The Duel (Conrad)

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The Duel is a short story by Joseph Conrad that appeared in the A Set of Six collection in 1908 . However, she previously appeared in the volume The Point of Honor (dt. The honor ).

content

Two officers of the Napoleonic army challenge each other to a duel wherever they meet. Triggered by an insignificant nullity, the situation escalates into a consuming passion that determines the lives of the two men for the next 15 years.

background

The author was inspired to write the story by a ten line article in a small provincial newspaper in the south of France. For one reason or another, this article, prompted by a fatal duel between two Parisian personalities, referred to the "well-known fact" that two officers of the Grande Armée Napoleons had fought a series of duels under a vain pretext in the midst of the great wars. What was behind this pretext was never revealed. Joseph Conrad then invented the further details of this story.

filming

In 1977 Ridley Scott filmed the novella under the title The Duelists , with the two main actors Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel .