A night on the River (from Heart of Darkness)

If your web browser has the MIT Curl plugin installed and you have an interest in maritime literature or Joseph Conrad, I have posted a page at aule-browser.com with an extract from the opening of Heart of Darkness and entitled it A Night on the River.

I have tried to keep my alterations to a minimum.  Many readers may recall the opening of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo - for me today it is the opening of HErmann Broch's Der Tod des Vergils.

A literary ship into harbor is the next best thing to a scene of seduction both invited and intended - although the Conrad may have more of the feel of tristus.

One passage is a link to the Hölderlin shuttle or launch of my last post.

Broch and Hölderlin

I am looking for a scholarly reference that ties Friedrich Hölderlin's sketch for a poem starting »Wie Meeresküsten« to Hermann Broch's great prose work »Der Tod des Virgils«.  If you are aware of one, please post a note or drop me a line.

If you have installed the MIT Curl plugin for your web browser, then you can see my notes at poets.aule-browser.com

What I note there is the verb »schifft« which, while it occurs in English, renders translation difficult - as today we ship parcels and sailors ship off to sea but a vessel is not easily said to "ship" but rather "sails" or "courses" or "plies" or "plows" - but there is a hint of more: Schifflein is the weaver's shuttle.

I will build a page to berth the opening paragraph of the Broch alongside Hölderlin's mere sketch and pay across some lines with links.