YOU’RE SO VAIN
On Drunkenness
an indifferent glance
“Beyond the headland of Diamond Bay, lying black on a purple sea, great masses of clouds stood piled up and bathed in a mist of blood. A crimson crack like an open would zigzagged between them, with a piece of dark red sun showing at the bottom. Heyst cast an indifferent glance a the ill-omened chaos of the sky.”
—Joseph Conrad, Victory: An Island Tale, 1915.
An active volcano to steer by
“ ‘What do you think of smoke by day and a loom of fire at night? There’s a volcano in full blast near that island—enough to guide almost a blind man. What more do you want? An active volcano to steer by!’ ”
—Joseph Conrad, Victory: An Island Tale, 1915.
a tall ship
“And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by . . .”
—John Masefield, “Sea Fever”, 1902.
a piece of purple shadow
“The stretch of Diamond Bay was like a piece of purple shadow, lustrous and empty, while beyond the land, the open sea lay blue and opaque under the sun.”
—Joseph Conrad, Victory: An Island Tale, 1915.
a disc of iron
“Behind his back the sun, touching the water, was like a disc of iron cooled to a dull red glow, ready to start rolling round the circular steel plate of the sea. . . .”
—Joseph Conrad, Victory: An Island Tale, 1915.
The consequences of bad typography
“If you think the potential consequences of bad typography are merely
aesthetic—think again.”
a JULES VERNE adventure series
The eyes of Martin Ricardo
“The eyes of Martin Ricardo gleamed phosphorescent in the half-light of the room screened from the heat and glare of the tropics.”
—Joseph Conrad, Victory: An Island Tale, 1915.