ABSTRACT
In 1912, Conrad made a singularly odd remark to his longtime friend and literary mentor, Edward Garnett. Responding to Garnett’s criticism of “Freya of the Seven Isles” and high praise for “The Secret Sharer,” two tales included in Conrad’s latest collection ‘Twixt Land and Sea, Conrad said: “I daresay Freya is pretty rotten. On the other hand the Secret Sharer, between you and me, is it. Eh? No damned tricks with girls there. Eh? …. Luck my boy. Pure luck …. I repeat: mere luck” (5 November 1912, CL V 128, emphasis Conrad’s). 1 Despite the memorable turn of phrase, and though it seems clear that Conrad took pride in “The Secret Sharer,” it is not at all clear just what, precisely, Conrad meant by his “damned tricks with girls.” Tricks of characterization? Of plotting? Of genre? And if the “The Secret Sharer” is free of such feminine “tricks” or structuring devices, how, where, and with what effect are they made manifest elsewhere in Conrad’s writings? 2
