The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad

The Shadow-Line was first serialized in seven parts in The English Review from September 1916 to March 1917.

A work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line. And art itself may be defined as a single-minded attempt to render the highest kind of justice to the visible universe, by bringing to light the truth, manifold and one, underlying its every aspect. It is an attempt to find in its forms, in its colours, in its light, in its shadows, in the aspects of matter and in the facts of life what of each is fundamental, what is enduring and essential — their one illuminating and convincing quality — the very truth of their existence. The artist, then, like the thinker or the scientist, seeks the truth and makes his appeal. Impressed by the aspect of the world the thinker plunges into ideas, the scientist into facts — whence, presently, emerging they make their appeal to those qualities of our being that fit us best for the hazardous enterprise of living.

Joseph Conrad, Preface, 1897, The Nigger of the Narcissus, Collins, 1923, pp. 21–24.

Study Questions

First encounters and impressions

How is Bangkok described when the narrator first sees it? What words or analogies are used? What features stand out to him? How does it compare to his expectations of it? How does this compare to his later views of the city?
What are the narrator's first impressions of the Melita? How does the description change throughout the story?
How does the narrator first see Mr. Burns? Are these impressions accurate in the long run?

What does it mean to "go on keeping white" (259)? What does the East do to white men?
Conrad's irony often manifests itself not only in action and circumstance, but also in the usage of individual words. Choose a word that recurs multiple times throughout the story and examine its meanings. Consider, for instance, these words and their various forms: young, command, angry, and tired (also exhausted).
Youth

What does Captain Giles say about youth and how is it different from the narrator's?
The narrator often declares himself young or no longer young. Sometimes he judges others to be young or not young. Which declarations are we to take seriously and which not? Consider, for example, some of the following:

Only the young have such moments. (249)
I was young enough for that. (252)
I was still young enough, still too much on this side of the shadow line, not to be surprised and indignant at such things. (279)
I became aware of what I had left already behind me—my youth. [...] Youth is a fine thing, a mighty power—as long as one does not think of it. (294)

I – "I was still young enough, still too much on this side of the shadow-line, not to be surprised and indignant at such things" (279)
Mr. Burns – "His name was Burns" (293)
Ransome – "Ransome had volunteered to do the double work" (306); "Ransome carried off two big doses to the men forward" (316)

Captain Giles – "Captain Giles silenced me with the perfect equanimity of his gaze" (262); "Unrebuked by my petulance, Captain Giles, with an air of immense sagacity, began to tell me a minute tale about a Harbour Office peon" (263)

Conrad, Joseph. The Shadow-Line: A Confession. Typhoon and Other Stories. Introduction by Martin Seymour-Smith, David Campbell, 1991. Everyman’s Library 4.

Conrad, Joseph. The Complete Short Stories of Joseph Conrad. Hutchinson, 1933.

Knowles, Owen, and Gene M. Moore, eds. Oxford Reader's Companion to Conrad. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. (Arts PR6005.O4Z459 K73O; CL 823.912 O98)

Meyers, Jeffrey. Joseph Conrad: A Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991. (CL 823.912 C754M)