The long story by HC Lewis, first published in 1937, has remained unknown in Italy to this day. Now Adelphi takes him to the bookstore for the care of Marco Rossari. Who is talking about its power and narrative completeness in this interview
“When Henry Preston Standish plunged headlong into the Pacific Ocean, the sun rose just above the horizon.” Thus begins “gentleman at sea”, the story of Herbert Clyde Lewis, hitherto unpublished in Italy, which the Adelphi publishing house recently published for the care of Marco Rossari.
The “Gentleman at Sea” is Henry Preston Standish, a thirty-five year old who has dressed decently all his life and made the right choice, even as a teenager. Until at 05:23 in the morning, thanks to a grease stain, he falls into the water from the steamer where he is. And it is from here that Herbert Clyde Lewis constructs this smooth tale which seems structured like a noir: for the moment Standish touches the water and the steamer sails away in general indifference, the reader realizes that he will inevitably die, but the attraction of that story never ends.
“Yes, it’s true – admits Rossari in the new episode of ‘Incipit’ – even I, while working on it, kept hoping that it would be saved to the end. It’s a classic tool, but it works perfectly here: because suddenly, as we watch the ship depart, we are imbued with a great hesitation of thinking about existence, but also with a constant tension to a series of questions: “Will he be saved? Will they be able to save him?” to pick him up?’. And it is on this figure, which has something of the thriller and thriller, that almost all the power of the story is played”.
First published in 1937, “Gentleman at sea” remained virtually unknown to the European public for over eighty years, before recently resurfacing and being successfully translated in several countries. But the reason of interest is not so much linked to his fate, however very curious, as to his writing and a narrative composition that can make it a smooth story and, above all, a complete one.
Source: TG 24 Sky
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