Resumen
Resumen de Entre tierra y mar
Para quién es
For readers who love sea stories with a thoughtful edge, captains facing private tests of loyalty, and love and secrecy among tropical ports and islands.
De qué trata este libro
Twixt Land and Sea is a book of three long tales by Joseph Conrad, published in 1912. Conrad had been a sailor for about twenty years before he became a writer in English, his third language. The tales draw on that life. They are set on ships, in harbours and among the islands of the East, and each one puts a captain in a tight place where a private choice matters more than any order.
The three tales are A Smile of Fortune, The Secret Sharer and Freya of the Seven Isles. In the first, a young captain in a tropical port is drawn into a strange household while he hunts for a cargo. In the second, a new captain hides a stranger in his own cabin. In the third, a love story among Dutch and English traders goes wrong in the Malay seas. You will meet the sea as a place of work, of loneliness and of temptation. Let us begin with the tale of the young captain and the port.
En este resumen
- 1A young captain waits in a tropical portFree
- 2A deal that leads into a strange house
- 3A new captain finds a stranger at his ladder
- 4Hiding a double in the captain's own cabin
- 5A love story in the islands goes wrong
- 6What the three tales share and how they are told
Idea clave 1 de 6
A young captain waits in a tropical port
A Smile of Fortune opens with a young captain who tells his own story. He has a ship in his charge and he is keen to prove himself as a commander. The ship comes into a small island port, where a cargo must be found before the voyage can go on. He is impatient, a little proud, and eager to show that he is no fool in business.
The port is hot, slow and full of gossip. Ashore, the captain deals with the people who live off passing ships. Chief among them is Alfred Jacobus, a ship chandler, a man who supplies vessels and who knows every scrap of news in the place. Jacobus is smooth and watchful, and he seems always to have an offer ready.
The captain is not sure whether to trust him. Conrad lets us feel that doubt in small details, such as how Jacobus talks, what he leaves unsaid, and how readily he praises the young man's chances. The title points to luck, the smile that fortune gives to some people and not to others.
The tale is about how a sailor, trained to give orders, can find himself a stranger on land. He knows how to handle a ship in a gale, yet he does not know how to read the people around him. That gap between skill at sea and uncertainty ashore is where the story gathers its tension.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Who’s who
- The young captain of A Smile of Fortune
- A young commander seeking cargo in a tropical port, he becomes involved with Alfred Jacobus and his daughter.
- Alfred Jacobus
- A ship chandler who offers the young captain business opportunities, he is Alice's father.
- Alice
- Alfred Jacobus's daughter attracts the visiting captain's curiosity while remaining a mysterious presence in her father's household.
- The captain of The Secret Sharer
- A young man newly in command, he barely knows his crew when he shelters Leggatt.
- Leggatt
- The chief mate of the Sephora seeks refuge aboard the young captain's ship and becomes his hidden companion.
- Freya Nelson
- The daughter of a retired sea captain, she loves Jasper Allen and attracts Heemskirk's unwelcome admiration.
- Jasper Allen
- The young English owner and captain of the Bonito loves Freya and faces Heemskirk's resentment.
- Heemskirk
- A Dutch naval lieutenant commanding a gunboat, he admires Freya and resents her English lover, Jasper Allen.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 72,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 50 min
- Listening time8 h
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Entre tierra y mar
What is Twixt Land and Sea about?
It is a book of three tales by Joseph Conrad. Each follows a sea captain or sailor facing a private test, whether in love, trade or loyalty, in ports and waters of the East.
What is The Secret Sharer about?
A young captain on his first command finds a swimming stranger beside his ship at night and hides him in his cabin. The tale is about loyalty, secrecy and the doubts of a new commander.
What does the title Twixt Land and Sea mean?
Twixt is an old short form of betwixt, meaning between. The title points to people who sit between shore and ship, and between safety and risk, which fits all three tales.
Is Twixt Land and Sea based on a true story?
The tales are fiction, but Conrad drew on his years as a sailor. Published in 1912, they use real kinds of ships, ports and trade. The Secret Sharer is also said to echo a real nineteenth-century sea case.
Is Conrad hard to read?
These tales are more focused than his novels, which makes them a good starting point.