Youth (narrative)
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Youth (Engl. AKA Youth ) is one of Joseph Conrad wrote in 1898, but not until 1902 in the short story collection Youth, a Narrative, and Two Other Stories published short story.
The story is about the young sailor Marlow, who is the second mate on his first voyage to Asia. Since the ship catches fire off Java , the crew is forced to go into the dinghies and row ashore, which is why they have to give up the plan to go to Bangkok .
In the actual framework story, Marlow tells some other sailors about these events 20 years later.
As in other stories, the story is based on Conrad's own autobiographical experiences.
action
The story is about the fact that Marlow, who tells his friends about his experiences in the framework 22 years later, starts his first trip to Asia as a second officer in his youth. The ship Judea on which he is hired is supposed to bring a load of coal to Bangkok .
Due to a violent storm, however, there are already considerable delays on the voyage to the port where the coal is to be brought on board, which is why the ship missed the loading period, which delayed the departure by a month. When the ship is about to cast off, it is rammed by a steamer the night before and badly damaged. The resulting repair work causes a further delay of 3 weeks.
Eventually the ship left for Bangkok , but shortly thereafter it was caught in another violent storm, in which it was badly damaged. The captain is forced to turn back and have the ship repaired again.
After six months of repairs, the ship sails again and reaches the coast of Australia without further incidents . There, however, the loaded coal ignites of its own accord. Although the crew manages to keep the fire at bay for a few days, a violent explosion finally breaks out off the coast of Java, which rips apart a large part of the deck.
In this situation, a steamer captain offers his help, which the captain of the Judea refuses, as he wants to bring as many valuables as possible to safety before leaving the ship. The crew finally set off for the coast in three boats. Marlow is given command of one of the boats. Driven by youthful ambition, he finally reaches the coast of Java and thus the longed-for Orient before the captain arrives .
A leitmotif of the story is the ship's motto: "... like a cry to the clouds without mercy, the words written to her stern:` Judea, London. Do or Die. ´ "(... like a cry to the Clouds without mercy, the words written on their stern: ` Judea, London. Act or die. ´) The motto is repeated four times, in particularly desperate situations. The seaman makes it his own; he recognizes the predicament, but does not want to surrender to them, but accepts them as a challenge.
Narrative perspective
For the first time, Conrad uses the character of Marlow as a narrator. In a framework story, Marlow tells some other seafarers about his earlier experiences. The framework plot is an authorial narrative situation . The actual story is told by Marlow in direct speech, which is why this is a first- person narration and thus a personal narrative situation .
Conrad used the figure Marlow and thus the narrative perspective of the distantly reminiscent of the seaman several times, including in his most famous work, Heart of Darkness .
Expenses (selection)
- Stories I. The nigger of the "Narcissus" - youth - heart of darkness . Edition Maritim, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-89225-553-6 . (Translator: Lore Krüger and others).
- Youth . Suhrkamp, 1964, ISBN 978-3-518-01386-1
- Heart of darkness / youth / the end of the song . Fischer, Frankfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-90163-0
- Youth. A report . Fischer Taschenbuchverlag, 2001, ISBN 978-3-596-50422-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ Julika Griem : "Brittle Seemannsgarn: Orality and written form in the work of Joseph Conrad", Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen 1995