‘It was unnecessary for all to perish, when, by the death of one, it was possible, and even probable, that the rest might be finally preserved.’ Travelling aboard a whaling vessel, a young stowaway is swept up in myriad misadventures – mutiny, shipwreck, cannibalism – narrowly escaping numerous brushes with death. This rousing story of a daring sea voyage also presents its antihero with a host of psychological dilemmas, and offers an important insight into Poe’s work as a whole.

The only complete novel by infamous gothic horror writer Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket’ has inspired other classic tales of maritime adventure, such as Herman Melville’s ‘Moby-Dick’ and Jules Verne’s ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’.