The Shadow-Line: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Shadow-Line, credited to Joseph Conrad, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Shadow-Line by Joseph Conrad. Read in English by Expatriate. Dedicated to the author's son who was wounded in World War 1, The Shadow-Line is a short novel based at sea by Joseph Conrad; it is one of his later works, being written from February to December 1915. It was first published in 1916 as a serial and in book form in 1917. The novella depicts the development of a young man upon taking a captaincy in the Orient, with the shadow line of the title representing the threshold of this development. The novella is notable for its dual narrative structure. The full, subtitled title of the novel is The Shadow-Line, A Confession, which immediately alerts the reader to the retrospective nature of the novella. The ironic constructions following from the conflict between the 'young' protagonist (who is never named) and the 'old' drive much of the underlying points of the novella, namely the nature of wisdom, experience and maturity. Conrad also extensively uses irony by comparison in the work, with characters such as Captain Giles and the ship's 'factotum' Ransome used to emphasize strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist. The novella has often been cited as a metaphor of the First World War, given its timing and references to a long struggle, the importance of camaraderie, etc. This viewpoint may also be reinforced by the knowledge that Conrad's elder son, Borys, was wounded in the First World War. Others however see the novel as having a strong supernatural influence, referring to various plot-lines in the novella such as the 'ghost' of the previous captain potentially cursing the ship, and the madness of first mate Mr Burns. Conrad himself, however, denied this link in his 'Author's Note' (1920), claiming that although critics had attempted to show this link, "The world of the living contains enough marvels and mysteries as it is." Summary by Wikipedia (edited by Expatriate).

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Shadow-Line
• Author credits: Joseph Conrad
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 11
• Listed recording duration: 3:52:55

Catalogue topics

• seafaring

Track guide

1. 01 - Chapter 01, Pt. 1 — 28:06
2. 02 - Chapter 01, Pt. 2 — 26:48
3. 03 - Chapter 02, Pt. 1 — 17:18
4. 04 - Chapter 02, Pt. 2 — 15:54
5. 05 - Chapter 03, Pt. 1 — 21:33
6. 06 - Chapter 03, Pt. 2 — 21:03
7. 07 - Chapter 04 — 25:52
8. 08 - Chapter 05, Pt. 1 — 18:05
9. 09 - Chapter 05, Pt. 2 — 17:05
10. 10 - Chapter 06\ — 21:39
11. 11 - Chapter 06, Pt. 2 — 19:32

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.