uncivilized and evil and amply personified by black people. The book itself is in black and white. Not shades of grey: monochrome. Antichrome. Those jabbering natives, like, when someone's white shirt brushes a guy's face he's like "Oh God no, white stuff!" (Tekeli-li!) The water on their island is dark purple. It reminded me of that line from Third Bass's classic
Black cat is bad luck, bad guys wear black: Musta been a white guy who started all that.
Poe was himself badly racist, pro-slavery, so let's not fool ourselves here. But it is also true that Pym as a narrator is an asshole, and the native chief Too-Wit's response to white explorers is entirely reasonable (as Mat Johnson points out in his book Pym) and the only other competent character in the book is Dirk Peters, who's Native American by way of black, and...I don't know, the racism here didn't bother me as much as it might have, somehow. I mean, I'm bumping it down a star because I facepalmed several times, but...Poe himself bothers me. This book doesn't.
But speaking of black vs. white, let's talk about this ending here (with no plot spoilers but a feel spoiler), one of the most surprising endings in literature. When I got to it I thought my edition was screwed up somehow - "Where's the rest of it?" It's like someone told Poe how many words are in a novel, and when he got to that many he just dropped the mic. But I like it, honestly. It feels right. Some endings wrap everything up and yet you feel dissatisfied; but some books do what they need to do and then quit, and this is that type....more
Nicely done. Horwitz isn't for everyone; he likes to combine pop history with his own travelogues, which turns some people off. But he's easy to read,Nicely done. Horwitz isn't for everyone; he likes to combine pop history with his own travelogues, which turns some people off. But he's easy to read, and (from what I can gather) he gets his facts straight. For folks like me who need an easy introduction to one phase of history or another, he's pretty useful....more
I wish there was more information available about the Incas pre-Pizarro, but there really isn't; what there is is here, along with a detailed and engrI wish there was more information available about the Incas pre-Pizarro, but there really isn't; what there is is here, along with a detailed and engrossing account of the Spanish conquest of the Incas. Excellent stuff and a gripping story....more
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