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Pym is the third novel by American author Mat Johnson. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's fictitious character Arthur Gordon Pym, Johnson uses his trademark funny, satirical style to explore racial politics and identity in America - and Antarctica. Published on 1 March 2011, Pym has been well received by critics.

Writing process
Pym takes its title from 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 yrs 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 and friends with convincing 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”. In Pym, Johnson’s protagonist named a course on Poe he was teaching in reference to Toni Morrison’s 1992 collection of essays Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination in which she explores the theory that for Poe, whiteness equalled perfection. Professor Jayne’s course, "Dancing With the Darkies: Whiteness in the Literary Mind" attempted to trace the roots of America’s failure to become a postracial society to classic white texts, with a focus on Poe.

Synopsis
Chris Jaynes is the only African-American professor of literature at a liberal Manhattan college. Refusing to limit his teaching to the African-American canon and serve on the college diversity committee, he is denied tenure. His obsession with Poe’s novel comes to a head when a friend introduces him to a copy of “The True and Interesting Narrative of Dirk Peters. Coloured Man. As Written by Himself.”, “an unpublished 19th-century manuscript that suggests Poe's novel, which was partially set in Antarctica, was drawn closely from truth”. Jaynes assembles an all-black mining crew6 and embarks on an expedition to the South Pole in search of Poe’s fabled island of Tsalal, the "great undiscovered African Diasporan homeland... uncorrupted by whiteness." But instead of the black inhabitants described by Poe, Jaynes and his friends come across “a prehistoric world of giant white people, or "Snow Honkies," who enslave them.”

Reception
Pym has been well received by critics, with Kirkus Reviews referring to it as “an acutely humorous, very original story that will delight lovers of literature and fantasy alike” and NPR’s Maureen Corrigan calling it “loony, disrespectful, and sharp” and “a welcome riff on the surrealistic shudder-fest that is Poe's original.” According to Associated Press writer Jennifer Kay, Pym is a swiftly paced satire which “skewers Edgar Allan Poe, race in America, the snack-food industry, academia, landscape painting and abominable snowmen.” She concludes, “A commentary on racial identity, obsessions and literature should not be as funny as Pym, but Johnson makes light work of his heavy themes.” Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, described Pym as a "high-concept adventure" which provides "a memorable take on America's 'racial pathology' and 'the whole ugly story of our world'."