Discussion Literature / TheNarrativeOfArthurGordonPymOfNantucket

Fair enough—though in my defense, that trope wasn't YMMV when I added it. The observation certainly seems to belong somewhere in the main article, under a valid trope, but I'll have to do some homework to determine where/how.

"She was the kind of dame they write similes about." —Pterodactyl Jones

You don't have to defend yourself, things of this kind happen all the time. As for the trope, I think it is Values Dissonance.

Let's just say and leave it at that.

Maybe, but the problem with Values Dissonance is that the Tsalal chapters of Pym would arguably have struck an average mid-19th-century reader as a bit much. In other words, Poe appeared to be behind the cultural curve of his day in this case. I'm not sure if any trope applies to that.

Edited by Jhimmibhob "She was the kind of dame they write similes about." —Pterodactyl Jones

I think it's okay to go with "Fair for Its Day inverted".

Of course, the whole thing might be a Stealth Parody of evil natives/cannibals in 19th century adventure stories (just a guess).

Edit: Took out this trope, as its an aversion too:

• Door Stopper: At 72,000 words, the novel is a major aversion.

I don't think a "short novel" is a trope in itself.

Edited by LordGro Let's just say and leave it at that.

Yeah, Stealth Parody is a distinct possibility—it's certainly present in other parts of the book.

Novella has its own page, but overly short books, in and of themselves, don't. I'm not sure if that's even tropeworthy ... but there is a distinct subclass of books that aren't exactly novellas, but are so brief that publishers almost never release them without including ANOTHER novel of the author's, or a few short stories for padding. (My own version of Pym comes packaged with a sixty-page introduction/criticism and Verne's '"Sphinx of the Ice Fields.")

"She was the kind of dame they write similes about." —Pterodactyl Jones