I always thought my first Conrad book would
have been Heart of Darkness – not sure
whether it was because that’s the one my high-school teacher was always talking
about or because I had my mind blown by Apocalypse
Now when I was 14. Instead, I ended up reading this first because it was
picked as one of the 103 (random number, I know) most significant books of the
20th century by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica – a wonderful
collection that no doubt inspired me to read more.
I assumed Conrad’s writing would be dated, but
at the end of the day if Verne’s adventurous stories aren’t dated for young
adults (and oh they aren’t), why should Conrad’s be for supposed-to-be real
adults? The Shadow Line is still a
surprisingly enjoyable book, with its journey of self-discovery not made any
less interesting by the passing of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment