{"id":1729,"date":"2018-02-22T20:44:23","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T01:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/?p=1729"},"modified":"2018-02-23T22:57:14","modified_gmt":"2018-02-24T03:57:14","slug":"the-secret-sharer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-secret-sharer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Sharer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joseph Conrad\u2019s novella\u00a0The Secret Sharer\u00a0<\/em>tells the story of a young sea-captain who aids Leggatt, the mate of the Sephora who is a fugitive after killing a sailor. This novella offers a tighter and much faster-paced narrative than Conrad\u2019s\u00a0Heart of Darkness<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and I found it to be the better \u201cread\u201d despite\u00a0HoD\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0many fine qualities. Much of the quality of the narrative\u2019s pacing comes from Conrad\u2019s ability to maintain tension throughout the story.<\/p>\n

The urgent necessity of silence is a recurring thread in the narrative, since the captain decides to hide Leggatt in his quarters and the stowaway must be utterly quiet to avoid detection by the crew. The captain and Leggat can only speak in whispers; they never know what each others\u2019 voices truly sound like.<\/p>\n

Conrad emphasizes this throughout by expertly conveying menace in otherwise quiet scenes. For instance, \u201cThe tide of darkness flowed on swiftly; and with tropical suddenness a swarm of stars came out above the shadowy earth\u201d is packed with foreboding imagery. The line gives the nighttime a fast, flooding quality: something an unwary sailor might drown in. And the stars don\u2019t merely wheel into the sky but swarm suddenly; later in that same page, Conrad further describes the stars as staring, judgmental. All of this highlights the menace hidden in what should be a pleasant solitude aboard the deck on a starry night. Furthermore, it artfully foreshadows Leggatt\u2019s appearance and the risks he brings and anxieties he amplifies in the young captain.<\/p>\n

Later, Conrad imbues an otherwise ordinary breakfast scene with extraordinary tension as the narrator can feel himself losing his mind over the stress of the situation:<\/p>\n

I presided with such frigid dignity that the two mates were only too glad to escape from the cabin as soon as decency permitted; and all the time the dual working of my mind distracted me almost to the point of insanity. 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cFrigid dignity\u201d is a great description for the cold front the narrator is putting up to his men, and the repetition of \u201cI\u201d in those words and throughout the paragraph underscores the narrator\u2019s will and\u00a0isolation. The menace of silence rises to a climax later, right before Leggatt decides he must leave the ship and swim for a nearby island; the repetition in these lines almost has the effect of listening to the ticking of a clock: \u201cThe Sunday quietness of the ship was against us; the stillness of air and water around her was against us; the elements, the men were against us\u2014everything was against us \u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conrad does a brilliant job of maintaining suspense throughout scenes in which not a lot actually physically happens. Furthermore, the text is a great example of layered prose that performs multiple functions within the narrative in just a single line. The \u201ctide of darkness\u201d line doesn\u2019t merely describe the night\u2019s sky: it also conveys the narrator\u2019s mindset (and in doing so builds his characterization) and foreshadows plot conflicts yet to come. I\u2019m keeping this book on hand to recommend to student writers who have been working on novels and are having trouble understanding the demands of shorter forms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joseph Conrad\u2019s novella\u00a0The Secret Sharer\u00a0tells the story of a young sea-captain who aids Leggatt, the mate of the Sephora who is a fugitive after killing […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[114,113,118],"class_list":["post-1729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-description","tag-joseph-conrad","tag-suspense"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/sharer.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8qT6f-rT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1674,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/heart-of-darkness-by-joseph-conrad\/","url_meta":{"origin":1729,"position":0},"title":"Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"January 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the things that impressed me most about Conrad\u2019s novel about Charles Marlow\u2019s nightmarish adventures in the Congo was the lushness of language. The atmospheric opening immediately struck me as exceptional: The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway. In the offing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing Advice"","block_context":{"text":"Writing Advice","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/writing-advice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/heart.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/heart.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/heart.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/heart.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-turn-of-the-screw\/","url_meta":{"origin":1729,"position":1},"title":"The Turn of the Screw","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"January 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I started reading\u00a0Henry James' 1898 novel\u00a0The Turn of the Screw\u00a0with some awareness of the book\u2019s reputation of having an\u00a0ambiguous\u00a0narrative: the young\u00a0governess\u2019s story could be read as a straightforward documentation of a tragic\u00a0haunting\u00a0\u2026 or it could be read as a madwoman\u2019s\u00a0diary, the\u00a0ghosts\u00a0she describes all just figments of her mind. Upon reading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/The-Turn-of-the-Screw-LaFarge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/The-Turn-of-the-Screw-LaFarge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/The-Turn-of-the-Screw-LaFarge.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/The-Turn-of-the-Screw-LaFarge.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/The-Turn-of-the-Screw-LaFarge.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/The-Turn-of-the-Screw-LaFarge.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1721,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-shadow-over-innsmouth\/","url_meta":{"origin":1729,"position":2},"title":"The Shadow Over Innsmouth","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Shadow Over Innsmouth\u00a0is a classic horror novella by H.P. Lovecraft. It tells the first-person story of a young man on break from college who travels to an isolated seaside New England village and discovers that it is run by a cult and most of the townsfolk are doomed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Weird-Shadows-Over-Innsmouth-2013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Weird-Shadows-Over-Innsmouth-2013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Weird-Shadows-Over-Innsmouth-2013.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Weird-Shadows-Over-Innsmouth-2013.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Weird-Shadows-Over-Innsmouth-2013.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Weird-Shadows-Over-Innsmouth-2013.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8160,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/halloween-beyond\/","url_meta":{"origin":1729,"position":3},"title":"Halloween Beyond: Piercing the Veil","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"October 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Lisa Morton, Kate Maruyama and I collaborated on a trio of novellas that were just published as Halloween Beyond: Piercing the Veil from Crystal Lake Publishing as part of their Dark Tide series. When Halloween Beyond stores appear across America, they intertwine the lives of three visitors in a web\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Books"","block_context":{"text":"My Books","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/my-books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Halloween Beyond cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Hbeyond.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Hbeyond.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Hbeyond.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Hbeyond.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Hbeyond.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Hbeyond.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-horror-at-red-hook\/","url_meta":{"origin":1729,"position":4},"title":"The Horror at Red Hook","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"June 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe Horror at Red Hook\u201d is a short story by\u00a0H.P. Lovecraft\u00a0that first appeared in the January 1927 issue of\u00a0Weird Tales. The\u00a0protagonist\u00a0of the story is Detective Malone, who investigates a series of kidnappings linked to a mysterious recluse named Suydam. The recluse has been involved in shadowy dealings with gangsters and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/H._P._Lovecraft_June_1934-e1528320012630.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1982,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-ballad-of-black-tom\/","url_meta":{"origin":1729,"position":5},"title":"The Ballad of Black Tom","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"June 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As a person who\u2019s attempting to write thoughtful, modern weird fiction, I found\u00a0The Ballad of Black Tom\u00a0by Victor LaValle to be a pure delight. Go read this one, folks! It\u2019s a fabulous novella. The narrative is very much in a dialog with (and functions as a razor-sharp rebuttal to) H.P.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book review"","block_context":{"text":"book review","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ballad.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ballad.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ballad.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1729"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1734,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1729\/revisions\/1734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}