Other editions of book The Shadow Line

In this fictionalized autobiography, Conrad expands on his first experience as captain of a ship. Young and hopeful, the young captain accepts the promotion, unaware to the trials that lay ahead. The last captain died on the ship, was hastily buried, and the command position a hasty decision. With a first mate gone half mad, malaria taking in the entire crew, a lack of medicine and no wind to get the ship moving, the young captain will face the shadow line that divides youth and maturity.

Conrad’s autobiographical novella of a young man in his first command as a sea captain. A series of crises prove incredibly difficult for his new authority, for the sea is curiously becalmed and the crew is weakened by feverish malaria. When the first mate’s fear convinces many that the ship is haunted and cursed by the malevolent spirit of the previous captain, the young man must cope with their superstition as well as the conspicuous absence of much-needed medicine. A suspenseful sea story of a young man in a defining moment of his life, when the indistinct line separating an inexperienced boy from a mature man becomes perfectly clear, “The Shadow-Line” brims with intense existence, straining responsibility, and threatened principles in a probing study of masculinity.

Conrad’s autobiographical novella of a young man in his first command as a sea captain. A series of crises prove incredibly difficult for his new authority, for the sea is curiously becalmed and the crew is weakened by feverish malaria. When the first mate’s fear convinces many that the ship is haunted and cursed by the malevolent spirit of the previous captain, the young man must cope with their superstition as well as the conspicuous absence of much-needed medicine. A suspenseful sea story of a young man in a defining moment of his life, when the indistinct line separating an inexperienced boy from a mature man becomes perfectly clear, “The Shadow-Line” brims with intense existence, straining responsibility, and threatened principles in a probing study of masculinity.

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"The Shadow Line: A Confession" by Joseph Conrad. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

Conrad, Joseph. The Shadow Line. London, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1962. 11 cm x 15 cm. 189 pages. One decorative illustration. Original Hardcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Previous owner's name in ink pen on endpaper. Ornate and detailed illustration featuring a portrait of Conrad as a frontispiece spread over two pages. [The Kings Treasuries of Literature - Sir A.T. Quiller Couch (General Editor)] This copy is volume 212 from a collection called The Kings Treasuries of Literature which existed from C.1920 to C.1959. The Shadow-Line is a short novel based at sea by Joseph Conrad; it is one of his later works, being written from February to December 1915. It was first published in 1916 as a serial in New York's Metropolitan Magazine (September—October) in the English Review (September 1916-March 1917) and published in book form in 1917 in the UK (March) and America (April). The novella depicts the development of a young man upon taking a captaincy in the Orient, with the shadow line of the title representing the threshold of this development. (Wikipedia)

A shining example of Conrad's later literary ability, "The Shadow-Line" is his 1915 autobiographical novella of a young man in his first command as a sea captain. A series of crises prove incredibly difficult for his new authority, for the sea is curiously becalmed and the crew is weakened by feverish malaria. When the first mate's fear convinces many that the ship is haunted and cursed by the malevolent spirit of the previous captain, the young man must cope with their superstition as well as the conspicuous absence of much-needed medicine. A suspenseful sea story of a young man in a defining moment of his life, when the indistinct line separating an inexperienced boy from a mature man becomes perfectly clear, "The Shadow-Line" brims with intense existence, straining responsibility, and threatened principles in a probing study of masculinity.

The novella is notable for its dual narrative structure. The full, subtitled title of the novel is ‘The Shadow-Line, A Confession’, which immediately alerts the reader to the retrospective nature of the novella. The ironic constructions following from the conflict between the 'young' protago-nist (who is never named) and the 'old' drive much of the underlying points of the novella, namely the nature of wisdom, experience and maturity. Conrad also extensively uses irony by comparison in the work, with characters such as Captain Giles and the ship's 'factotum' Ransome used to emphasise strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist.

The Shadow-Line is a novella based at sea by Joseph Conrad. The novella depicts the development of a young man upon taking a captaincy in the Orient, with the shadow line of the title representing the threshold of this development. It has often been cited as a metaphor of the First World War, given its timing and references to a long struggle, the importance of camaraderie, etc. This viewpoint may also be reinforced by the knowledge that Conrad's elder son, Borys, was wounded in the First World War. The novella is dedicated to his son Borys. Joseph Conrad (born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski (3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish novelist who wrote in English, after settling in England. Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, though he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties . He wrote stories and novels, often with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit in the midst of an indifferent universe. He was a master prose stylist who brought a distinctly non-English tragic sensibility into English literature.

This edition includes:✓ Free audiobook (link inside the book)✓ The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad✓ Afterword by Stevan Karminovic"Only the young have such moments. I don’t mean the very young. No. The very young have, properly speaking, no moments. It is the privilege of early youth to live in advance of its days in all the beautiful continuity of hope which knows no pauses and no introspection.One closes behind one the little gate of mere boyishness—and enters an enchanted garden. Its very shades glow with promise. Every turn of the path has its seduction. And it isn’t because it is an undiscovered country. One knows well enough that all mankind had streamed that way. It is the charm of universal experience from which one expects an uncommon or personal sensation—a bit of one’s own.One goes on recognizing the landmarks of the predecessors, excited, amused, taking the hard luck and the good luck together—the kicks and the half-pence, as the saying is—the picturesque common lot that holds so many possibilities for the deserving or perhaps for the lucky. Yes. One goes on. And the time, too, goes on—till one perceives ahead a shadow-line warning one that the region of early youth, too, must be left behind.This is the period of life in which such moments of which I have spoken are likely to come. What moments? Why, the moments of boredom, of weariness, of dissatisfaction. Rash moments. I mean moments when the still young are inclined to commit rash actions, such as getting married suddenly or else throwing up a job for no reason."

Conrad’s autobiographical novella of a young man in his first command as a sea captain. A series of crises prove incredibly difficult for his new authority, for the sea is curiously becalmed and the crew is weakened by feverish malaria. When the first mate’s fear convinces many that the ship is haunted and cursed by the malevolent spirit of the previous captain, the young man must cope with their superstition as well as the conspicuous absence of much-needed medicine. A suspenseful sea story of a young man in a defining moment of his life, when the indistinct line separating an inexperienced boy from a mature man becomes perfectly clear, “The Shadow-Line” brims with intense existence, straining responsibility, and threatened principles in a probing study of masculinity.