The Oxford Book of Sea Stories

Book excerpt: Malevolent, mysterious, vast, the ocean has always sparked our fascination and sense of adventure, giving rise to a remarkable vein of narrative deftly mined here by editor Tony Tanner. In the twenty-seven tales of The Oxford Book of the Sea, masters of the art tell of men on ships, grappling with themselves, their fellow sailors, and the trials of the sea: from hurricane winds to the frustrating calm, from swirling currents to rampaging whales. Here is the work of Jack London, Rudyard Kipling, Stephen Crane, C.S. Forester, Ernest Hemingway, and of course Conrad. Along with the essential stories come unexpected gems by writers not known for their seafaring bent such as William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E.M. Forster, and Edgar Allan Poe. Some of the finest writers in the English language have been drawn to the subject of life at sea, with its dangers, loneliness, and triumphs. The Oxford Book of the Sea gathers together some of the best examples of the form, offering moving prose, fascinating insight into the human condition, and the simple pleasure of tales of high adventure.