Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
38th out of 185 books
—
53 voters
Typhoon
Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title--offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.
Many c
...more
Many c
Paperback, tor classics, 144 pages
Published
November 16th 1999
by Forge Books
(first published 1902)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
829)
One of the greatest examples in literature of landscape and nature treated as character. Although on one level this classic sea story is about the uneasy relations between the phlegmatic captain and his high-strung first mate, the antagonist, and in many ways the main character, is the storm itself.
This is the disintegrating power of a great wind: it isolates one from one's kind. An earthquake, a landslip, an avalanche, overtake a man incidentally, as it were--without passion. A furious gale at...more
"Una tempesta è una tempesta...e una nave a vapore deve affrontarla."
Vero capolavoro di equilibrio compositivo e di intensità espressiva, questo racconto fonde in maniera perfetta una strabiliante potenza descrittiva dell'evento naturale e una sottile capacità introspettiva dell'animo umano.
Le scene della tempesta richiamano alla memoria immagini, atmosfere, colori e suoni dell'Inferno dantesco, sia nello scatenarsi furioso degli elementi, sia nel groviglio violento dei corpi e delle emozioni....more
Vero capolavoro di equilibrio compositivo e di intensità espressiva, questo racconto fonde in maniera perfetta una strabiliante potenza descrittiva dell'evento naturale e una sottile capacità introspettiva dell'animo umano.
Le scene della tempesta richiamano alla memoria immagini, atmosfere, colori e suoni dell'Inferno dantesco, sia nello scatenarsi furioso degli elementi, sia nel groviglio violento dei corpi e delle emozioni....more
After reading this, I really have little desire to go on a ship in the ocean.
The author's introduction mentioned this and three other stories, so I was somewhat worried that all four stories would be together; I'm not a huge fan of short stories and the book wasn't very long to hold four not-short stories. Luckily, this edition only had Typhoon; the other stories were published individually, which made it a short novel.
The plot itself was straightforward and rather obvious from the title. What m...more
The author's introduction mentioned this and three other stories, so I was somewhat worried that all four stories would be together; I'm not a huge fan of short stories and the book wasn't very long to hold four not-short stories. Luckily, this edition only had Typhoon; the other stories were published individually, which made it a short novel.
The plot itself was straightforward and rather obvious from the title. What m...more
"Don't you be put out by anything. Keep her facing it. They may say what they like, but the heaviest seas run with the wind. Facing it -- always facing it -- that's the way to get through. You are a young sailor. Face it. That's enough for any man. Keep a cool head."
Conrad can take a simple idea and gradually pull out of it the deep complexities of man. Typhoon is a novella that basically cooks a brilliant story out of a storm + a boat + Captain MacWhirr and his crew. Setting was fantastic. Char...more
Conrad can take a simple idea and gradually pull out of it the deep complexities of man. Typhoon is a novella that basically cooks a brilliant story out of a storm + a boat + Captain MacWhirr and his crew. Setting was fantastic. Char...more
The first thing that comes to mind after reading Typhoon, while reading actually, is Conrad's absolute mastery of the language. He is an artist of the English language and the fact that it is not his first langauge makes his virtuosity all the more astounding. Typhoon is more about a storm of humanity amidst a chaotic event that about the storm itself. MacWirr is a simple, brutally honest and innocent, almost naive, seaman. No doubt Conrad had seen his like many times before. As he liked to say...more
I am re-reading many literary classics that I studied as an English major at UF but have not re-visited in years. A squib for some new title set in Africa vaguely reminded me of Conrad's The Heart of Darkness and I said -- hey -- I think I'd rather read Conrad than this newbie author. Wowser, glad I did. As an author myself now with 25 years of additional life experience since I was first "force fed" Conrad, I have to say that I am now in awe of his accomplishments. I picked up Typhoon after Hea...more
I gotta love Conrad's character names. He writes a novella called "Typhoon" and his main character is Captain MacWhirr - I suppose Captain Whirlabout was a step too far. The steam engineer is called "Rout". The first mate who is tossed to and fro at the storm's and MacWhirr's bidding is called "Jukes". Almost as good as Dickens, that.
The writing is majestic - the tension of the plot, the depth of the characters (or intentional lack of depth as it suits the theme), the moral dilemmas, the shifts...more
The writing is majestic - the tension of the plot, the depth of the characters (or intentional lack of depth as it suits the theme), the moral dilemmas, the shifts...more
1 like · like · see review
view all 3 comments
Conrad was the master of stories with sea-faring backgrounds,although the stories in this collection from 1903 cover much more than the waterfront & nautical language! He always has flawed characters as his protagonists,& sets them adrift in precarious environments.both physical & psychological, whether on the open sea or ashore.He describes a lost world of relentless globe-trotters & maritime misfits,& you can taste the salt in the air on almost every page.Recommended to ser...more
I find this book immensely enjoyable and completed this compelling, thrilling and witty sea adventure in one sitting.
Conrad has such a tremendous sense of humour and needless to say the book is stunning. Captain MacWhirr is literal, dull, unchanging and unimaginative yet he is sturdy, stolid and tenacious with soundness of mind in the face of great fear.
He is neither heroic nor courageous, in fact, his co-workers loathe him of his inability to understand things and rightly so he was incredibly...more
Conrad has such a tremendous sense of humour and needless to say the book is stunning. Captain MacWhirr is literal, dull, unchanging and unimaginative yet he is sturdy, stolid and tenacious with soundness of mind in the face of great fear.
He is neither heroic nor courageous, in fact, his co-workers loathe him of his inability to understand things and rightly so he was incredibly...more
Feb 25, 2012
Shaun Ryan
added it
Couldn't get into this one. I put it down about 1/4 in and picked up something else.
For me, Typhoon lacked the stunning and immediate sense of place and time that Heart of Darkness immerses the reader in from the first word, as well as the sense of impending... something, the suspense, in other words. Also, the language is more archaic, which is to say, given the time it was written, it gets bogged down in words. I'm no Elmore Leonard purist; I love words and language, as long as they're saying...more
For me, Typhoon lacked the stunning and immediate sense of place and time that Heart of Darkness immerses the reader in from the first word, as well as the sense of impending... something, the suspense, in other words. Also, the language is more archaic, which is to say, given the time it was written, it gets bogged down in words. I'm no Elmore Leonard purist; I love words and language, as long as they're saying...more
Conrad describes the power of the sea with fantastic words. In Youth he describes his first remembrances of Asia and the way his youth allowed him to keep his courage while death was so near. He makes the point that youth is good and something with which we all get a chance.
In Typhoon a good captain and a very good ship get caught in a v. strong hurricane off China. Like his other tales of the sea, this one tells about what happens when men see death as almost imminent. Some make consistent rati...more
In Typhoon a good captain and a very good ship get caught in a v. strong hurricane off China. Like his other tales of the sea, this one tells about what happens when men see death as almost imminent. Some make consistent rati...more
It took a while to get into the characters, but towards the middle of the book I did find myself caring more about what was happening to them. I liked the bits of humor sprinkled through it. I think I am a sucker for things written around this time period, the language and the themes always seem to hit home. My favorite moment was when the captain was in the chart room during the lull in the storm, his observations about the disorder and his epiphany about the value of life were so nicely writte...more
Read from February 22 to 25, 2013
Why do I like Joseph Conrad so much? I am drawn by the power of the sea and of dark, barely explored lands, held by the power of a good yarn, but most of all amazed by astonishing character studies presented in flawless prose by a man who did not speak English until his twenties and had no published works until he was thirty-five. In Typhoon, Conrad steers us into the eye of a storm with the taciturn, unimaginative Captain MacWhirr in command. Whether we shall co...more
Why do I like Joseph Conrad so much? I am drawn by the power of the sea and of dark, barely explored lands, held by the power of a good yarn, but most of all amazed by astonishing character studies presented in flawless prose by a man who did not speak English until his twenties and had no published works until he was thirty-five. In Typhoon, Conrad steers us into the eye of a storm with the taciturn, unimaginative Captain MacWhirr in command. Whether we shall co...more
3 likes · like · see review
First sentence: "Captain MacWhirr, of the steamer Nan-Shan, had a physiognomy that, in the order of material appearances, was the exact counterpart of his mind: it represented no marked characteristics of firmness or stupidity; it had no pronounced characteristics whatever; it was simply ordinary, irresponsive, and unruffled."
Last sentence: "I think that he got out of it very well for such a stupid man."
Plot summary (Wikipedia):
This is a classic sea yarn that describes how Captain MacWhirr sail...more
Last sentence: "I think that he got out of it very well for such a stupid man."
Plot summary (Wikipedia):
This is a classic sea yarn that describes how Captain MacWhirr sail...more
Conrad’s Typhoon: or, An Ode to My iPad
I think one reason I don’t write and publish more than I do is because I am far too slow on the trigger. The ubiquity of blogging hasn’t helped this any since I usually find that someone else much more intelligent and articulate than I has blogged on what I think of as MY SUBJECT in a manner far more perspicacious, acute and interesting than I could manage. Take Charles Simic’s meditation on boredom during the recent power outages along the east coast, blog...more
I think one reason I don’t write and publish more than I do is because I am far too slow on the trigger. The ubiquity of blogging hasn’t helped this any since I usually find that someone else much more intelligent and articulate than I has blogged on what I think of as MY SUBJECT in a manner far more perspicacious, acute and interesting than I could manage. Take Charles Simic’s meditation on boredom during the recent power outages along the east coast, blog...more
There is much to like in this, especially the captain with his Aspergers. The description of the storm is terrifying, but I found it hard to picture not having much knowledge of boats.
It is hard to decide if the descriptions of the 'Celestials' are simply a product of their time, or a more ironic comment on the inherent racism of the British empire. The captain's undemonstrative humanity hints at the latter, but I don't know enough about Conrad to decide.
I particularly loved the tragic 'letter-...more
It is hard to decide if the descriptions of the 'Celestials' are simply a product of their time, or a more ironic comment on the inherent racism of the British empire. The captain's undemonstrative humanity hints at the latter, but I don't know enough about Conrad to decide.
I particularly loved the tragic 'letter-...more
I love Joey Conrad! But then I was always a sucker for an action packed nautical yarn. His books in this niche are second only behind the great Patrick O'Brian in my opinion. This one tells the story of a merchant ship carrying a load of "coolies", migrant Chinese workers, that runs into a typhoon. We experience it all through the eyes of the stolid, non-plussed Captain MacWhirr and his skittish but duty bound first mate, Jukes. Conrad can be a tad dense at times, but his descriptions of the ter...more
One of the best books I have ever read!! I keep reading it again and again and it never disappoints me.
It's one of those books where you imagine yourself living the events with the characters. This book has its own breathing, the same as a tempest: calm before it begins, stuffy inside it without a moment of respite, and then quiet again, which leaves you wonddering where all this noise and chaos is gone...
Definitely recommend it!
It's one of those books where you imagine yourself living the events with the characters. This book has its own breathing, the same as a tempest: calm before it begins, stuffy inside it without a moment of respite, and then quiet again, which leaves you wonddering where all this noise and chaos is gone...
Definitely recommend it!
Impressionante e potente; come sempre Conrad riesce a trasformare l'avventura in uno strumento d'osservazione dell'animo umano. Anticipare il contenuto di queste pagine sarebbe un crimine, è sufficiente dire che chiunque ami la letteratura di mare troverà questo racconto prezioso, per la vicenda narrata e per la quantità di significati allegorici che vi si possono trovare.
Non dimenticherò il capitano MacWhirr, alla fine del racconto ho sentito per lui un enorme affetto. La sua decisione, quello...more
Non dimenticherò il capitano MacWhirr, alla fine del racconto ho sentito per lui un enorme affetto. La sua decisione, quello...more
It describes how Captain MacWhirr-who is emotionally estranged from his family and crew- sails the Siamese steamer Nan-Shan into a typhoon, at the Pacific Ocean. Typhoon is possibly based upon Conrad's actual experience, and probably on a real incident aboard of a real steamer.
نمی دانم این اثر کنراد به فارسی ترجمه شده، یا نه
در مورد جوزف کنراد و آثارش، مشروح تر اینجا نوشته ام
http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
نمی دانم این اثر کنراد به فارسی ترجمه شده، یا نه
در مورد جوزف کنراد و آثارش، مشروح تر اینجا نوشته ام
http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
In Typhoon, Joseph Conrad reveals, in the steadfast courage of an undemonstrative captain and the imaginative readiness of his young first mate, the differences between instinct and intelligence in a partnership vital to human survival.
Listen to Typhoon on your smartphone, notebook or desktop computer.
Listen to Typhoon on your smartphone, notebook or desktop computer.
I just couldn't get into it. I am not familiar with nautical terms, and I was lost through most of what I read. I had to read the summary on Wikipedia to see what was actually going on. I didn't end up finishing. Since it was a book group selection, I wanted to finish, but every time I picked it up, I would end up falling asleep (so indirectly probably a good thing).
E la nave rollava... questa frase ripetuta all'infinito all'interno del romanzo mi ha proprio rotto le scatole.
Ho letto un estratto su un libro di testo alle medie e mi ha catturato.
Una nave in mezzo alla tempesta, l'intrepido comandante al timone che tenta il tutto e per tutto con il suo mozzo/assistente.
Ma tutto ciò dura 2 pagine forse, poi solo e soltanto "e la nave rollava" "e i cinesi nella stiva stanno morendo sballottati qua e là".
Quando alla fine la nave giunge al porto si tira finalme
...more
Well written extremely descriptive account of a coastal steamer's encounter with a typhoon. You do have to overlook the stereotyped depictions of the "chinaman" and the fact that no explanation is offered for how the ship, which barely survives passing through the typhoon into the eye, survives the passage out.
This really shouldn't be considered a novel (as it is on Wikipedia..). It is seventy some pages - a brief, but engaging and riveting, short story. Although it took me a while to become really invested, all in all I thoroughly enjoyed it and, as always, was more than impressed with Conrad's beautiful writing.
I missed the quite obvious symbolism and sympathy in Heart of Darkness. But the storm in this story is a nice vessel for Conrad's descriptive powers. Not sure what point he is trying to make in describing Chinese in the disparaging way he does, but I'm sure he has a larger purpose. Keep a dictionary handy for this one, you can't go wrong with Conrad.
If you've only read Heart of Darkness, you probably don't know what a fantastic sense of humor Conrad has. Typhoon is short and thrilling and funny. The plot is persistently engaging, but Conrad's real aim is to show you how his characters react under the stresses of their world.
The tale of Captain Macwhirr of the Nan-Shan who, whilst returning Chinese workers home notices unusual barometric readings but refuses to change course believing his ship could withstand any natural opposition. Throughout the disaster he is ably assisted by his first mate Jukes.
un court roman qui plonge les passagers d'un navire rempli de coolies chinois dans un typhon; la description en est saisissante mais le récit vaut plus pour les effets produits sur les différents passagers par une situation épouvantablement extrême
Oh, my! One of the greatest, if not "the" greatest, ever written. Conrad must have experienced something similar or he could not have written it with such descriptions! I do like sea stories and I loved this one. (It's short but every word, as usual with Conrad, packed a punch!)
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Joseph Conrad (born
Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski
) was a Polish-born English novelist who today is most famous for Heart of Darkness, his fictionalized account of Colonial Africa.
Conrad left his native Poland in his middle teens to avoid conscription into the Russian Army. He joined the French Merchant Marine and briefly employed himself as a wartime gunrunner. He then began to work aboard Bri...more
More about Joseph Conrad...
Conrad left his native Poland in his middle teens to avoid conscription into the Russian Army. He joined the French Merchant Marine and briefly employed himself as a wartime gunrunner. He then began to work aboard Bri...more
Share This Book
15 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
