ABSTRACT
In “The Secret of ‘The Secret Sharer’ Bared,” Bruce Harkness wrote the first detailed analysis of “The Secret Sharer” (1910, ’Twixt Land and Sea)1 that stresses the homoerotic potentialities in the story, and this is the first work of criticism that raises the possibility of homosexuality in Conrad’s work.2 The article is a parody of archetypal criticism, however, so the reader is not meant to take its conclusions seriously. In fact, Harkness treats the possibility, what he calls “the Hyacinthine motif ” or “archetype” (56, 58), as a joke. Fourteen years later, in 1979, Robert Hodges followed up on Harkness’s analysis and concluded that the homoeroticism is indeed quite serious. He argues that “the story suggests a clandestine love affair, initially shattering but ultimately bracing for the captain: in short, an allegory of coming out” (385).
