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Cruise Ship by Conrad

January 18, 2012 by Steve Mentz Leave a Comment

The story of the Costa Concordia‘s  wreck off the Italian coast grows more Conradian by the day.  The Coast Guard officer yells at the stupefied Captain to get back on the ship and direct the rescue.  The captain claims he hadn’t meant to get into the lifeboat but tripped and fell in.

Lord Jim knows what really happened:

When your ship fails you, your whole world seems to fail you; the world that made you, restrained you, has taken care of you.  It is as if the souls of men floating on an abyss and in touch with immensity had been set free for any excess of heroism, absurdity, or abomination.

The Times also has the story.

Filed Under: Blue Humanities, Books

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About Steve

Steve Mentz
Professor of English
St. John’s University
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Pages

  • Coastal Studies Reading Group
  • Public Writing
  • OCEAN Publicity
  • Audio and Video Recordings
  • Oceanic New York
  • #shax2022 s31: Rethinking the Early Modern Literary Caribbbean
  • #SAA 2020: Watery Thinking
  • Creating Nature: May 2019 at the Folger
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Recent Posts

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  • Water-Notes: Improving Water Quality in Short Beach
  • BBQ on Will’s Birthday (Fat Ham on Broadway)
  • The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Fiasco/Red Bull)
  • Snow in the North Country: #shax2023

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