Pym (novel)
Book cover
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| Author | Mat Johnson |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Social criticism, satire, adventure, fantasy |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Publisher | Random House / Spiegel & Grau |
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Publication date
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March 1, 2011 |
| Pages | 336 |
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Pym is the third novel by American author Mat Johnson, published on March 1, 2011. A satirical fantasy inspired by The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Edgar Allan Poe's only novel, the book explores racial politics and identity in America, and Antarctica. The novel was written over a period of nine years and has been well received by critics, who have praised its lighthearted and humorous style of social criticism.
Pym takes its title from Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, "a strange tale of shipwrecks, mutiny and a mysterious island inhabited by black-skinned people whose teeth are even black, and it ends abruptly at the South Pole with Pym facing haunting white figures". Poe's only novel, it is the favorite book of Johnson's protagonist, Chris Jaynes, African-American professor of literature, and his obsession with it leads him on his own journey to Antarctica.
According to Johnson, creating the book involved "9 years of writing, 16 drafts, [and] 3 deletion attempts […]" While working on Pym, Johnson also finished three critically acclaimed graphic novels – Hellblazer: Papa Midnite (2005), Incognegro (2008), Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story (2010) – and a fourth, as yet unnamed graphic novel scheduled for publication in 2012. In an interview with Mike Emery, Johnson stated that there were many times when he thought that Pym "was taking too much of my time, and it was taking me in the wrong direction". He credits his wife, journalist Meera Bowman Johnson (to whom he dedicated Pym), and friends with persuading him to continue with the novel.
Johnson's website features a list of books by other notable writers inspired by Poe's open-ended novel since its publication in 1838, including Herman Melville's Moby Dick, H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, and Jules Verne's An Antarctic Mystery – "the most pragmatic and literal sequel to The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and also the worst sequel […] Come for the novelty, stay for the unbridled racism". The narrative of Pym also includes elements from Verne's and Lovecraft's Poe-inspired works.
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