The secret sharer

Re-read Conrad's great story The Secret Sharer , which many had commented on in re Exiles because of the theme of doubling and of "covering" for the double - there are similarities tho by no means a precise match. Wish I wrote as well as Conrad! This story has some of his best and most evocative writing about the beauty of the sea - the ships anchored in the outer channel of the gulf of Siam waiting for a fair wind to embark on the long voyage , the ship at might approaching the looming cliffs of a desolate island searching for a land wind. Some of the nautical writing is among his most technical and few lay readers will understand all of it nor are we meant to - the familiarity w the arcana of seafaring helps us understand that the unnamed narrator is now an expert seaman but reflecting on a time when he was an insecure novice first voyage as captain. His secret sharer is a sailor he hoists in from overboard who is wanted for killing a shipmate. The narrator understands or believes in the man's innocence and protects him - shelter's him in his quarters for first days of the voyage until they work out a plan to set him free near shore. Several layers of meaning. First and most obvious the sharer represent aspects of the captain's personality that he sheds or must shed in order to go on to his successful career - impetuosity adventure comradeship. Second he represents a course not taken in life - and the last opportunity for a new life - interesting to imagine the impossible sequel of the sharer's life story. Third the homoerotic element - their time together almost like a courtship in the same cabin the whispered conversations the mysterious and hidden nature of their time together. Fourth the possibility that the entire connection is delusional that the captain imagined this encounter either at the time or after to help guide his spirit to the next phase of his life and career - he needed and therefore imagined a companion - whom he could set free and move onward much as a child often has an imaginary pet or friend.

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