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tamdot's review against another edition
2.0
In Hazard by Richard Hughes falls neatly into some of the “man vs.” plot categories: man vs. nature, man vs. technology with a little man vs. himself tossed in for good measure. It tells the story of a British cargo ship, the Archimedes, caught in a seemingly endless hurricane as the ship makes for the Panama Canal from the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.
The story, set in 1929, takes place between the two world wars, and, in fact, was originally published in 1938. The current publication is a re-release as part of New York Review of Books’ Classics series. As Hughes says in an afterword written years after the initial publication, “the fading smell of remembered death in Britain was just beginning to be replaced by a new stench that was death prefigured.” If it weren’t for Hughes’ afterword, it would be easy for AP English teachers to seize on the book as an metaphor for the onset of World War II. The Archimedes caught helplessly in the storm even though some signs of the disaster were evident. The British ship eventually rescued by an American vessel. Hughes denies the allegory, saying his book is symbol, which is “never concerned primarily with the future qua future but with a much more timeless kind of truth.”
The book is almost too neatly divided in half. The first half all plot and storm; the second, character development. For a modern reader accustomed to getting these two simultaneously, the book can be a difficult read. It takes a few chapters to feel comfortable with the mid-20th century writing.
The ship is the main character of the first half. The reader is taken on a tour of the vessel and its technologic advances explained in detail, along with explanations of where and how the cargo is stowed and hints of the tensions between the crew and officers, the English and Chinese, the engine room staff and the above-deck staff. Characters seem interchangeable at this point. When the storm hits and the ship’s technology disabled, it’s easy to lose track of what petty officer is doing what. But by this point, the ship in peril story has captured the reader’s attention and moves quickly. Hughes’ describes the events beautifully. When the ship reaches the eye of the hurricane, it becomes the only “land” for countless birds and insects. As the crew emerges to survey the damage to the ship, “[t:]he officers were barefoot, and as they walked they kept stepping on live birds—they could not help it. I don’t want to dwell on this, but I must tell you what things were like, and be done with it. You would feel the delicate skeleton scrunch under your feet: but you could not help it, and the gummed feathers hardly fluttered.
No bird, even crushed, or half-crushed, cried.”
As the Archimedes is pulled back into the storm, the book abruptly changes. Detailed back stories and interior monologues for a junior officer and a Chinese laborer take center stage. The change in focus is jarring. If the character information had come earlier or been woven into the story of the storm, it could have been appreciated and helped to move the overall story forward. If the back stories had focused on the chief engineer who is central to the first and last sentences of the book, it may have worked better. As it is, the effect pulls the reader out of the story and feels an unnecessary interruption as the reader just wants to find out if and how the Archimedes survives.
Once the character pieces are finished, the rest of the book feels like an extended denouement. The storm ends; the American ship appears. It’s another fast change from the slow pace of the character information.
The problems with tone and pacing could be a product of the 70-year time difference between the original and current release. Each half of the book could be a fine read on its own. It’s the harsh combination that creates problems.
The story, set in 1929, takes place between the two world wars, and, in fact, was originally published in 1938. The current publication is a re-release as part of New York Review of Books’ Classics series. As Hughes says in an afterword written years after the initial publication, “the fading smell of remembered death in Britain was just beginning to be replaced by a new stench that was death prefigured.” If it weren’t for Hughes’ afterword, it would be easy for AP English teachers to seize on the book as an metaphor for the onset of World War II. The Archimedes caught helplessly in the storm even though some signs of the disaster were evident. The British ship eventually rescued by an American vessel. Hughes denies the allegory, saying his book is symbol, which is “never concerned primarily with the future qua future but with a much more timeless kind of truth.”
The book is almost too neatly divided in half. The first half all plot and storm; the second, character development. For a modern reader accustomed to getting these two simultaneously, the book can be a difficult read. It takes a few chapters to feel comfortable with the mid-20th century writing.
The ship is the main character of the first half. The reader is taken on a tour of the vessel and its technologic advances explained in detail, along with explanations of where and how the cargo is stowed and hints of the tensions between the crew and officers, the English and Chinese, the engine room staff and the above-deck staff. Characters seem interchangeable at this point. When the storm hits and the ship’s technology disabled, it’s easy to lose track of what petty officer is doing what. But by this point, the ship in peril story has captured the reader’s attention and moves quickly. Hughes’ describes the events beautifully. When the ship reaches the eye of the hurricane, it becomes the only “land” for countless birds and insects. As the crew emerges to survey the damage to the ship, “[t:]he officers were barefoot, and as they walked they kept stepping on live birds—they could not help it. I don’t want to dwell on this, but I must tell you what things were like, and be done with it. You would feel the delicate skeleton scrunch under your feet: but you could not help it, and the gummed feathers hardly fluttered.
No bird, even crushed, or half-crushed, cried.”
As the Archimedes is pulled back into the storm, the book abruptly changes. Detailed back stories and interior monologues for a junior officer and a Chinese laborer take center stage. The change in focus is jarring. If the character information had come earlier or been woven into the story of the storm, it could have been appreciated and helped to move the overall story forward. If the back stories had focused on the chief engineer who is central to the first and last sentences of the book, it may have worked better. As it is, the effect pulls the reader out of the story and feels an unnecessary interruption as the reader just wants to find out if and how the Archimedes survives.
Once the character pieces are finished, the rest of the book feels like an extended denouement. The storm ends; the American ship appears. It’s another fast change from the slow pace of the character information.
The problems with tone and pacing could be a product of the 70-year time difference between the original and current release. Each half of the book could be a fine read on its own. It’s the harsh combination that creates problems.
jarichan's review against another edition
3.0
Wie dieses Buch auf meiner Wunschliste gelandet ist, weiss ich gar nicht mehr. Auf jeden Fall stand es lange Zeit dort. Irgendwie brachte ich es nicht über mich, es zu entfernen. Zu lesen bisher leider auch nicht. Bis gleich mehrere Challenges auf diesen Titel passten und ich es endlich, endlich von der Wunschliste wegholen konnte.
Hughes schreibt schon zu Beginn des Buches, dass er so nahe wie möglich an der Realität bleiben möchte, auch wenn seine Geschichte erfunden ist. Das merkt man dem Werk auch an. Die Details sind faszinierend, aber eben nur, wenn man sich auch für das Thema interessiert. Für alle anderen wird dieses Buch schnell langweilig und öde.
Leser, die sich aber für die Schifffahrt, und auch insbesondere für ihre historische Seite interessieren, ist dieses Buch definitiv einen Blick wert. Der Schreibstil hielt mich trotz der Informationsfülle gefangen, er passt sich den Umständen an. Erklärt, wo erklärt werden muss, und wird gefühlvoll, wenn es angebracht ist.
Der erste Teil des Buches beschäftigt sich mit den Umständen, den Wetterverhältnissen, dem Schiff selbst. Im zweiten Teil kommen dann die Figuren zum Zuge, erhalten Hintergrundgeschichten und mehr Tiefe. Eine interessante, auch etwas eigenwillige Auifteilung, die hier aber gut funktioniert.
Stimmungsvoll, gefährlich, düster - so gibt sich dieses Werk. Für alle lesenden Hochseefahrer/innen ein kleiner Tipp für Zwischendurch.
Hughes schreibt schon zu Beginn des Buches, dass er so nahe wie möglich an der Realität bleiben möchte, auch wenn seine Geschichte erfunden ist. Das merkt man dem Werk auch an. Die Details sind faszinierend, aber eben nur, wenn man sich auch für das Thema interessiert. Für alle anderen wird dieses Buch schnell langweilig und öde.
Leser, die sich aber für die Schifffahrt, und auch insbesondere für ihre historische Seite interessieren, ist dieses Buch definitiv einen Blick wert. Der Schreibstil hielt mich trotz der Informationsfülle gefangen, er passt sich den Umständen an. Erklärt, wo erklärt werden muss, und wird gefühlvoll, wenn es angebracht ist.
Der erste Teil des Buches beschäftigt sich mit den Umständen, den Wetterverhältnissen, dem Schiff selbst. Im zweiten Teil kommen dann die Figuren zum Zuge, erhalten Hintergrundgeschichten und mehr Tiefe. Eine interessante, auch etwas eigenwillige Auifteilung, die hier aber gut funktioniert.
Stimmungsvoll, gefährlich, düster - so gibt sich dieses Werk. Für alle lesenden Hochseefahrer/innen ein kleiner Tipp für Zwischendurch.
robert85's review against another edition
4.0
»Die Tage von Conrads Taifun sind vorbei; jene Tage, wo Hurrikane den Schiffsverkehr so unerwartet überfielen wie die Katze die Maus. Zum einen wissen die Mäuse heute mehr über die Anatomie der Katze und ihre Bewegungsmuster – und außerdem hat man der Katze ein Glöckchen umgehängt.« (In Bedrängnis, S. 32)
Wie verhält sich der Mensch in Gefahrensituationen, wenn er sich eigentlich sicher gefühlt hat? Dieser Frage nimmt sich der wiederentdeckte und erstmals ins Deutsche übersetzte Roman Richard Hughes’ an. Wir begleiten die Crew der Archimedes, die sich von Virginia auf den Weg nach China macht. Obgleich die Hurrikan-Saison als überstanden gilt, dauert es nicht lange, bis der moderne Dampfer – wie es der Titel schon andeutet – in Bedrängnis gerät.
Doch nicht nur der Glaube, dass das Wetter nach von Menschen erfundenen Regeln spielt, erweist sich als irrig; auch alle anderen Annahmen und Gesetzmäßigkeiten scheinen außer Kraft gesetzt: Der Hurrikan, mit dem sich die Crew konfrontiert sieht, spielt nicht nach den Lehrbuch-Regeln. Die Meteorologie und die Frühwarnsysteme versagen und so wird der riesige Dampfer von den unerwarteten Winden zu einer Nussschale degradiert, die erbarmungslos über den Ozean geweht wird.
Ebenso erweisen sich die Zahlen als Augenwischerei, die so viel Sicherheit suggerieren: Der Schornstein, der einem seitlichen Druck von 100 Tonnen trotzen kann, erweist sich in dem Sturm ebenso fragil wie die Luken, die dem Wasser zwar standhalten, wenn es von außen kommt, aber nicht, wenn sich ein Vakuum bildet und der Druck von der anderen Seite wirkt.
Durch dieses Zusammentreffen mehrerer unglücklicher Umstände sind die Männer, die sonst nach Hierarchien und Einsatzgebieten getrennt operieren, auf sich allein gestellt und müssen eine Einheit bilden. Um zu überleben gilt es, ihr Wissen zu bündeln und an einem Strang zu ziehen. Hughes gelingt es, die zwei Position sprachlich gegenüberzustellen: Von der anfänglichen Euphorie über die Errungenschaften der Technik bis hin zur Ernüchterung.
Die sachlichen Beschreibungen, die der Erzähler dem Leser wie von einem Datenblatt abgelesen durchgibt, vermitteln den Eindruck von Sicherheit. Der Mensch fühlt sich über die Natur erhaben, wirkliche Abenteuer auf See können, so scheint es, kaum noch stattfinden. Die minutiös aufgeführten Eigenschaften der Archimedes legen präzise dar, warum es (theoretisch) zu keinerlei Überraschungen oder Widrigkeiten auf hoher See mehr kommen kann.
Als sich dieser Glaube als Trugbild erweist, wird das Vertrauen in die Technik mit den Wellen weggespült. Die Matrosen, Männer einer säkularisierten Zeit, wenden sich von den Maschinen ab und beginnen in ihrer Hoffnungslosigkeit sogar wieder zu beten, obgleich sie sich kaum mehr an die Worte erinnern.
Geschickt verzahnt Hughes die Gefühle der Crew mit individuellen Hintergründen und Motivationen einzelner Besatzungsmitglieder. Der Leser bekommt auf diese Weise sowohl einen Eindruck für das große Ganze als auch einen Einblick in die Gedankenwelt ausgewählter Protagonisten.
In Bedrängnis ist somit ein äußerst lesenswertes Buch, das – trotz heute antiquiert wirkender technischer Errungenschaften – nicht an Aktualität verloren hat. Mehr denn je fühlen wir uns sicher und unerschütterlich und doch bedarf es nur eines Hurrikans á la Katrina oder eines im Sommer wütenden Waldbrandes, um uns unsere Verletzlichkeit und Ohnmacht der Natur gegenüber vor Augen zu führen.
leff's review against another edition
1.0
bleck. why do I inflict things like this on myself. it had so much potential and it completely failed to live up to any of it.
I guess there was a little bit of interesting bits about steam ships. but honestly, why spend a chapter delving into the past of an incidental character who's never even mentioned again? why take an incredibly dramatic and exciting story and remove us from it with trivia? why wax the excitement with Boredom Polish(tm)?
I guess there was a little bit of interesting bits about steam ships. but honestly, why spend a chapter delving into the past of an incidental character who's never even mentioned again? why take an incredibly dramatic and exciting story and remove us from it with trivia? why wax the excitement with Boredom Polish(tm)?
ericwelch's review against another edition
4.0
This book is based on the true story of the Phemius, a ship which was sucked into the circular trajectory of a hurricane in 1932. The captain’s report of the experience so intrigued the Holt Line owner that he gave a copy to Richard Hughes ([b:A High Wind in Jamaica|188458|A High Wind in Jamaica|Richard Hughes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172545599s/188458.jpg|2166961]) who turned it into this novel.
The ship was the well-cared-for Archimedes with a very competent captain and crew. The month being mid-November, the likelihood of a West Indian hurricane was more than remote, it was unheard of. The cargo was the usual motley of items including quantities of newspaper, which, because of their lightness, were stored fairly high in the hold. The barometer continues to drop precipitously and thinking he is sailing around the storm, Captain Edwardes finds himself in its clutches, perhaps from a twin since this storm doesn’t seem to be following the rules. Dick, the cabin boy, at first mesmerized by the fur of the wind, is in its thrall. “Then the exultation which the storm had raised in him whirled up in his head giddily, and he was sea-sick.”
At first the ship seems to be riding the waves with equanimity until a coir matting becomes lodged in the steering rods and steerage is lost leaving the ship to wallow broadside into the waves. To make matters worse, hatches, which are designed to withstand enormous pressure from above, were now subject to tremendously strong winds blowing across the deck, and, much as with an airplane’s wing, generated lift and creating a vacuum across the top of the hatches pushing them up from below.
It goes without saying (but I will anyway) readers disinclined to enjoy nautical books will not like this book. Tant pis pour toi. The rest of us will love it.
A picture of the Phemius at http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/3154.html that gives you a good idea of the superstructure and funnel which was lost in the 1932 hurricane. (The one described in the book took place fictionally in November 1929.)
Read the introduction by John Crowley to the NYRB edition. In it, he quotes Ford Maddox Ford as describing Hughes writing as so good as to be almost inhuman. “It’s hard … not to wonder whether Hughes ever made clear to himself the distinction between all-knowing divinity and pitiless chance.” Indeed.
The ship was the well-cared-for Archimedes with a very competent captain and crew. The month being mid-November, the likelihood of a West Indian hurricane was more than remote, it was unheard of. The cargo was the usual motley of items including quantities of newspaper, which, because of their lightness, were stored fairly high in the hold. The barometer continues to drop precipitously and thinking he is sailing around the storm, Captain Edwardes finds himself in its clutches, perhaps from a twin since this storm doesn’t seem to be following the rules. Dick, the cabin boy, at first mesmerized by the fur of the wind, is in its thrall. “Then the exultation which the storm had raised in him whirled up in his head giddily, and he was sea-sick.”
At first the ship seems to be riding the waves with equanimity until a coir matting becomes lodged in the steering rods and steerage is lost leaving the ship to wallow broadside into the waves. To make matters worse, hatches, which are designed to withstand enormous pressure from above, were now subject to tremendously strong winds blowing across the deck, and, much as with an airplane’s wing, generated lift and creating a vacuum across the top of the hatches pushing them up from below.
It goes without saying (but I will anyway) readers disinclined to enjoy nautical books will not like this book. Tant pis pour toi. The rest of us will love it.
A picture of the Phemius at http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/3154.html that gives you a good idea of the superstructure and funnel which was lost in the 1932 hurricane. (The one described in the book took place fictionally in November 1929.)
Read the introduction by John Crowley to the NYRB edition. In it, he quotes Ford Maddox Ford as describing Hughes writing as so good as to be almost inhuman. “It’s hard … not to wonder whether Hughes ever made clear to himself the distinction between all-knowing divinity and pitiless chance.” Indeed.
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