| Youth | |
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1st book edition |
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| Author(s) | Joseph Conrad |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Frame story |
| Publisher | Blackwood's Magazine |
| Publication date | 1902 |
| Media type | Print (Serial) |
| ISBN | N/A |
"Youth" is an autobiographical short story by Joseph Conrad. It was written in 1898 and included as the first story in the 1902 volume Youth, a Narrative, and Two Other Stories. This volume also includes Heart of Darkness and The End of the Tether, which are concerned with maturity and old age, respectively. "Youth" depicts a young man's first journey to the East. It is narrated by Charles Marlow who is also the narrator of Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim and Chance.
Contents |
Similar to Joseph Conrad's more well-known Heart of Darkness, "Youth" begins with a narrator describing five men drinking claret around a mahogany table. They are all veterans of the merchant marines. The main character, Marlow, tells the story of his first voyage to the East as second mate on board the Judea. The story is set twenty-two years earlier, when Marlow was 20. With two years of experience, most recently as third mate aboard a crack clipper, Marlow receives a billet as second mate on the barque Judea. The skipper is Captain John Beard, a man of about 60. This is Beard's first command. The Judea is an old boat suffering from age and disuse in Shadewell basin. The 400-ton ship is commissioned to take 600 tons of coal from England to Thailand. The trip should take approximately 150 days. The ship leaves London loaded with sand ballast and heads north to the Senn river to pick up the cargo of coal. The trip takes 16 days because of inclement weather, and the battered ship must use a tug boat to get into port. The Judea waits a month on the Tyne to be loaded with coal. The night before she ships out she is hit by a steamer, the Miranda or the Melissa. The damage takes another three weeks to repair. Three months after leaving London, the Judea ships off for Bangkok.
The Judea travels through the North Sea and Britain. 300 miles west of the Lizards a winter storm hits. The storm "guts" the Judea; she is stripped of her stanchions, ventilators, bulwarks, cabin-door, and deck house. The oakum is stripped from her bottom seams and the men are forced to work at the pumps "watch and watch" in order to keep the ship afloat. After weathering the storm they must fight their way against the wind back to Falmouth to be refitted. Despite three attempts to leave, the Judea ultimately remains in Falmouth for more than six months until she is finally overhauled, recaulked, and refitted with a new copper hull. During the laborious overhaul, the cargo is wetted, knocked about, and reloaded multiple times. The rats abandon the reshipped barque and a new crew is brought in from Liverpool (because no sailor will sail on a ship abandoned by rats).
The Judea ships out to Bangkok, averaging 3 miles per hour. Near the coast of Western Australia, the cargo spontaneously combusts. The crew attempts to smother the fire, but the hull cannot be made airtight. Then they attempt to flood the fire with water, but they cannot fill the hull. One hundred and ninety miles out from Java Head, the gases in the hull explode and blow up the deck. The Judea hails a passing steamer, the Sommerville, which agrees to tow the wounded ship to Anjer or Batavia. Captain Beard intends to scuttle the Judea there to put out the fire, and then resurface her and resume the voyage to Bangkok. However, the speed of the Sommerville fans the smoldering fire into flames. The crew of the Judea is forced to send the steamer on without them while they attempt to save the ship's gear for the underwriters. The gear is loaded into three small boats, which head due north towards Java. Before the crew leaves the Judea, they enjoy a last meal on deck. All three boats make it safely into a Java port, where they book passage on the steamer Celestial, which is on her return trip to England.
1881 Conrad begins writing of "Youth"
June 1898 Conrad ends writing of "Youth"
October 1898 "Youth" first published
Published in 1902 November 13, 1902 - the volume Youth - A Narrative, and The End of a Tether is published in Blackwood's Magazine
First American edition was published by McClure, Phillips in 1903
Second British edition was published by J.M. Dent in 1917
1921 William Heinemann brought out Youth: A Narrative; and The End of a Tether as part of a limited British edition of the collected works
1923 published by Doubleday in America and Dent in Britain as part of the first general collected 'editions'
Three other forms still in existence
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