Books with title The Duel

One of the greatest English writers of the 19th century was a Polish-born man who couldn’t even speak English fluently until he had entered adulthood. Nevertheless, Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) went on to have a well-regarded literary career that bridged Romanticism and Modernism while also covering the zenith and twilight of the British empire. Conrad used his experience within the British empire to write novels and stories that often used the sea and navy as a setting, juxtaposing the individual human spirit with the collective duty and honor of the British navy. And though it was a second-language, Conrad mastered English prose.

I. Lieutenant Armand D’Hubert calls at the house where Lieutenant Ferand is billeted in Strasbourg, in search of information on his whereabouts. Ferand has risen early, fought a duel with a civilian and injured him, then gone out to call on a woman who holds a salon. D’Hubert goes to the house and transmits to Ferand the official message that he must return to his quarters and remain under arrest. Ferand is annoyed, and cannot see that he has done anything wrong. D’Hubert explains that his opponent’s civilian friends are well connected and have made complaints. When the two men return to the house Ferand threatens D’Hubert for disturbing his afternoon. Ferand draws his sword and challenges him to a duel on the spot, in the rear garden. D’Hubert realises that Ferand seriously wishes to kill him, and that the duel will get both of them into trouble, but he manages to strike a damaging blow to Ferand, which cuts his arm. D’Hubert then visits the regimental surgeon and sends him to attend Ferand. He is annoyed with Ferand but glad he has not killed him. D’Hubert is disgraced and reduced to the ranks. Then he is visited by the surgeon who tells him that Ferand, having now recovered, intends to continue the dispute with a further duel. The public assume that there must be a very serious difference between the two soldiers to make them risk their reputations in this way. II. Various theories are advanced in society to try to explain the conflict. The two men arrange another duel, in which D’Hubert is slightly hurt. Their seconds urge a reconciliation, but it does not take place. There is a proposal to appoint a deciding Court of Honour to resolve the dispute, but Ferand prefers to say nothing. The colonel of D’Hubert’s regiment is concerned, takes a parental interest, and asks for an explanation. D’Hubert refuses to go into details, but assures him it is a matter of honour – both personal, and for the regiment. The colonel imposes a twelve month ban on any further duelling, during which time D’Hubert is promoted. This renders any further challenge impossible under the codes of duelling, because of the differences in rank of the disputants. Ferand then seeks and gains promotion, which leads to another duel. This leaves them both cut to ribbons. After they recover D’Hubert is promoted again onto the personal staff of a marshall. Ferand cannot stand the idea of having to take orders from him. The next duel takes place on horseback at dawn in Lubeck. D’Hubert inflicts a single damaging blow to Ferand’s forehead and the duel is stopped. Both men stay on in the army, and gradually grow older. III. During the retreat from Moscow in Napoleon’s disastrous campaign, the two men are yoked in misery and defeat, but choose to ignore each other. However, they co-operate in military terms, and even help each other to survive. D’Hubert becomes dressed in a bizarre collection of old clothes collected from the wreckage of the retreat. He wants a peaceful life, and even begins to doubt the wisdom of Napoleon. However, his good conduct is favourably noticed by the ‘Emperor’, and when he is promoted to a general, this inflames Ferand’s rivalry. D’Hubert is badly wounded, and recuperates at his Royalist sister’s home in the south of France. Then he is despatched to Paris and is introduced to a girl who he plans to marry. Napoleon is on St Helena, and the royalists plan to persecute Ferand. D’Hubert intervenes with the Minister of Police, and has Ferand’s name removed from the list of Bonapartist officers due to be punished (executed). As a result, Ferand is retired from the army and banished to an obscure town in the middle of France. Instead of being grateful, he is outraged at the indignity, and plans yet another duel with D’Hubert.

Joseph Conrad's novella "The Duel" regards the story of Lieutenant Gabriel Feraud, a fervent Bonapartist and obsessive duelist. Following a near fatal duel with the nephew of the mayor of Strasborg, Lieutenant Armand d'Hubert is sent to put Feraud under house arrest. This confrontation sets in motion a series of indecisive duels between the two over the course of the next several years. Conrad's "The Duel" is based upon the real life events of two French Hussar officers named Dupont and Fournier-Sarlovèze, who over the course of nineteen years fought over thirty duels. Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars, the conflict between the two men is a gripping period piece in which Conrad constructs an analogy to the conflict of all men.

Lieutenant Armand D’Hubert calls at the house where Lieutenant Ferand is billeted in Strasbourg, in search of information on his whereabouts. Ferand has risen early, fought a duel with a civilian and injured him, then gone out to call on a woman who holds a salon. D’Hubert goes to the house and transmits to Ferand the official message that he must return to his quarters and remain under arrest. Ferand is annoyed, and cannot see that he has done anything wrong. D’Hubert explains that his opponent’s civilian friends are well connected and have made complaints. When the two men return to the house Ferand threatens D’Hubert for disturbing his afternoon. Ferand draws his sword and challenges him to a duel on the spot, in the rear garden.

The Duel, published in 1908, is a novella written by Joseph Conrad that is set during the Napoleonic Wars. The action centers around two Lieutenants in the French army that duel each other many times over the course of fourteen years. Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British writer who is considered to be one of the greatest authors in English literature. Conrad's books contain much of the elements seen in 19th-century realism but his modernistic writing also influenced many great authors that followed including Faulkner, Hemingway, and Orwell. Conrad wrote classics in many different genres and many of his works were based off his experiences at sea as a British merchant marine.

An exciting, swashbuckling thriller based on a true story about two of Napoleon's soldiers. Conrad's brilliantly ironic tale about two officers in Napoleon's Grand Army who, under a futile pretext, fought an on-going series of duels throughout the Napoleanic Wars. Over decades, on every occasion they chanced to meet, they fought. Both satiric and deeply sad, this masterful tale treats both the futility of war and the absurdity of false honor, war's necessary accessory.

The Duel is a novel written by Anton Chekhov, one of the most successful playwrights and novelists. The novel was first printed in 1891. It was adapted in a television series by Iosif Kheifits in 1973 renamed as The Bad Good Man, starring Vladimir Vysotsky and by Dover Kosashvili in 2010 as The Duel. The story is about the two main characters, Ivan Andreich Laevsky and Nadyezhda Fyodorovna, a couple who have lived in Caucasus. Nadyezhda is married to her first husband and a few of their neighbors dislike the idea of the lovers living together in the same house. Ivan tells his friend Samoilenko that he is not anymore in love with Nadyezhda. As a result, Laevsky drinks excessively and gambles having no sense of direction in his life. Von Koren, a scientist, thinks that what Ivan is doing is useless, and feels that killing him would be useful to all the residents. He challenges Ivan to a duel, from which his life will change entirely. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian dramatist and authored many short stories. He is regarded as one of the most important and celebrated writers of short story in history. As a dramatist, he produced four plays and his greatest short stories are highly noteworthy and noted by fellow authors and critics. Together with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is mostly considered as one of the three influential personalities in early modernism in the theater. Chekhov is also a medical doctor while having a career in writing most of the time. As he would say, "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress." Anton Pavlovich Chekhov had the intention at first to produce dramas and write stories only for financial purposes, but as his creative literary passion grew, he made explicit modernizations which have inspired the change and progress of the present day short story.

Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. He joined the British merchant marine in 1878, and was granted British nationality in 1886. Though he did not speak English fluently until he was in his twenties, he was a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. He wrote stories and novels, many with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit in the midst of an impassive, inscrutable universe.