The Shadow-Line

by Joseph Conrad, Jacques Berthoud (Introduction)

Overview

A young and inexperienced sea captain finds that his first command leaves him with a ship stranded in tropical seas and a crew smitten with fever. As he wrestles with his conscience and with the increasing sense of isolation that he experiences, the captain crosses the ‘shadow-line’ between youth and adulthood. In many ways an autobiographical narrative, Conrad's novella was written at the start of the Great War when his son Borys was at the Western Front, and can be seen as an attempt to open humanity’s eyes to the qualities needed to face evil and destruction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141958699
Publisher:	Penguin UK
Publication date:	09/27/1990
Series:	Penguin Modern Classics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Joseph Conrad (originally Józef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski) was born in the Ukraine in 1857 and grew up under Tsarist autocracy. In 1896 he settled in Kent, where he produced within fifteen years such modern classics as Youth, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes. He continued to write until his death in 1924.

Date of Birth:

December 3, 1857

Date of Death:

August 3, 1924

Place of Birth:

Berdiczew, Podolia, Russia

Place of Death:

Bishopsbourne, Kent, England

Education:

Tutored in Switzerland. Self-taught in classical literature. Attended maritime school in Marseilles, France

Editorial Reviews

At 57, with his son Borys on the Western Front at the start of the Great War, Conrad wrote of another young man embarking on a life-altering adventure, his first command. The youthful but nameless narrator is full of fresh naïveté, and the next three harrowing weeks test every ounce of strength, courage, and humanity the young captain has. Is this Conrad’s letter to his son, encouraging him to face his trials with a manly heart? Possibly. Fred Williams’s mature, gravelly voice carries all the weight of age and experience as surely as if the graying Conrad himself were, years later, telling the tale of his own first command. It is a harrowing but heartwarming story read with the wizened dignity that only an older reader can create. Let’s hear more from Fred Williams. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

OCT/NOV 04 - AudioFile