An Antarctic Mystery; or, The Sphinx of the Ice Fields
A Sequel to Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym'
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Narrated by:
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Tim Gerard Reynolds
About this listen
During his twilight years, the French author Jules Verne (1828-1905) wrote two original sequels to books that had fired his own youthful imagination but which he felt to be incomplete: Johann Wyss's Swiss Family Robinson and Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
Arthur Gordon Pym (1845) was only one of many Poe stories which Verne admired; no other single author had more impact on his writing. Verne acknowledged this debt in his only major piece of literary criticism, a detailed 1864 article entitled "Edgard [sic] Poe and His Work".
Poe (1809-1849) was just emerging on the French literary scene in translation as Verne was writing his first plays and short stories. Verne was familiar with a broad range of Poe's works, the well-remembered stories as well as many that are obscure today. What is to be admired in Poe, Verne wrote, "are the novelties of his situations, the discussion of little-known facts, the observations of the unhealthy faculties of Mankind, the choice of subject-matter, the ever-strange personality of his characters, their nervous, sickly temperaments, their ways of expressing themselves by bizarre interjections. And yet, among all these improbabilities, exists at times a verisimilitude that grips the credulity of the reader."
This edition is a newly revised and modernized translation and features a new introduction by Brian Taves.
©2005 John Betancourt (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Story
In August 1897, the young Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail for a three-year expedition aboard the good ship Belgica with dreams of glory. His destination was the uncharted end of the earth: the icy continent of Antarctica. But de Gerlache’s plans to be first to the magnetic South Pole would swiftly go awry. After a series of costly setbacks, the commandant faced two bad options: turn back in defeat and spare his men the devastating Antarctic winter, or recklessly chase fame by sailing deeper into the freezing waters.
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Excellent story
- By Ginger 3701 on 05-23-21
By: Julian Sancton
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The Sea Wolf
- By: Jack London
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Wealthy ne'er-do-well Humphrey Van Weyden is a castaway who is put to work on the schooner Ghost, run by brutal Wolf Larsen. Toughened by life at sea, Humphrey develops the strength to protect another castaway, Maud Brewster, and stand up to the increasingly deranged Larsen. Experience the crashing, relentless power of the sea through this compelling story, made hauntingly immediate by author London's vivid prose.
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Great entertainment
- By Ross on 05-31-03
By: Jack London
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The Tell-Tale Heart
- By: Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 15 mins
- Unabridged
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It was the eye. The dull, sightless, vulture's eye that shredded his final nerve. But the murder was done so carefully, so perfectly, that only one thing could reveal the whereabouts of the body. B. J. Harrison gives a masterful reading of the famous murder that wouldn't keep quiet. This audiobook was the #3 best-selling audiobook in 2008 at the iTunes Music Store!
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THE VULTURE EYE
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-24-16
By: Edgar Allan Poe
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Two Years Before the Mast
- By: Richard Henry Dana
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Two Years Before the Mast is an American classic published in 1840. This is the account of Richard Henry Dana’s two-year adventure as a sailor. Throughout his time sailing around Cape Horn on the brig Pilgrim, Dana kept a diary, and on his return to Massachusetts, he wrote this now-loved classic. While attending Harvard College, Dana was stricken with measles, which would ultimately have a detrimental effect on his eyesight.
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Brilliant
- By scott m on 03-12-19
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The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe
- By: Peter Clines
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Robinson Crusoe is one of the most enduring adventures of the past four centuries and one of the most well-known works in the English language. Or is it? Recently discovered amidst the papers of the 20th-century writer and historian H. P. Lovecraft is what claims to be the true story of Robinson Crusoe. Taken from the castaway's own journals and memoirs, and fact-checked by Lovecraft himself, it is free from many of Defoe's edits and alterations. From Lovecraft's work a much smoother, simpler tale emerges - but also a far more disturbing one.
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95% verbatim Robinson Crusoe
- By La suede on 07-20-18
By: Peter Clines
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Fatal North
- Murder and Survival on the First North Pole Expedition
- By: Bruce Henderson
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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It began as President Ulysses S. Grant's bid for international glory after the Civil War - America's first attempt to reach the North Pole. It ended with Captain Charles Hall's death under suspicious circumstances, dissension among sailors, scientists, and explorers, and the ship's evacuation and eventual sinking. Then came a brutal struggle for survival by 33 men, women, and children stranded on the polar ice.
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An average reader says 10
- By Barbara on 11-10-16
By: Bruce Henderson
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The Happy Prince and other Tales
- By: Oscar Wilde
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In "The Model Millionaire", the destiny of a young, ambitious, brilliant pauper changes with an act of his misplaced generosity. "The Happy Prince" is one of Oscar Wilde’s renowned fairy tales. From his vantage point, high above the city, the statue of The Happy Prince gives of himself in a way most astonishing. In "The Sphinx Without a Secret", we learn of an enigmatic woman who holds a secret so close, no suitor can win her.
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"Curiouser & Curiouser"
- By Jade Dragon on 09-14-16
By: Oscar Wilde
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Sailing Alone Around the World
- By: Joshua Slocum
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Joshua Slocum was believed to be the first man to sail single-handed around the world. After a distinguished career, where he worked his way up from cabin boy to captain, Joshua Slocum wrecked his ship off the coast of Brazil. Turning this catastrophe to his advantage, he built a sailing canoe from the wreckage and sailed back to New York. Moreover, he wrote Voyage of the Liberdad, a chronicle of his trip, and earned some literary success.
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A REMARKABLE MAN
- By Rod on 05-03-06
By: Joshua Slocum
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Billy Budd
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Peter Joyce
- Length: 3 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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On one level...Melville’s tale is an historical adventure telling the story of life aboard ship shortly after the mutiny at Spithead in 1797. Billy is taken from a homeward bound merchantman to serve on the ‘Seventy Four’ HMS Indomitable. He falls foul of Claggart, the ‘Master at Arms’, and the final confrontation results in death. Billy becomes an unwilling martyr - what passes for justice must be implemented because of the rebellious climate of the time.
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Well done, a pleasure to listen to!
- By Kindle Customer on 10-17-18
By: Herman Melville
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Island of the Lost
- Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
- By: Joan Druett
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Auckland Island is a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean, 285 miles south of New Zealand. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, it is one of the most forbidding places in the world. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death. In 1864, Captain Thomas Musgrave and his crew of four aboard the schooner Grafton wreck on the southern end of the island. Utterly alone in a dense coastal forest, plagued by stinging blowflies and relentless rain, Captain Musgrave inspires his men to take action.
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One of the Best Stories Ever Told!
- By Tiffany on 04-10-16
By: Joan Druett
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Icebound
- Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
- By: Andrea Pitzer
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In the best-selling tradition of Hampton Sides’ In the Kingdom of Ice, a “gripping adventure tale” (The Boston Globe) recounting Dutch polar explorer William Barents’ three harrowing Arctic expeditions - the last of which resulted in a relentlessly challenging year-long fight for survival.
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Great book - missing maps :(
- By Stephen on 01-20-21
By: Andrea Pitzer
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Erebus
- One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time
- By: Michael Palin
- Narrated by: Michael Palin
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Michael Palin brings the fascinating story of the Erebus and its occupants to life, from its construction as a bomb vessel in 1826 through the flagship years of James Clark Ross’s Antarctic expedition and finally to Sir John Franklin’s quest for the holy grail of navigation - a route through the Northwest Passage, where the ship disappeared into the depths of the sea for more than 150 years. It was rediscovered under the arctic waters in 2014.
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Engrossing story
- By Anonymous User on 10-01-24
By: Michael Palin
What listeners say about An Antarctic Mystery; or, The Sphinx of the Ice Fields
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ree
- 07-18-23
Both Wonder-full and Also Not
Disclaimers but no spoilers—
Yes, it’s period writing so there’s political incorrectness abounding though not I think ill-intended by the author. With that said:
It’s a survival and adventure on the high seas novel with some early, basic science fiction thrown in. It’s my first Verne, and he’s a beautiful writer.
But to any and all who, like me, hoped for a little more “wonder” and sensationalism and spectacle along the lines of how Edgar Allen Poe finished (and left utterly hanging) his Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, of which Verne’s Antarctic Mystery is a direct sequel, you will be sorely disappointed. There is an explanation of sorts, there is a resolution, Verne even fills in to the best of his ability the bizarre dog character plot hole left by Poe, but it is not the wondrous story I had hoped for after being tantalized by the signs of Ancient Ethiopians in Poe’s Pym and the giant glorious snow-swept Sphinx of Verne’s Antarctic Mystery cover art.
I’m glad I read it. It was good, and I was 100% invested in the characters. But I was disappointed in the story itself.
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- Daniel G.
- 11-06-17
A Great Example of the Writing of the Period
Modern audiences might find the writing dense, and filled with minutia that does not move the action along. I enjoyed reading Verne on my early teens, and the pacing took me right back to adventure stories like 80,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
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- Kindle Customer
- 12-16-23
An amazing sequel carrying on the work a legendary author
This title caught my eye because I had noticed some influence in Verne's other works of the great Poe. Verne carried on the tradition of Poe, writing so convincingly that many believed they were reading a genuine narrative. Put alongside Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" a fantastic trilogy is formed. The details in Ernest Shackleton's non-fiction account of the antarctic show that Verne was quite insightful to the hazards of the region. Besides completing an incredible amount of research for each story, the author was a talented storyteller, and kept the pages turning. I would love to see a higher percentage of Jules Verne's works on Audible instead of fifty versions of the same three titles.
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- Tad Davis
- 07-06-14
Good, but not all of Verne
This is a tough one. The narrator is good - something unfortunately all too rare in Verne audiobooks - and the translation has been somewhat revised from the original by "Mrs Cashel Hoey." But the audiobook is missing the Brian Taves introduction mentioned in the description. And a comparison of the text with a more recent translation - the one by Rick Walter published by SUNY - shows that many of the cuts made by Mrs Hoey have not been restored in this version. I would use this as an intro to the story - but try to get your hands on the Walter edition (which has, in addition to the original novel by Edgar Allan Poe, a long critical essay by Verne about Poe's novel).
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- BK
- 09-22-24
An homage to Poe and a sequel to his novel
Great praise by one great author of another. A somewhat more scientific seaman's yarn than the mysterious adventures of Gordon Pym. Both interesting and enjoyable in their own way. Good dialogues and description of the voyage. The climax would seem a bit too straight forward, if it wasn't for the shape in which it was appearing. I much enjoyed Verne in my youth and still do. I liked listening to the reader who well established especially three of the characters in their dialects.
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