|
[page v, unnumbered:]
|
|
|
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 [page
vi:]
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 suggestions 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 of the pretended
fiction appeared, consequently, in the Messenger for January and
February
(1837), and, in order that it might certainly be regarded as fiction,
the
name [page vii:] of Mr. Poe was affixed to the
articles
in the table of contents of the magazine.
The manner in which this ruse
was received
has induced me at length to undertake a regular compilation and
publication
of the adventures in question; for I found that, in spite of the air of
fable which had been so ingeniously thrown around that portion of my
statement
which appeared in the Messenger (without altering or distorting a
single
fact), the public were still not at all disposed to receive it as
fable,
and several letters were sent to Mr. P.'s address distinctly expressing
a conviction to the contrary. I thence concluded that the facts of my
narrative
would prove of such a nature as to carry with them sufficient evidence
of their own authenticity, and that I had consequently little to fear
on
the score of popular incredulity.
This exposé being
made, it will be
seen at once how much of what follows I claim to be my own writing; and
it will also be understood that no fact is misrepresented in the first
few pages which were written by Mr. Poe. Even to those readers who have
not seen the Messenger, it will be unnecessary to point out where his
portion
ends and my own commences; the difference in point of style will be
readily
perceived.
A. G. PYM.
.
New-York, July, 1838. |
|
|
|
|
|