Falk (short story)
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| "Falk: A Reminiscence" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Joseph Conrad | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Typhoon and Other Stories |
| Publication date | 1903 |
"Falk: A Reminiscence" is a work of short fiction by Joseph Conrad. The story was completed in May 1901 and was collected in Typhoon and Other Stories in 1903, published by William Heinemann and Company.[1]
The story is told as a narrative, describing the observations of a youthful commander of a merchant vessel serving in the Malay Archipelago The story opens with an apparent rivalry between two men over a young woman. The narrator-captain is a thirty-year-old newly commissioned officer employed by the Dutch East India Company. He struggles to bring some order to the fiscal affairs of the ship, whose previous commander had neglected his duties, indulging in writing obscene poetry and keeping a harlot on shore. Delayed in port, the narrator-captain often visits the vessel Diana, commanded by the patriarch Hermann who is accompanied by his wife and four children, as well as a pretty niece. The domesticity of the ship is initially reassuring to the young man.
Falk is the owner of the only tugboat in the harbor. He is in love with the niece, and suspects the narrator-captain of being a rival. He refuses to service the captain’s vessel. Falk briefly hijacks the Diana so as to keep the girl away from his presumed competitor. Falk’s suspicions are unfounded, and the narrator, after demonstrating he has no designs on the niece, agrees to support Falk’s proposal to wed the girl. A contretemps arises when Falk insists that a lurid episode from his past be first exposed: he had once murdered a man while on board a stranded ship, and resorted to cannibalism to survive. Captain Hermann, the girl’s uncle, at first finds this fact so repellent he refuses to give his consent, but ultimately relents. The couple is happily joined in marriage.[2][3][4]
Background
At 30,499 words, "Falk" required serialization if it was to be published in a literary journal. Both Conrad and his agent J. B. Pinker made repeated efforts to see it published in Blackwood’s Magazine, but without success.[5] The work was ultimately collected in Typhoon and Other Stories (1903). "Falk" is one of only two of his short stories that never appeared in serial form.[6] Despite this, Conrad remained fond of this tale, and considered it the best story in the collection.[7]