The Shadow-Line: (A Confession) 1917 - Joseph Conrad Audiobook

Written by Joseph Conrad
Read by William Sutherland aka Fred Williams
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release date: November 9, 2003/2012
Duration: 04:55:55

Written at the start of the Great War, when his son Borys was at the Western Front, The Shadow-Line is Conrad’s supreme effort to open man’s eyes to the meaning of war through the stimulus of art. In many ways an autobiographical narrative, this masterpiece relates the story of a young and inexperienced sea captain whose first command finds him with a ship becalmed in tropical seas and a crew smitten with fever. As he wrestles with his conscience and with the sense of isolation that his position imposes, the captain crosses the “shadow-line” between youth and adulthood.

The qualities needed to confront the ship’s crisis symbolize the very qualities needed by humanity, not only to face evil and destruction, but also to come to terms with life.

The youthful but nameless sea captain is full of fresh naveté, and the next three harrowing weeks test every ounce of strength, courage, and humanity the young captain has. Is this Conrad’s letter to his son, encouraging him to face his trials with a manly heart? Possibly.

Fred Williams’s mature, gravelly voice carries all the weight of age and experience as surely as if the graying Conrad himself were, years later, telling the tale of his own first command. It is a harrowing but heartwarming story read with the wizened dignity that only an older reader can create. Let’s hear more from Fred Williams. P.E.F. (c) AudioFile