22 h 46 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 22 h 46 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a new life look like from the crowded deck of an Atlantic liner?
In The Argonauts, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez brings together people crossing the Atlantic in search of money, a fresh start or a new country. Their ship becomes a floating town, gathering many lives into one voyage. Behind them lie villages with little land and little hope; ahead lies the promise of the Americas.
The title recalls Jason and the Greek heroes who sail for the Golden Fleece. Blasco Ibáñez asks what treasure draws these new travellers across the sea. Moving from crowded decks to private feelings, he explores migration through people whose hopes share an ocean, but not necessarily the same destination.
What you’ll discover
- A world on board Step into a floating town where many lives come together during a shared Atlantic crossing.
- The pull of elsewhere Explore the hopes that draw people from Spain and Europe toward the Americas.
- A new Golden Fleece Consider what money, a fresh country and a new beginning promise these travellers.
- Sea, light and weather Experience an ocean voyage through direct, sensory writing alive with colour and movement.
- Private hopes, wider forces Follow individual feelings within a broad portrait of migration and the search for opportunity.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you love sea voyages, crowded ships full of colorful characters, lively talk about history and money, and a love affair tested by distance.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A promise crosses the ocean
- Money puts love under pressure
- The decks reveal a social order
- Old voyages mirror new hopes
- Money inspires courage and blindness
- Pride keeps the passengers apart
- Desire begins to unsettle the promise
- Blind hope points the way
- One crossing holds many ambitions
Who’s who
- Fernando de OjedaA ruined poet and former diplomat who leaves Spain to make a fortune for his lover, and is tempted along the way.
- María Teresa (Teri)Ojeda's lover, a widow fighting a lawsuit against her late husband's sons, who lets him go while fearing she will lose him.
- Isidro MaltranaA witty, penniless journalist who knows every secret on the ship and travels to America to make his small son rich.
- Maud PowerA cool, tall American traveling to meet her husband, who flirts with Ojeda and prides herself on being practical.
- Mina EichelbergerA shy former singer, married to a drinking conductor, who lives for her small son and loves music.
- NélidaA bold young woman raised in Berlin, with cropped hair and a famous smile, who wants attention and escape from her family.
- Dr. ZuritaA kindly Argentine former minister returning from Paris, who loves his country and talks about its strange arithmetic of money.
- Doña ZobeidaA gentle widow from Salta, proud of her family name, who hopes a long lawsuit over land will finally succeed.
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The Argonauts
by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez · 1914
A poet leaves his lover in Madrid and boards the Goethe for Buenos Aires in pursuit of a fortune.
Challenging10–20 hours to read20 languages
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“blind hope, pointing south with the forward thrust of her torso.”
In short
What does a man carry across an ocean when he leaves the woman he loves? Fernando de Ojeda carries a handkerchief, a half-finished letter and hopes of returning after fifteen months or perhaps two years.
The Argonauts at a glance
- Reading time
- About 14 h 5 min11 h 10 min fast, 16 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 201,100 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1914by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A poet writes to the lover he left
The novel opens in the winter garden of the Goethe. Ojeda sits with tea and a cigar while the ship begins to roll. Plates clink, canaries swing in their cages, and pale passengers slip away. He goes back to his letter.
The letter is for María Teresa, whom he calls Teri. His pen turns to the last Sunday in Madrid, in a room beside a convent. For four years the two have met there, and they call the convent bell Don Miguel's bell, after Cervantes, who is buried nearby.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1914
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 14 h 50 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente. The Argonauts. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-argonauts.
Blasco Ibáñez, V. (2026). The Argonauts. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-argonauts (Original work published 1914)
Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente. The Argonauts. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-argonauts.
@book{blascoibanez2026argonauts,
author = {Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente},
title = {The Argonauts},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-argonauts},
note = {First published 1914}
}
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What is The Argonauts about?
It follows a poet, Fernando de Ojeda, on a German liner from Lisbon to Buenos Aires. He leaves his lover in Spain to find a fortune, while the ship's crowd of travelers shows the hopes and rivalries of emigration.
Why is the novel called The Argonauts?
The title compares modern travelers to the heroes of the Greek tale who sailed for the Golden Fleece. Maltrana calls the passengers Argonauts in trousers, and Ojeda applies the name to the first Spanish explorers too.
Who is Isidro Maltrana?
He is Ojeda's witty friend, a penniless journalist who becomes his squire. He knows every corner of the ship, explains its people with humor, and goes to America to make his young son rich.
The author
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
1867–1928 · Spanish novelist
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez was a Spanish novelist born in Valencia in 1867. He wrote Blood and Sand (1908), The Argonauts (1914), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1916), and Mare Nostrum (1918). He also worked as a journalist and politician. He died in Menton, France, in 1928.
“blind hope, pointing south with the forward thrust of her torso.”
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