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The Secret Sharer
A test of nerve in the Gulf of Siam
A young man sets out on his first voyage as captain, aboard a vessel and among a crew that are equally unfamiliar to him. A mysterious night-swimmer climbs aboard, and, in keeping the presence of this fugitive a secret, the skipper risks both his captaincy and the safety of his ship. Many of Conrad's stories of suspense and adventure, including the collection 'Twixt Land and Sea, from which The Secret Sharer is taken, are published in Penguin.
A young man sets out on his first voyage as captain, aboard a vessel and among a crew that are equally unfamiliar to him. A mysterious night-swimmer climbs aboard, and, in keeping the presence of this fugitive a secret, the skipper risks both his captaincy and the safety of his ship. Many of Conrad's stories of suspense and adventure, including the collection 'Twixt Land and Sea, from which The Secret Sharer is taken, are published in Penguin.
55 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1910
About the author
Joseph Conrad
3,362 books5,046 followersJoseph Conrad was a Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and, although he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he became a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. He wrote novels and stories, many in nautical settings, that depict crises of human individuality in the midst of what he saw as an indifferent, inscrutable, and amoral world.
Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.
Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires—and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism—and that profoundly explore the human psyche.
Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.
Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires—and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism—and that profoundly explore the human psyche.
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July 4, 2026
The narrator of the story is a young captain…
The ship is in the Gulf of Siam and ready to sail homeward… A young man swims to the ship and climbs on board… He committed a crime killing a malicious scoundrel and is a refugee… The captain is full of commiseration…
The man is a former chief mate… The captain gives him shelter and thus becomes a kind of accomplice… The atmosphere becomes gravid with suspense… He feels a strange affinity for the fugitive as if the man were his alter ego…
Sometimes it is hard to define what is right and what is wrong.
I had been appointed to the command only a fortnight before. Neither did I know much of the hands forward. All these people had been together for eighteen months or so, and my position was that of the only stranger on board.
The ship is in the Gulf of Siam and ready to sail homeward… A young man swims to the ship and climbs on board… He committed a crime killing a malicious scoundrel and is a refugee… The captain is full of commiseration…
He appealed to me as if our experiences had been as identical as our clothes. And I knew well enough the pestiferous danger of such a character where there are no means of legal repression. And I knew well enough also that my double there was no homicidal ruffian.
The man is a former chief mate… The captain gives him shelter and thus becomes a kind of accomplice… The atmosphere becomes gravid with suspense… He feels a strange affinity for the fugitive as if the man were his alter ego…
I had become so connected in thoughts and impressions with the secret sharer of my cabin that I felt as if I, personally, were being given to understand that I, too, was not the sort that would have done for the chief mate of a ship like the Sephora. I had no doubt of it in my mind.
Sometimes it is hard to define what is right and what is wrong.
July 25, 2022
I was initially seduced by impressions of the coastal islands in “the Gulf of Siam”: exotic, puzzling, and beautiful.
“On my right hand there were lines of fishing stakes resembling a mysterious system of half-submerged bamboo fences… as if abandoned for ever by some nomad tribe of fishermen now gone to the other end of the ocean… To the left a group of barren islets, suggesting ruins of stone walls, towers, and blockhouses, had its foundations set in a blue sea that itself looked solid, so still and stable did it lie below my feet.”
I thought of Shelley’s Ozymandias, even though that has a very different setting.
Image: Mu Ko Ang Thong in the Gulf of Thailand (formerly known as the Gulf of Siam) (Source)
But it quickly switched from immersive scene-setting to more of a boys’ own adventure on a ship (though ironically, the captain says later, “We are not living in a boy’s adventure tale”).
Alone on night watch, the captain sees a naked swimmer. The man, Leggatt, says he’s escaped from a nearby ship where he’d been imprisoned for murdering a crewmate in what he claims was an accident. Nevertheless, the captain hides him in his cabin! Most of the book is the captain, years later, recalling what Leggatt told him, embellished with his own, equally suspect, memories. Not the most engaging way to tell an exciting story of peril and moral dilemmas.
I might have lost interest in the dense prose, but then I thought of an alternative interpretation which kept me keen to check how well it might fit. Also, there’s the nagging question of who should and will be “striking out for a new destiny”. It’s a tale of both a literal journey and a transformative psychological one.
Doubles, duality, and symbiosis
The captain is immediately and constantly aware of the similarities between himself and “my other self”, and yet in most ways other than the physical, they are opposites: one outside the law and the other effectively representing it; one strong and confident and the other not. Leggatt swam to the light of the ship, but does he want moral and spiritual light?
Meanwhile, the captain is cleaved: he “felt more dual than ever”, but also as if they were one person, “connected in thoughts and impressions with the secret sharer of my cabin”, and as if he’s with his own ghost.
If you view a person as a version of yourself, it’s impossible to be objective, even - or especially - about whether the other should face possibly unjust “justice” or not.
Image: Who’s more real: the original or the reflection? Detail of work by Guy Billout (Source)
Gay subtext
Leggatt describes his and the captain’s first sight of each other, when he was swimming naked:
“When I saw a man’s head looking over I thought I would swim away… I didn’t mind being looked at. I - I liked it. And then you speaking to me so quietly - as if you had expected me - made me hold on a little longer. It had been a confounded lonely time - I don’t mean while swimming.”
Perhaps when Leggatt’s former skipper says Leggatt “wasn’t exactly the sort for the chief mate of a ship like the Sephora”, he wasn’t talking about social class. I think there's more intimacy than Conrad makes explicit, and as they’re doppelgangers, that makes it a kind of Narcissistic self-love, so doubly taboo.
Alternative analysis
I’m not convinced this is how Conrad intended it to be interpreted, but I don't think there's anything that contradicts it, and it also solves the conundrum of the captain so readily giving shelter to a possibly dangerous stranger:
.
Context
Conrad wrote this two-part novella in only two weeks in 1909, a decade after Heart of Darkness and a couple of years after The Secret Agent. It draws on his nearly twenty years’ experience in the French and British merchant navies, as well as a true incident that occurred on the famous clipper, Cutty Sark (see here).
Image: Cutty Sark at sea (Source)
Given the themes and ambiguity, it’s worth noting Conrad rejected three other, less subtle, titles: The Second Self, The Secret Self, and The Other Self.
See also
Hans Christian Andersen’s The Shadow explores similar themes in a different way. See my review HERE.
Quotes
• “The tide of darkness flowed on swiftly; and with tropical suddenness a swarm of stars came out above the shadowy earth, while I lingered yet, my hand resting lightly on my ship’s rail as if on the shoulder of a trusted friend.”
• “The track of light from the westering sun shone smoothly, without that animated glitter which tells of an imperceptible ripple.”
• “A spiritless tenacity was his main characteristic.” [The captain describing the skipper of the Sephora]
• “The ship might have been moored in dock, so gently and on an even keel she slipped through the water, that did not murmur even at our passage, shadowy and silent like a phantom sea.”
• “I felt less torn in two when I was with him.”
• “Part of me was absent. That mental feeling of being in two places at once affected me physically as if the mood of secrecy had penetrated my very soul.”
Short story club
I read this as one of the stories in The Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 2 May 2022.
You can read this story here.
You can join the group here.
“On my right hand there were lines of fishing stakes resembling a mysterious system of half-submerged bamboo fences… as if abandoned for ever by some nomad tribe of fishermen now gone to the other end of the ocean… To the left a group of barren islets, suggesting ruins of stone walls, towers, and blockhouses, had its foundations set in a blue sea that itself looked solid, so still and stable did it lie below my feet.”
I thought of Shelley’s Ozymandias, even though that has a very different setting.
Image: Mu Ko Ang Thong in the Gulf of Thailand (formerly known as the Gulf of Siam) (Source)
But it quickly switched from immersive scene-setting to more of a boys’ own adventure on a ship (though ironically, the captain says later, “We are not living in a boy’s adventure tale”).
Alone on night watch, the captain sees a naked swimmer. The man, Leggatt, says he’s escaped from a nearby ship where he’d been imprisoned for murdering a crewmate in what he claims was an accident. Nevertheless, the captain hides him in his cabin! Most of the book is the captain, years later, recalling what Leggatt told him, embellished with his own, equally suspect, memories. Not the most engaging way to tell an exciting story of peril and moral dilemmas.
I might have lost interest in the dense prose, but then I thought of an alternative interpretation which kept me keen to check how well it might fit. Also, there’s the nagging question of who should and will be “striking out for a new destiny”. It’s a tale of both a literal journey and a transformative psychological one.
Doubles, duality, and symbiosis
The captain is immediately and constantly aware of the similarities between himself and “my other self”, and yet in most ways other than the physical, they are opposites: one outside the law and the other effectively representing it; one strong and confident and the other not. Leggatt swam to the light of the ship, but does he want moral and spiritual light?
Meanwhile, the captain is cleaved: he “felt more dual than ever”, but also as if they were one person, “connected in thoughts and impressions with the secret sharer of my cabin”, and as if he’s with his own ghost.
If you view a person as a version of yourself, it’s impossible to be objective, even - or especially - about whether the other should face possibly unjust “justice” or not.
Image: Who’s more real: the original or the reflection? Detail of work by Guy Billout (Source)
Gay subtext
Leggatt describes his and the captain’s first sight of each other, when he was swimming naked:
“When I saw a man’s head looking over I thought I would swim away… I didn’t mind being looked at. I - I liked it. And then you speaking to me so quietly - as if you had expected me - made me hold on a little longer. It had been a confounded lonely time - I don’t mean while swimming.”
Perhaps when Leggatt’s former skipper says Leggatt “wasn’t exactly the sort for the chief mate of a ship like the Sephora”, he wasn’t talking about social class. I think there's more intimacy than Conrad makes explicit, and as they’re doppelgangers, that makes it a kind of Narcissistic self-love, so doubly taboo.
Alternative analysis
I’m not convinced this is how Conrad intended it to be interpreted, but I don't think there's anything that contradicts it, and it also solves the conundrum of the captain so readily giving shelter to a possibly dangerous stranger:
.
Context
Conrad wrote this two-part novella in only two weeks in 1909, a decade after Heart of Darkness and a couple of years after The Secret Agent. It draws on his nearly twenty years’ experience in the French and British merchant navies, as well as a true incident that occurred on the famous clipper, Cutty Sark (see here).
Image: Cutty Sark at sea (Source)
Given the themes and ambiguity, it’s worth noting Conrad rejected three other, less subtle, titles: The Second Self, The Secret Self, and The Other Self.
See also
Hans Christian Andersen’s The Shadow explores similar themes in a different way. See my review HERE.
Quotes
• “The tide of darkness flowed on swiftly; and with tropical suddenness a swarm of stars came out above the shadowy earth, while I lingered yet, my hand resting lightly on my ship’s rail as if on the shoulder of a trusted friend.”
• “The track of light from the westering sun shone smoothly, without that animated glitter which tells of an imperceptible ripple.”
• “A spiritless tenacity was his main characteristic.” [The captain describing the skipper of the Sephora]
• “The ship might have been moored in dock, so gently and on an even keel she slipped through the water, that did not murmur even at our passage, shadowy and silent like a phantom sea.”
• “I felt less torn in two when I was with him.”
• “Part of me was absent. That mental feeling of being in two places at once affected me physically as if the mood of secrecy had penetrated my very soul.”
Short story club
I read this as one of the stories in The Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 2 May 2022.
You can read this story here.
You can join the group here.
May 11, 2025
When I was a young man of nineteen a Secret Sharer came into my life.
My Sharer, like Conrad's, was somewhat nebulous and had arisen - also like Conrad's - out of sketchy, perverse conditions which turned out, upon examination, to be hopelessly aporetic.
Life for us all is aporetic until we penetrate to its core.
Thus, I reasoned, now thrown into a dicey and unworkable predicament in a true trial of endurance, my only recourse was to know myself and my Sharer thoroughly.
And this became my life's work.
***
At 73, my work is effectively all done. I - and my psychiatric meds - have Evicted the Sharer through KNOWING him, inside out.
It's all over but the crying.
In the Divided Self, R.D. Laing says we victims of trauma have created a double self - a Secret Sharer.
This apparition, as the jingle goes, is the Man Who Wasn't There ( "he wasn't there again today - I wish to heck he'd go away!" )
Kidding aside, he's that imaginary friend we invented, as Beckett says, "for Company." Now he's here to stay.
UNTIL you kick'm out.
***
Folks - and especially you kids - you can't drift forever peaceably through life.
Our business here is to Wake Up.
If you diss helpful psychological treatment you're cruising, like Conrad's sea captain, for a bruising.
Adulthood calls us to take the Bull by the Horns.
And act NOW - or face the consequences.
My Sharer, like Conrad's, was somewhat nebulous and had arisen - also like Conrad's - out of sketchy, perverse conditions which turned out, upon examination, to be hopelessly aporetic.
Life for us all is aporetic until we penetrate to its core.
Thus, I reasoned, now thrown into a dicey and unworkable predicament in a true trial of endurance, my only recourse was to know myself and my Sharer thoroughly.
And this became my life's work.
***
At 73, my work is effectively all done. I - and my psychiatric meds - have Evicted the Sharer through KNOWING him, inside out.
It's all over but the crying.
In the Divided Self, R.D. Laing says we victims of trauma have created a double self - a Secret Sharer.
This apparition, as the jingle goes, is the Man Who Wasn't There ( "he wasn't there again today - I wish to heck he'd go away!" )
Kidding aside, he's that imaginary friend we invented, as Beckett says, "for Company." Now he's here to stay.
UNTIL you kick'm out.
***
Folks - and especially you kids - you can't drift forever peaceably through life.
Our business here is to Wake Up.
If you diss helpful psychological treatment you're cruising, like Conrad's sea captain, for a bruising.
Adulthood calls us to take the Bull by the Horns.
And act NOW - or face the consequences.
August 1, 2023
Self as other
Mysterious and intriguing seafaring story, pivoting on döppelganger motif with elements reminiscent of Billy Budd, Sailor and Despair. One that will need some more time to ruminate on.
Note to self: read The Double - and Nostromo.
Mysterious and intriguing seafaring story, pivoting on döppelganger motif with elements reminiscent of Billy Budd, Sailor and Despair. One that will need some more time to ruminate on.
Note to self: read The Double - and Nostromo.
July 23, 2022
“But what I felt most was my being a stranger to the ship; and if all the truth be told, I was somewhat of a stranger to myself” (p. 4). Thus begins The Secret Sharer (1917), one of Joseph Conrad’s seafaring novellas. The speaker is a young man, freshly promoted to his first captaincy (who probably has had strings pulled to get the rank), who fears being exposed as a fraud. One evening, during a watch duty, the captain rescues a young castaway who is holding, entirely naked, onto the rope ladder on one side of the keel. He then proceeds to hide this sailor in his cabin, even sharing his bed with him, regardless (or perhaps because) of the fact that, as he will soon learn, his host, who goes by the name of Leggatt, is a wanted murderer.
At face value, this story has many puzzling aspects: e.g., why was that ladder down in the first place? why does the captain shelter this strange stowaway, hiding him from his chief mate and steward? why, later in the story, does he jeopardise his own ship for the sake of the man he calls his “unsuspected sharer of my cabin as though he were my second self” (p. 27)? These oddities and inconsistencies in the narrative point to a deeper meaning.
One possibility, of course, is that the captain who tells this story is eminently unreliable and bends the facts to his own benefit. Is there a guilty homoerotic relationship between Leggatt and himself? Or is the captain delusional, and does Leggatt even physically exist? Isn’t he a ghostly projection of his imagination, an image of his true identity hidden under his fraudulent persona?
It is up to the reader to decide since the story is obviously open to different layers of interpretation. Mythological: Leggatt as a figure of Aphrodite, the sea-foam goddess, “risen from the bottom of the sea” (p. 8) or as a dark Doppelgänger... Psychological: Leggatt as a projection of the captain’s Id or Shadow, or even the captain as a case of borderline paranoid split personality…
Conrad’s style is highly impressionistic (descriptions of the Gulf of Thailand), and the story structure is, as always, elaborate (Leggatt’s and the Sephora’s skipper’s embedded narratives) yet suspenseful, sometimes even humorous (note the chief mate's expressive whiskers). In the end, it’s as though The Secret Sharer is treading a narrow line between the realistic sea adventure (the story shares striking similarities with Melville’s Billy Budd) and the more ambiguous ghost story (cf. Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw).
At face value, this story has many puzzling aspects: e.g., why was that ladder down in the first place? why does the captain shelter this strange stowaway, hiding him from his chief mate and steward? why, later in the story, does he jeopardise his own ship for the sake of the man he calls his “unsuspected sharer of my cabin as though he were my second self” (p. 27)? These oddities and inconsistencies in the narrative point to a deeper meaning.
One possibility, of course, is that the captain who tells this story is eminently unreliable and bends the facts to his own benefit. Is there a guilty homoerotic relationship between Leggatt and himself? Or is the captain delusional, and does Leggatt even physically exist? Isn’t he a ghostly projection of his imagination, an image of his true identity hidden under his fraudulent persona?
It is up to the reader to decide since the story is obviously open to different layers of interpretation. Mythological: Leggatt as a figure of Aphrodite, the sea-foam goddess, “risen from the bottom of the sea” (p. 8) or as a dark Doppelgänger... Psychological: Leggatt as a projection of the captain’s Id or Shadow, or even the captain as a case of borderline paranoid split personality…
Conrad’s style is highly impressionistic (descriptions of the Gulf of Thailand), and the story structure is, as always, elaborate (Leggatt’s and the Sephora’s skipper’s embedded narratives) yet suspenseful, sometimes even humorous (note the chief mate's expressive whiskers). In the end, it’s as though The Secret Sharer is treading a narrow line between the realistic sea adventure (the story shares striking similarities with Melville’s Billy Budd) and the more ambiguous ghost story (cf. Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw).
August 28, 2017
The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad is a short story / novella of less than 100 pages, yet in it Conrad demonstrates as many great writers do, the simple, elegant power of the short work. Here the writer can succinctly deliver a forceful message in economic fashion.
The Secret Sharer is like many of his works (most?) about the seas and a man’s command of a vessel. Also like many of his works, the setting is in the South Seas and we find our narrator taking his first command near the Gulf of Siam. The strange young captain finds a stowaway and shelters the other man and the two strike an odd friendship.
This story evokes many psychological reactions from the reader, and coming from the author of the Heart of Darkness, the effect is no doubt intensely deliberate. First of all, the title has a double meaning. It could mean a “sharer” of something who is kept secret and it also means a “sharer of a secret”.
The young captain risks great loss by aiding the wayward seaman and Conrad, in spare words, illustrates the culture of the seas masterfully. Anyone who has ever been to sea, and not just as a tourist, but one who has worked on a boat, must enjoy reading Conrad and he makes me consider his comparison to the American Melville. It is astounding to realize that English was his second or third language and yet he again demonstrates a virtuosity of ours.
The Secret Sharer is like many of his works (most?) about the seas and a man’s command of a vessel. Also like many of his works, the setting is in the South Seas and we find our narrator taking his first command near the Gulf of Siam. The strange young captain finds a stowaway and shelters the other man and the two strike an odd friendship.
This story evokes many psychological reactions from the reader, and coming from the author of the Heart of Darkness, the effect is no doubt intensely deliberate. First of all, the title has a double meaning. It could mean a “sharer” of something who is kept secret and it also means a “sharer of a secret”.
The young captain risks great loss by aiding the wayward seaman and Conrad, in spare words, illustrates the culture of the seas masterfully. Anyone who has ever been to sea, and not just as a tourist, but one who has worked on a boat, must enjoy reading Conrad and he makes me consider his comparison to the American Melville. It is astounding to realize that English was his second or third language and yet he again demonstrates a virtuosity of ours.
July 31, 2022
This haunting story from 1910 confirms my fascination with Conrad, even though I have read only two other works by him, the difficult and elusive Heart of Darkness, and the enrapturing Lord Jim. When I first read the latter, upon completion, I immediately went back to the beginning and read it again. The South Seas allured me – and turns of destiny, a few years later I went to live there for a few years.
As with Moby Dick, books on the world of ships intimidate me. In their literary form, the nautical terms are a barrier for my understanding. And the seaborn life will always seem remote, alien, and scary. May be there lies the attraction.
Conrad is a master in mysteries. For this story he borrowed a real event, but completely transformed it into a proposition on a man’s search for his identity – carried out through the doppelgänger concept, which is conspicuously and persistently developed while remaining enigmatic. Some readers draw the impression that the emphatic “doubling” is just the product of the narrator’s mind. This was not my conclusion, although Conrad teases the reader regularly with the idea, using references to possible insane minds and ghost presences, as well as the fact that the narrator, although he is the captain of the ship, remains nameless while Leggatt is his double. But to me it was precisely the narrator’s consciousness of the existence of his duplicate that persuaded me of the real existence of Leggatt.
The novel is charged with symbols in which opposites abound, with light and darkness the most prominent – and an additional read tracking these plays of light is an invitation to be considered. Biblical and moral references are rich, which make the defiance of the Law, that forms part of the core of the plot, even more intriguing.
The empathy between the narrator and his protégé, in their sharing of vulnerabilities and their feeling excluded – an estrangement that paradoxically helps the narrator in solving his insecurities and bolster his personality. Indeed, the final episode is a nerve-wrecking finale in which the narrator emerges as a confident captain by steering during the night the ship dangerously close to the menacing coast of the Koh-ring Island.
The Secret Sharer is also a bewitching Bildungsroman.
July 22, 2022
A new Captain finds a swimmer hanging on to the rope ladder of his ship in the Sea of Siam. The man, named Leggett, was the chief mate of the Sephora before he accidentally killed a crew member during a violent storm. Leggett was now a fugitive from the law, and wanted to hide on the Captain's ship. "The Secret Sharer" is narrated by the Captain years later, and one wonders how much of it is true. Is the Captain an unreliable narrator telling a tall tale, embellishing a real story? Why does he risk his position, his ship, and the lives of the crew for a stranger? Did the story only play out in the Captain's mind because he has a mental disorder, and felt under pressure in his new position?
Author Joseph Conrad presents the Captain and Leggett as doppelgangers or doubles. The young Captain and Leggett look very much alike physically. They had similar experiences coming in as new officers on ships with a crew that was unknown to them. While the Captain secretly helps Leggett, the experience eventually makes him more self-assured in his command. Perhaps thinking about another person took the Captain's mind out of a state of just worrying about his command of the ship.
This is a suspenseful psychological story with the author constantly increasing the tension. There is fear that the Captain and Leggett will be overheard while whispering to each other, fear of discovery when Leggett hides in the cabin, fear that the Captain will lose his command if Leggett is found, and fear of the ship being grounded as it approaches an island. The Captain seems more confident after successfully sailing near the island. While he has good sailing skills, I wonder what the crew is thinking about a Captain that just risked grounding the ship. The crew has never seen Leggett so they don't know the Captain's motivations. I enjoyed the suspense, the haunting dreamlike feeling of the tale, and the sense of ambiguity.
Author Joseph Conrad presents the Captain and Leggett as doppelgangers or doubles. The young Captain and Leggett look very much alike physically. They had similar experiences coming in as new officers on ships with a crew that was unknown to them. While the Captain secretly helps Leggett, the experience eventually makes him more self-assured in his command. Perhaps thinking about another person took the Captain's mind out of a state of just worrying about his command of the ship.
This is a suspenseful psychological story with the author constantly increasing the tension. There is fear that the Captain and Leggett will be overheard while whispering to each other, fear of discovery when Leggett hides in the cabin, fear that the Captain will lose his command if Leggett is found, and fear of the ship being grounded as it approaches an island. The Captain seems more confident after successfully sailing near the island. While he has good sailing skills, I wonder what the crew is thinking about a Captain that just risked grounding the ship. The crew has never seen Leggett so they don't know the Captain's motivations. I enjoyed the suspense, the haunting dreamlike feeling of the tale, and the sense of ambiguity.
March 23, 2021
“All these people had been together for eighteen months or so, and my position was that of the only stranger on board. I mention this because it has some bearing on what is to follow. [… A]nd if all the truth must be told, I was somewhat of a stranger to myself.”
Joseph Conrad’s short story The Secret Sharer, which he wrote in 1909, already casts a spell on the reader through its mysteriously ambivalent title: What exactly is a “secret sharer”, an expression that seems to fly on batlike wings through whisperings in darkness … somebody who shares a secret of mine? Or somebody who secretly, maybe unbeknownst to me, shares something that belongs to me – my house, my toothbrush, my soul?
The first-person narrator, who is a captain on his first command and who knows neither his new ship nor her crew at all, comes across a stowaway, a First Mate named Leggatt, who tells him that he has fled from the Sephora, another ship anchoring nearby, because he has accidentally killed a sailor. Our narrator decides to help his new acquaintance and hides him in his cabin. As time goes by, the pressure on the captain grows and grows because there is always the chance of his steward or somebody else of the crew discovering “the secret sharer”, and consequently the captain’s behaviour is becoming more and more odd in the eyes of his crew. Therefore, Leggatt urges the captain to maroon him on one of the islands on the Cambodian coast. The captain agrees, steering his ship into shallow and unpredictable waters in the enterprise.
”[…] but I wondered how far I should turn out faithful to that ideal conception of one’s own personality every man sets up for himself secretly.”
Like the better-known novella The Shadow-Line, The Secret Sharer has as a protagonist a young man, who enters on his first command at sea and who is consequently insecure and prone to doubting his own success. The Secret Sharer, unlike The Shadow-Line, does not give us any precise information as to how the protagonist managed to obtain his post – it may be through merit and a good reputation, but for all we know the protagonist might also have been somebody’s blue-eyed boy. Among his first decisions on board the ship, on arriving he takes on himself the night watch, because he wants to give the men some rest – however, as keeping watch at night is a most unusual thing for a captain, the men start wondering about him even at that early moment, something that makes him ask himself ”whether it was wise ever to interfere with the established routine of duties even from the kindest of motives.” And yet, this sympathetic but odd decision should lead the new captain into making the discovery of Leggatt and into showing his sympathy in a way triggering even odder decisions and risking to ruin his reputation at the very start of his career.
”I was constantly watching myself, my secret self, as dependent on my actions as my own personality, sleeping in that bed, behind that door which faced me as I sat at the head of the table. It was very much like being mad, only it was worse because one was aware of it.”
What makes the story strange and mysterious – apart from the captain’s readiness, bordering on gullibility, to risk the ship’s safety, and his own, in his enterprise to give a hand in Leggatt’s escape, although he does not know the man – is that the captain soon comes to regard his accomplice in secrecy as a doppelgänger, as his ”grey ghost” and ”the secret sharer of my life”. Why this stark degree of identification with someone he has to keep in hiding from everyone else? Is Laggett, the man tainted by a charge of murder, a stand-in for everything the captain thinks he has to conceal from the men around him in order not to forfeit their respect? Is there a shameful truth in his own life, maybe in the way he obtained his command? At the same time, for all the similarities the narrator discovers in himself and Laggett, he also points out that “the secret sharer” always has the edge on him in sundry ways, for example when it comes to determination and to cold-bloodedness in making a plan and carrying it through. Ironically, in clandestinely harbouring “the secret sharer” in his cabin and in exposing himself to discovery and ensuing shame, the captain not only commits actions that estrange the crew from him – simply because they make him appear whimsical and insecure – but he eventually manoeuvres himself into a situation in which he can show what stuff he is made of and that he has the makings of a reliable captain in himself.
”And I was alone with her. Nothing! no one in the world should stand now between us, throwing a shadow on the way of silent knowledge and mute affection, the perfect communion of a seaman with his first command.”
Not surprisingly, after enabling his mysterious stowaway to get ashore on one of the islands, the captain feels that the spell estranging him from ship and crew is broken and that his mettle has been successfully tested. As in The Shadow-Line, our protagonist has to pass the test of dire circumstances in order to be considered worthy of his command, but one major difference between the two tales is that in the 1916 novella, the nameless narrator is supported by the ship’s cook and some of the malaria-stricken men who are still able to keep themselves on their feet when a storm has to be mastered, whereas in The Secret Sharer the narrator has to fend for himself – with some slight assistance from the man who caused his problems. Another dissimilarity is that here the crew seem to distrust their new captain, who indeed acts in mysterious ways, and the captain has to convince them of his skill, whereas in The Shadow-Line the captain is actually surprised by the trust the crew members have in him in situations when push comes to shove.
The narrator and his overall situation in The Secret Sharer may not be as much fleshed out as in The Shadow-Line, but this adds to the mystery and dreamlikeness which are characteristic of this tale. Of course, the best thing is probably to read both these yarns in conjunction.
Joseph Conrad’s short story The Secret Sharer, which he wrote in 1909, already casts a spell on the reader through its mysteriously ambivalent title: What exactly is a “secret sharer”, an expression that seems to fly on batlike wings through whisperings in darkness … somebody who shares a secret of mine? Or somebody who secretly, maybe unbeknownst to me, shares something that belongs to me – my house, my toothbrush, my soul?
The first-person narrator, who is a captain on his first command and who knows neither his new ship nor her crew at all, comes across a stowaway, a First Mate named Leggatt, who tells him that he has fled from the Sephora, another ship anchoring nearby, because he has accidentally killed a sailor. Our narrator decides to help his new acquaintance and hides him in his cabin. As time goes by, the pressure on the captain grows and grows because there is always the chance of his steward or somebody else of the crew discovering “the secret sharer”, and consequently the captain’s behaviour is becoming more and more odd in the eyes of his crew. Therefore, Leggatt urges the captain to maroon him on one of the islands on the Cambodian coast. The captain agrees, steering his ship into shallow and unpredictable waters in the enterprise.
”[…] but I wondered how far I should turn out faithful to that ideal conception of one’s own personality every man sets up for himself secretly.”
Like the better-known novella The Shadow-Line, The Secret Sharer has as a protagonist a young man, who enters on his first command at sea and who is consequently insecure and prone to doubting his own success. The Secret Sharer, unlike The Shadow-Line, does not give us any precise information as to how the protagonist managed to obtain his post – it may be through merit and a good reputation, but for all we know the protagonist might also have been somebody’s blue-eyed boy. Among his first decisions on board the ship, on arriving he takes on himself the night watch, because he wants to give the men some rest – however, as keeping watch at night is a most unusual thing for a captain, the men start wondering about him even at that early moment, something that makes him ask himself ”whether it was wise ever to interfere with the established routine of duties even from the kindest of motives.” And yet, this sympathetic but odd decision should lead the new captain into making the discovery of Leggatt and into showing his sympathy in a way triggering even odder decisions and risking to ruin his reputation at the very start of his career.
”I was constantly watching myself, my secret self, as dependent on my actions as my own personality, sleeping in that bed, behind that door which faced me as I sat at the head of the table. It was very much like being mad, only it was worse because one was aware of it.”
What makes the story strange and mysterious – apart from the captain’s readiness, bordering on gullibility, to risk the ship’s safety, and his own, in his enterprise to give a hand in Leggatt’s escape, although he does not know the man – is that the captain soon comes to regard his accomplice in secrecy as a doppelgänger, as his ”grey ghost” and ”the secret sharer of my life”. Why this stark degree of identification with someone he has to keep in hiding from everyone else? Is Laggett, the man tainted by a charge of murder, a stand-in for everything the captain thinks he has to conceal from the men around him in order not to forfeit their respect? Is there a shameful truth in his own life, maybe in the way he obtained his command? At the same time, for all the similarities the narrator discovers in himself and Laggett, he also points out that “the secret sharer” always has the edge on him in sundry ways, for example when it comes to determination and to cold-bloodedness in making a plan and carrying it through. Ironically, in clandestinely harbouring “the secret sharer” in his cabin and in exposing himself to discovery and ensuing shame, the captain not only commits actions that estrange the crew from him – simply because they make him appear whimsical and insecure – but he eventually manoeuvres himself into a situation in which he can show what stuff he is made of and that he has the makings of a reliable captain in himself.
”And I was alone with her. Nothing! no one in the world should stand now between us, throwing a shadow on the way of silent knowledge and mute affection, the perfect communion of a seaman with his first command.”
Not surprisingly, after enabling his mysterious stowaway to get ashore on one of the islands, the captain feels that the spell estranging him from ship and crew is broken and that his mettle has been successfully tested. As in The Shadow-Line, our protagonist has to pass the test of dire circumstances in order to be considered worthy of his command, but one major difference between the two tales is that in the 1916 novella, the nameless narrator is supported by the ship’s cook and some of the malaria-stricken men who are still able to keep themselves on their feet when a storm has to be mastered, whereas in The Secret Sharer the narrator has to fend for himself – with some slight assistance from the man who caused his problems. Another dissimilarity is that here the crew seem to distrust their new captain, who indeed acts in mysterious ways, and the captain has to convince them of his skill, whereas in The Shadow-Line the captain is actually surprised by the trust the crew members have in him in situations when push comes to shove.
The narrator and his overall situation in The Secret Sharer may not be as much fleshed out as in The Shadow-Line, but this adds to the mystery and dreamlikeness which are characteristic of this tale. Of course, the best thing is probably to read both these yarns in conjunction.
June 15, 2025
A seafaring tale from Joseph Conrad; it's a longish short story.
[Beware of spoilers] The young captain is a stranger on his new ship, his first command (the details behind this are coyly left undisclosed). The new captain is a little insecure and unsure of his crew. He decides to take a night watch (surprising his crew) and while on watch discovers a naked man swimming next to the ship.
The captain finds a kind of kinship with this stranger — they are both strangers on this ship, and that is what they have in common. Wearing the captain's pyjamas (called a "sleep suit") the secret visitor is a twin, a double, a mirror, a shadow self for the captain. He is a hidden projection of the captain's uncertainties and insecurities. They share a secret. The captain needs to keep himself hidden from the crew in order to preserve his mystery and authority and be in command.
The result is a surprising, mysterious tale, unexpected and also unexpectedly gripping.
[Beware of spoilers] The young captain is a stranger on his new ship, his first command (the details behind this are coyly left undisclosed). The new captain is a little insecure and unsure of his crew. He decides to take a night watch (surprising his crew) and while on watch discovers a naked man swimming next to the ship.
The captain finds a kind of kinship with this stranger — they are both strangers on this ship, and that is what they have in common. Wearing the captain's pyjamas (called a "sleep suit") the secret visitor is a twin, a double, a mirror, a shadow self for the captain. He is a hidden projection of the captain's uncertainties and insecurities. They share a secret. The captain needs to keep himself hidden from the crew in order to preserve his mystery and authority and be in command.
The result is a surprising, mysterious tale, unexpected and also unexpectedly gripping.
February 3, 2018
New Skipper Saves Swimmer, Shows Moxie
Joseph Conrad wrote a number of classic novels. This is one of them. Like some sort of literary health tonic packed full of vitamins, minerals, and health-restoring properties, , THE SECRET SHARER contains enough symbolism, ideas, and plot to keep analysts busy for centuries. It is full of sea lore, the nature of flat, tropic seas. It is hard to find an original thing to say in review, so much has been already written. The author operated at three levels. He wrote an adventure story about an escaping murderer who "didn't mean to do it". The narrator, a sea captain on his first command, discovers Legatt, the murderer, in the sea beside his (the captain's) ship, saves him, hides him, and sympathizes with his predicament. They had gone to the same school in Britain, but did not know each other. Legatt's rescuer engages in all kinds of schemes and dissembling to prevent his discovery. Finally, the narrator-captain orders his ship off course, risks running aground, but helps Legatt to escape to a jungled Southeast Asian island. On a second level, Conrad makes the reader weigh the rights and wrongs of these actions. Such behavior-hiding a wanted man---is totally contrary to what is expected of a ship's captain; thus a terrible conflict is introduced into the story at once. Conrad introduces many pros and cons---Legatt did save his ship in a storm and committed the murder while doing so. He was given his seaman's job through pull, though, not through skill, and so, perhaps, was not equal to the captain, who had worked his way up. We have to consider the narrator-captain too, he lies, he behaves in a tricky fashion, and his subsequent erratic behavior undermines the confidence of his men.
Above all, THE SECRET SHARER, at 61 pages, one of the shortest great novels, is a psychological masterpiece. I am hardly the first to note that in fact, the two main characters, the honorable criminal and the criminal honorable man, may be one and the same. Legatt may be the narrator's alter-ego, the embodiment of his fears about his first command, guiding a ship through treacherous seas, commanding men he does not know. When Legatt jumps into the sea near Koh-ring, the captain realizes that he will be able to successfully command a ship. Legatt may be the captain's subconscious fears come to life, but the latter must hide the escapee as he must hide his fears. You may say that this novel is very cleverly constructed, or else Conrad touched his own subconscious in ways few writers ever have. In either case, it is a work of genius.
Joseph Conrad wrote a number of classic novels. This is one of them. Like some sort of literary health tonic packed full of vitamins, minerals, and health-restoring properties, , THE SECRET SHARER contains enough symbolism, ideas, and plot to keep analysts busy for centuries. It is full of sea lore, the nature of flat, tropic seas. It is hard to find an original thing to say in review, so much has been already written. The author operated at three levels. He wrote an adventure story about an escaping murderer who "didn't mean to do it". The narrator, a sea captain on his first command, discovers Legatt, the murderer, in the sea beside his (the captain's) ship, saves him, hides him, and sympathizes with his predicament. They had gone to the same school in Britain, but did not know each other. Legatt's rescuer engages in all kinds of schemes and dissembling to prevent his discovery. Finally, the narrator-captain orders his ship off course, risks running aground, but helps Legatt to escape to a jungled Southeast Asian island. On a second level, Conrad makes the reader weigh the rights and wrongs of these actions. Such behavior-hiding a wanted man---is totally contrary to what is expected of a ship's captain; thus a terrible conflict is introduced into the story at once. Conrad introduces many pros and cons---Legatt did save his ship in a storm and committed the murder while doing so. He was given his seaman's job through pull, though, not through skill, and so, perhaps, was not equal to the captain, who had worked his way up. We have to consider the narrator-captain too, he lies, he behaves in a tricky fashion, and his subsequent erratic behavior undermines the confidence of his men.
Above all, THE SECRET SHARER, at 61 pages, one of the shortest great novels, is a psychological masterpiece. I am hardly the first to note that in fact, the two main characters, the honorable criminal and the criminal honorable man, may be one and the same. Legatt may be the narrator's alter-ego, the embodiment of his fears about his first command, guiding a ship through treacherous seas, commanding men he does not know. When Legatt jumps into the sea near Koh-ring, the captain realizes that he will be able to successfully command a ship. Legatt may be the captain's subconscious fears come to life, but the latter must hide the escapee as he must hide his fears. You may say that this novel is very cleverly constructed, or else Conrad touched his own subconscious in ways few writers ever have. In either case, it is a work of genius.
July 25, 2022
Readable. But not really fun.
June 24, 2018
«Bless my soul, sir! You don’t say so!»
XIX Secolo, Golfo del Siam. Il sole è al tramonto, assenza di vento, il mare appare come una lastra blu solida e stabile. Una nave britannica, in attesa di fare ritorno in patria, è alla fonda appena fuori le bocche del fiume Menam, a poche miglia dal porto di Bangkok. Il giovane Capitano, al suo primo comando, manda tutti a dormire e rimane da solo di guardia sul ponte. Presto, un ospite inatteso farà la sua sconcertante apparizione …
Il testo inglese a fronte, mi concede – nella mia assoluta ignoranza della lingua della pallida Albione - alcuni momenti di puro piacere. «He was hanging on to my bunk, staring into my face out of his sou’wester.».
Quando Conrad scrive questo racconto, ha già stretto amicizia con Henry James, Kipling, Wells, Crane … sì, proprio lui, l’autore di The Red Badge of Courage.
«E tutt’a un tratto, gioii della grande sicurezza del mare paragonata al travaglio della terraferma, della mia scelta di quella vita priva di tentazioni che non presentava inquietanti problemi, pervasa da un’elementare bellezza morale per l’assoluta franchezza del suo richiamo e per la schiettezza del suo scopo.».
Józef Teodor Nałęcz Konrad Korzeniowski, ucraino e poi suddito di Sua Maestà Britannica, è stato a Marienbad, a Marsiglia, a Parigi, a Londra, nelle Indie Occidentali, in Africa, in Estremo Oriente, viaggia sul Narcissus, consegue la patente di capitano e, guarda caso, proprio a Bangkok ottiene il suo primo comando …
In fondo, forse, le sue opere non sono altro che una profonda, immensa, magistrale … autobiografia romanzata …
XIX Secolo, Golfo del Siam. Il sole è al tramonto, assenza di vento, il mare appare come una lastra blu solida e stabile. Una nave britannica, in attesa di fare ritorno in patria, è alla fonda appena fuori le bocche del fiume Menam, a poche miglia dal porto di Bangkok. Il giovane Capitano, al suo primo comando, manda tutti a dormire e rimane da solo di guardia sul ponte. Presto, un ospite inatteso farà la sua sconcertante apparizione …
Il testo inglese a fronte, mi concede – nella mia assoluta ignoranza della lingua della pallida Albione - alcuni momenti di puro piacere. «He was hanging on to my bunk, staring into my face out of his sou’wester.».
Quando Conrad scrive questo racconto, ha già stretto amicizia con Henry James, Kipling, Wells, Crane … sì, proprio lui, l’autore di The Red Badge of Courage.
«E tutt’a un tratto, gioii della grande sicurezza del mare paragonata al travaglio della terraferma, della mia scelta di quella vita priva di tentazioni che non presentava inquietanti problemi, pervasa da un’elementare bellezza morale per l’assoluta franchezza del suo richiamo e per la schiettezza del suo scopo.».
Józef Teodor Nałęcz Konrad Korzeniowski, ucraino e poi suddito di Sua Maestà Britannica, è stato a Marienbad, a Marsiglia, a Parigi, a Londra, nelle Indie Occidentali, in Africa, in Estremo Oriente, viaggia sul Narcissus, consegue la patente di capitano e, guarda caso, proprio a Bangkok ottiene il suo primo comando …
In fondo, forse, le sue opere non sono altro che una profonda, immensa, magistrale … autobiografia romanzata …
February 23, 2021
The narrator of this novella is captain of a ship in the Gulf of Siam, preparing to sail west to England. This will be his first voyage in command of a ship and, having been appointed only a couple of weeks before and unfamiliar with the ship and crew, he's unsure of himself and tentative in his thoughts and actions.
The plot thickens when, alone on deck at night, while pulling up a rope side ladder, he discovers a naked man in the water hanging on to it, instantly deciding to provide some of his clothes to him and hide him from his officers and crew in his own quarters. He learns that the man, Leggatt, is a fugitive from another ship, having killed a mate.
From this situation, Conrad crafts an interesting psychological drama, as the two decide what to do, setting each on course "for a new destiny".
The plot thickens when, alone on deck at night, while pulling up a rope side ladder, he discovers a naked man in the water hanging on to it, instantly deciding to provide some of his clothes to him and hide him from his officers and crew in his own quarters. He learns that the man, Leggatt, is a fugitive from another ship, having killed a mate.
From this situation, Conrad crafts an interesting psychological drama, as the two decide what to do, setting each on course "for a new destiny".
December 27, 2018
Il mio racconto di Natale
[Se questo dovesse l’ultimo libro dell’anno potrei dire di avere concluso in bellezza, sia nel senso letterale che di amara ironia ( come lettura natalizia non è che ti riscaldi l’anima). Il titolo aveva ingrossato via via i suoi caratteri dal momento in cui avevo rispolverato il Sosia dostoevskijano qualche tempo fa. Un cartellone pubblicitario che non smette di tormentarti fino a quando qualcuno non lo imbratta o tu stesso ti arrendi per sfinimento e ne compri il prodotto].
Mai come in questo racconto Conrad mette in scena un viaggio nell’inconscio dove l’io segreto, l’alter ego, quello che “ sarei potuto essere e non sono” nel bene e nel male, esce allo scoperto e si fa carne fino a rendere impossibile discernere l’allucinato dall’allucinazione.
La storia potrebbe essere una di quelle che Conrad ha sentito raccontare nei porti: un delitto d’impeto o una disgrazia durante una tempesta in mare; il colpevole, un giovane ufficiale, che sceglie la fuga in mare piuttosto che il giudizio di una società corrotta; la nascita di una leggenda : il ragazzo non muore ma viene salvato dal mare da un coetaneo, da soli quindici giorni capitano di un bastimento dove si sente estraniato fino a pensare : “I was somewhat of a stranger to myself”.
Viene da questi nascosto nella sua cabina a forma di “L” e ne diviene l’amico segreto. La situazione si fa sempre più pericolosa per entrambi: il loro destino è legato a doppio nodo e solo l’ allontanamento dell’uno potrà salvare l’altro dall’ignominia. L’improbabile lieto fine si avvera: dopo qualche giorno, rischiando la rovina del veliero fatto pericolosamente avvicinare ad un isolotto e di notte per giunta, il capitano “sbarca” il clandestino vicino la costa e prende con sicurezza il comando della nave: il suo Bildungsroman è servito.
Ma il narratore ( un Marlow in incognito) è veramente il capitano “irresoluto e inadeguato” o è in realtà Leggatt di cui tutto ci racconta, mentre nulla ci ha detto di sé? Come potrebbe questi, ormai capitano integerrimo, confessare di essere stato complice di un evaso?
Se, invece, il narratore fosse il fuggiasco, magari incontrato da Conrad in uno dei tanti porti del golfo del Tonchino, la storia rimarrebbe né più e né meno uguale a come ci è stata raccontata. Evaso dalla prigione momentanea sul suo bastimento, Leggatt fugge al largo verso quell’altro veliero scorto in lontananza, dove qualcuno ha dimenticato una scaletta di corda fuori dalla murata. Si arrampica, trova aperto e vuoto l’alloggio del capitano, vi si rifugia, ne indossa il pigiama, si nasconde nel bagno e viene colto da una crisi di panico: se non creasse un suo doppio buono che lo conforti, lo copra e lo conduca alla salvezza impazzirebbe e solo il suicidio lo potrebbe liberare. Che quel capitano ci fosse o no, non importa nei deliri: e se c’è stato oggettivamente, sicuramente non ha scoperto Leggatt.
Il resto è immaginabile: al momento opportuno, quando un isolotto è tanto vicino da permettergli un approdo sicuro, si ributta in mare. Si salva. Incomincia una nuova vita. Forse si reimbarca sotto falso nome e racconta la sua storia per bocca di un altro: un personaggio immaginario o l’allucinazione di allora fa lo stesso. Non può certo raccontare in prima persona, confessando un delitto di cui non si è sentito mai pienamente colpevole.
Ma Conrad non la poteva raccontare così: il doppio di ognuno di noi, per lui, è una zavorra più o meno pesante di cui “vorremmo” ( per lui è questione di volontà) liberarci per essere finalmente sciolti dagli istinti tentatori, positivi nell’affrontare i casi della vita, adeguati in seno alla società. Non il contrario: Mefisto ( Kurtz) può essere notevole ma da tenere a distanza. E gli errori prima o poi si pagano: Lord Jim ce lo insegna. E senza giudicare il reo Leggatt, lascia a noi la possibilità di scegliere se salvarlo o farlo sparire: è la sua modernità.
Ma la vera storia è l’altra.
[Se questo dovesse l’ultimo libro dell’anno potrei dire di avere concluso in bellezza, sia nel senso letterale che di amara ironia ( come lettura natalizia non è che ti riscaldi l’anima). Il titolo aveva ingrossato via via i suoi caratteri dal momento in cui avevo rispolverato il Sosia dostoevskijano qualche tempo fa. Un cartellone pubblicitario che non smette di tormentarti fino a quando qualcuno non lo imbratta o tu stesso ti arrendi per sfinimento e ne compri il prodotto].
Mai come in questo racconto Conrad mette in scena un viaggio nell’inconscio dove l’io segreto, l’alter ego, quello che “ sarei potuto essere e non sono” nel bene e nel male, esce allo scoperto e si fa carne fino a rendere impossibile discernere l’allucinato dall’allucinazione.
La storia potrebbe essere una di quelle che Conrad ha sentito raccontare nei porti: un delitto d’impeto o una disgrazia durante una tempesta in mare; il colpevole, un giovane ufficiale, che sceglie la fuga in mare piuttosto che il giudizio di una società corrotta; la nascita di una leggenda : il ragazzo non muore ma viene salvato dal mare da un coetaneo, da soli quindici giorni capitano di un bastimento dove si sente estraniato fino a pensare : “I was somewhat of a stranger to myself”.
Viene da questi nascosto nella sua cabina a forma di “L” e ne diviene l’amico segreto. La situazione si fa sempre più pericolosa per entrambi: il loro destino è legato a doppio nodo e solo l’ allontanamento dell’uno potrà salvare l’altro dall’ignominia. L’improbabile lieto fine si avvera: dopo qualche giorno, rischiando la rovina del veliero fatto pericolosamente avvicinare ad un isolotto e di notte per giunta, il capitano “sbarca” il clandestino vicino la costa e prende con sicurezza il comando della nave: il suo Bildungsroman è servito.
Ma il narratore ( un Marlow in incognito) è veramente il capitano “irresoluto e inadeguato” o è in realtà Leggatt di cui tutto ci racconta, mentre nulla ci ha detto di sé? Come potrebbe questi, ormai capitano integerrimo, confessare di essere stato complice di un evaso?
Se, invece, il narratore fosse il fuggiasco, magari incontrato da Conrad in uno dei tanti porti del golfo del Tonchino, la storia rimarrebbe né più e né meno uguale a come ci è stata raccontata. Evaso dalla prigione momentanea sul suo bastimento, Leggatt fugge al largo verso quell’altro veliero scorto in lontananza, dove qualcuno ha dimenticato una scaletta di corda fuori dalla murata. Si arrampica, trova aperto e vuoto l’alloggio del capitano, vi si rifugia, ne indossa il pigiama, si nasconde nel bagno e viene colto da una crisi di panico: se non creasse un suo doppio buono che lo conforti, lo copra e lo conduca alla salvezza impazzirebbe e solo il suicidio lo potrebbe liberare. Che quel capitano ci fosse o no, non importa nei deliri: e se c’è stato oggettivamente, sicuramente non ha scoperto Leggatt.
Il resto è immaginabile: al momento opportuno, quando un isolotto è tanto vicino da permettergli un approdo sicuro, si ributta in mare. Si salva. Incomincia una nuova vita. Forse si reimbarca sotto falso nome e racconta la sua storia per bocca di un altro: un personaggio immaginario o l’allucinazione di allora fa lo stesso. Non può certo raccontare in prima persona, confessando un delitto di cui non si è sentito mai pienamente colpevole.
Ma Conrad non la poteva raccontare così: il doppio di ognuno di noi, per lui, è una zavorra più o meno pesante di cui “vorremmo” ( per lui è questione di volontà) liberarci per essere finalmente sciolti dagli istinti tentatori, positivi nell’affrontare i casi della vita, adeguati in seno alla società. Non il contrario: Mefisto ( Kurtz) può essere notevole ma da tenere a distanza. E gli errori prima o poi si pagano: Lord Jim ce lo insegna. E senza giudicare il reo Leggatt, lascia a noi la possibilità di scegliere se salvarlo o farlo sparire: è la sua modernità.
Ma la vera storia è l’altra.
January 19, 2019
*The secret sharer*
First time reading Conrad and frankly, i loved every bit of this tiny book. I will certainly read more of Conrad's work in the future 😁
First time reading Conrad and frankly, i loved every bit of this tiny book. I will certainly read more of Conrad's work in the future 😁
July 17, 2022
Conrad is always good for psychological suspense fiction involving late 19th/early 20th century sailing, and this short story from 1909 was a weirdly atmospheric gem.
March 28, 2009
Late update appended.
(I actually read this novelette in a combined edition with Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but thought I'd switch to this edition for a full review.)
The Secret Sharer is a peculiar story. It is quick -- the whole thing is only a few dozen pages long, and can be read in something like an hour. And it is certainly not complex: the plot is very basic.
Conrad's prose is a pleasure to read, as always. Despite the fact that it was written towards the end of the Edwardian period, an odd Victorian vibe drives this story, which is both its strength and major flaw. Conrad explores a kind mystical conception of the human spirit, heightening the effect that extreme emotions or experiences can have on the psyche. Heart of Darkness deals with the impact on the soul, while Secret Sharer is a story dealing with psychological tension. It is worth noting that Freud's first major contributions were made between the publications of Heart of Darkness (1899) and Secret Sharer (1910).
The impact these experiences have on the major figures within these two stories is vastly exaggerated when compared to modern expectations. This still continues to work well in Heart of Darkness, since a man's spirit and soul are still objects of mystery. But the captain in Secret Sharer has a psychological reaction that, while hauntingly portrayed, seems quaint and naive, and distinctly from another time.
Conrad's mastery of english makes the book an enjoyable oddity -- worth reading, especially since it takes so little time.
Update, including some spoilers:
Knowing how limited my awareness of allegorical content is, I examined the CliffsNotes study guide on this (and Heart of Darkness ).
Wow, did I miss a lot. It turns out Conrad is using a doppelgänger theme: Leggatt is similar to the Captain in many ways, to the point that the latter often refers to Leggatt as his double. But the Captain, new to his command, is timid and anxious, whereas Leggatt is cunning and forceful. The captain's recognition of their similarities begets respect, and the desire to protect Leggatt -- but that is a risky endeavor, and forces him to become cunning and forceful -- thus avoiding the contrasting fate of the old captain of the other ship, who is weak and foolish. Thus, an allegory of psychological integration during a career crisis.
I think I'll have to re-read this some time.
(I actually read this novelette in a combined edition with Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but thought I'd switch to this edition for a full review.)
The Secret Sharer is a peculiar story. It is quick -- the whole thing is only a few dozen pages long, and can be read in something like an hour. And it is certainly not complex: the plot is very basic.
Conrad's prose is a pleasure to read, as always. Despite the fact that it was written towards the end of the Edwardian period, an odd Victorian vibe drives this story, which is both its strength and major flaw. Conrad explores a kind mystical conception of the human spirit, heightening the effect that extreme emotions or experiences can have on the psyche. Heart of Darkness deals with the impact on the soul, while Secret Sharer is a story dealing with psychological tension. It is worth noting that Freud's first major contributions were made between the publications of Heart of Darkness (1899) and Secret Sharer (1910).
The impact these experiences have on the major figures within these two stories is vastly exaggerated when compared to modern expectations. This still continues to work well in Heart of Darkness, since a man's spirit and soul are still objects of mystery. But the captain in Secret Sharer has a psychological reaction that, while hauntingly portrayed, seems quaint and naive, and distinctly from another time.
Conrad's mastery of english makes the book an enjoyable oddity -- worth reading, especially since it takes so little time.
Update, including some spoilers:
Knowing how limited my awareness of allegorical content is, I examined the CliffsNotes study guide on this (and Heart of Darkness ).
Wow, did I miss a lot. It turns out Conrad is using a doppelgänger theme: Leggatt is similar to the Captain in many ways, to the point that the latter often refers to Leggatt as his double. But the Captain, new to his command, is timid and anxious, whereas Leggatt is cunning and forceful. The captain's recognition of their similarities begets respect, and the desire to protect Leggatt -- but that is a risky endeavor, and forces him to become cunning and forceful -- thus avoiding the contrasting fate of the old captain of the other ship, who is weak and foolish. Thus, an allegory of psychological integration during a career crisis.
I think I'll have to re-read this some time.
July 26, 2022
Great writing. I was drawn into this story from the start. The captain/narrator and Legatt , the stranger/murderer; similar backgrounds, strangers to their respective boats, similar appearances; their likeness is emphasised so much you almost wonder if Legatt is real or not.
August 1, 2012
One of my all-time favorite authors is Joseph Conrad. His exploration of the human condition as reflected by the men who toil at sea is as profound as any philosophical dissertation by any name philosopher. His theme is man against nature or man against men, His yarns are full of events both in the inner and outer worlds of journeyers at sea or water. "The Heart of Darkness" of course is essential to his success and esteem as an author/adventurer. But he has many other tales that I've read and appreciated. Foremost among them is "The Secret Sharer". This is a tale about a newbie captain who is piloting a ship somewhere in the Far East. He is not very popular with his men. To complicate matters, he willingly shelters a stowaway, a chief mate of another ship, the Sephora. the man is accused of killing an insolent crew member. The captain develops an affinity to him, hides him from search parties, and eventually maneuvers the ship close to an island so that the "secret sharer" could escape. Conrad's language is dense and somewhat wordy, but if you've paid close attention, by the time you've finished reading the tale, you felt like you've been in that ship with the captain and the escapee. What really made this story resonate with me is that the setting, the Gulf of Siam, is a place that I have been to, and the island that the chief mate escapes to thanks to a risky maneuver by the captain, is named Koh-ring, which is similar to islands I've visited such as Koh-Samui. That the captain was willing to risk his ship to get close to the dangerous shoals of a tropical island is something that I would question, but in the context of the story and his alienation from his own crewmembers, one I could understand. Reading this story, I could smell the salt air,feel the warm, damp tropical wind and hear the plashing of the waves against the hull of the ship. As I read the final lines, I told myself: "I've been there. I've been there."
January 19, 2018
Δεύτερο βιβλίο του Τζόζεφ Κόνραντ που διαβάζω, μετά το αξεπέραστο και τρομερό "Η καρδιά του σκότους" που διάβασα το μακρινό Φεβρουάριο του 2011 και το οποίο ανυπομονώ κάποια στιγμή να ξαναδιαβάσω. Εδώ έχουμε να κάνουμε με ένα μεγάλο διήγημα (ή μικρή νουβέλα, όπως το δει κανείς), η ιστορία του οποίου διαδραματίζεται στον Κόλπο του Σιάμ και όπου πρωταγωνιστές είναι ο καπετάνιος ενός πλοίου, καθώς και κάποιος ονόματι Λέγκατ, κρυφός συνταξιδιώτης του καπετάνιου, από τη στιγμή που εμφανίστηκε ξαφνικά στο πλοίο του. Ηθικά και υπαρξιακά διλήμματα δημιουργούνται κατά τη διάρκεια της μυστικής συνύπαρξης των δυο στο πλοίο και γινόμαστε μάρτυρες της αλλαγής που συντελείται στο χαρακτήρα του καπετάνιου. Άραγε, αυτός ο Λέγκατ είναι πραγματικός ή αποκύημα της φαντασίας του καπετάνιου; Κάθε σχετική υπόθεση μπορεί να είναι σωστή, μπορεί και λάθος, εξαρτάται την οπτική του καθενός. Πολύ ωραία και ιδιαίτερη ναυτική ιστορία, με υποβλητική ατμόσφαιρα. Η γραφή εξαιρετική και οξυδερκής, μυρίζει κλασικούρα και ποιότητα από χιλιόμετρα. Τώρα που το σκέφτομαι, πραγματικά αναρωτιέμαι γιατί δεν έχω διαβάσει περισσότερα έργα του Κόνραντ. Εντάξει, φαντάζομαι πως ποτέ δεν είναι αργά...
March 18, 2016
A short story from Conrad's 'Twixt Land and Sea published as a Penguin 60s Classic.
An amusing and well constructed short story about a sea captain, new to his vessel, who takes on board in the dead of night a man from a ship anchored nearby.
Keeping the man's presence a secret from the crew leaves the captain looking eccentric and somewhat foolish.
Not much more to say without spoiling the story. An enjoyable short read. 4 Stars.
An amusing and well constructed short story about a sea captain, new to his vessel, who takes on board in the dead of night a man from a ship anchored nearby.
Keeping the man's presence a secret from the crew leaves the captain looking eccentric and somewhat foolish.
Not much more to say without spoiling the story. An enjoyable short read. 4 Stars.
April 6, 2013
2013 has definitely been my year of doppelgänger books. 'The Secret Sharer' belongs on the shelf next to Doestoevsky's 'the Double', Nabokov's 'Despair', Highsmith's 'The Talented Mr. Ripley', and Roth's 'Operation Shylock' and probably 'the Epic of Gilgamesh' too.
These are all great doppelgänger books, and Conrad's 'Secret Sharer' is not inferior to any of them. Conrad constantly delivers on the nuance of his language, his thought, and his absolute control of the English language.
Conrad's literary rigging is tight and when you step onto one of Conrad's novels (or in this case novellas) you recognize from the first word to the final period that Conrad is in absolute control and knows exactly where he is taking you AND your creepy twin.
These are all great doppelgänger books, and Conrad's 'Secret Sharer' is not inferior to any of them. Conrad constantly delivers on the nuance of his language, his thought, and his absolute control of the English language.
Conrad's literary rigging is tight and when you step onto one of Conrad's novels (or in this case novellas) you recognize from the first word to the final period that Conrad is in absolute control and knows exactly where he is taking you AND your creepy twin.
April 17, 2021
Hızla okunan keyifli bir denizci novellası, Joseph Conrad ustalığıyla...
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July 3, 2026Un relat breu amb un petit puntet de thriller sobre un capità de vaixell que acull a un fugitiu i que tenen una semblança física i de caràcter molt gran. És millor amagar-lo o deixar que s'enfronti a la justícia? Curtet, però intens!
April 9, 2022
La historia sucede, como es común en Conrad, en un barco. El narrador es un capitán con poca experiencia y casi desconocido para la tripulación. Una noche ve emerger del mar, trepando por la escalerilla de cuerda, un hombre.
¿Quién es este hombre? Se van sabiendo cosas de él desde el principio del relato, pero si es ansioso puede leer alguna reseña de Goodreads y se va a enterar hasta del final.
Un relato con enigmas y ambigüedades, tantas como la inquietud y dualidad del narrador. Bien contado.
¿Quién es este hombre? Se van sabiendo cosas de él desde el principio del relato, pero si es ansioso puede leer alguna reseña de Goodreads y se va a enterar hasta del final.
Un relato con enigmas y ambigüedades, tantas como la inquietud y dualidad del narrador. Bien contado.
August 26, 2022
Nefis bir "doppelgänger" hikâyesi. Çok katmanlı yorumlara açık bir metin.
April 29, 2020
Tantalizing. I usually have an initial barrier as I dive into a Conrad work, but the Secret Sharer drew me right in. Such a wonderful story which ultimately left me brooding about life and existence itself.
Conrad's language has its own flavors and I'm starting to suspect that it has to do with his Polish core in terms of language. He writes in English, but there is something else there in terms of syntax. Perhaps it is my imagination? Blended with the realm of the sea, sail ships and nautical terminology the experience is almost bizarre from my perspective. At the same time the work is immensely intriguing as it blends psychology with a great story. Perhaps a better gateway to Conrad compared to the more "traditional" path of Heart of Darkness? Anyways, highly recommended! I will always remember the secret sharer in this story.
Conrad's language has its own flavors and I'm starting to suspect that it has to do with his Polish core in terms of language. He writes in English, but there is something else there in terms of syntax. Perhaps it is my imagination? Blended with the realm of the sea, sail ships and nautical terminology the experience is almost bizarre from my perspective. At the same time the work is immensely intriguing as it blends psychology with a great story. Perhaps a better gateway to Conrad compared to the more "traditional" path of Heart of Darkness? Anyways, highly recommended! I will always remember the secret sharer in this story.
April 19, 2020
There must have been some glare in the air to interfere with one’s sight, because it was only just before the sun left us that my roaming eyes made out beyond the highest ridges of the principal islet of the group something which did away with the solemnity of perfect solitude. The tide of darkness flowed on swiftly; and with tropical suddenness a swarm of stars came out above the shadowy earth, while I lingered yet, my hand resting lightly on my ship’s rail as if on the shoulder of a trusted friend. But, with all that multitude of celestial bodies staring down at one, the comfort of quiet communion with her was gone for good.
Psychological, homoerotic, and meh.
Can the narrator’s mind be trusted?
Psychological, homoerotic, and meh.
Can the narrator’s mind be trusted?
February 21, 2021
Polonya asıllı ödüllü İngiliz yazarın kısacık ama son derece etkili novellasına merhaba deyin.
Öncelikle Yedi yayınlarına teşekkür ederim, böylesi güzel bir kitabı bu şahane kapakla biz okura kavuşturdukları için bence daha iyi olamazdı.
Gelelim kitaba, kısacık novellada ben ve öteki anlatımı üzerinden fert olma ve yabancılaşma kavramları üzerine derin sorgulamalara sürüklenecek ve nası olduğunu anlayamadan kitabı bitireceksiniz.
Minnacık bir kitapla bu kadar edebi doyuma bu kadar erişilirdi diyeceksiniz.
Okumalısınız.
Keyifli okumalar 🌼
#readingismycardio #aslihanneokudu #okudumbitti #bookstagram #okugönder #okuryorumu #çevirikitaplar #yazarlarkitaplar #kitaptavsiyesi #2021okumalarım #sırortağı #yediyayınları #josephcondrad
Öncelikle Yedi yayınlarına teşekkür ederim, böylesi güzel bir kitabı bu şahane kapakla biz okura kavuşturdukları için bence daha iyi olamazdı.
Gelelim kitaba, kısacık novellada ben ve öteki anlatımı üzerinden fert olma ve yabancılaşma kavramları üzerine derin sorgulamalara sürüklenecek ve nası olduğunu anlayamadan kitabı bitireceksiniz.
Minnacık bir kitapla bu kadar edebi doyuma bu kadar erişilirdi diyeceksiniz.
Okumalısınız.
Keyifli okumalar 🌼
#readingismycardio #aslihanneokudu #okudumbitti #bookstagram #okugönder #okuryorumu #çevirikitaplar #yazarlarkitaplar #kitaptavsiyesi #2021okumalarım #sırortağı #yediyayınları #josephcondrad
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