“A hundred and fifty lofty masts, more or less, held out the web of their rigging like an immense net in whose close mesh, black against the sky, the heavy yards seemed to be entangled and suspended. It was a sight. ” – Joseph Conrad, “Initiation”
A classic Joseph Conrad tale pits a young naval officer against the fickle sea, and a woman drives for miles just to keep up with life.
A special Symphony Space evening entitled “Actors’ Choice Night” featured stories selected by the performers. Hollywood and Broadway star Tony Roberts, whose credits include many of Woody Allen’s pictures—among them “Annie Hall,” “Radio Days”, and “Hannah and Her Sisters”--as well as stage appearances in “The Sisters Rosensweig,” “Victor/Victoria,” and “Cabaret,” turned out to be a Joseph Conrad fan. He chose “Initiation,” a gripping tale of a young naval officer’s first encounter with maritime disaster and the fickle nature of the sea.. The story has all the lush and powerful hallmarks of a work by the author of Heart of Darkness and Nostromo, who lived from 1857 to 1924.
Perhaps in keeping with our increasingly mobile and miniaturized times, the short story genre has evolved a fictional subset--mini-fictions or micro-fictions. These compact tales can have all the power and effect of a longer work, and we devoted an evening at Symphony Space to celebrating a volume published by W.W. Norton, entitled New Sudden Fiction: Short-short Stories from America and Beyond, edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas. From it, we selected “COUNTRY MILES” by Robert King, Professor Emeritus at the University of North Dakota. In it, an ordinary life suddenly takes on epic proportions—at least in terms of mileage! The reader is the distinguished American actress Marian Seldes.
Initiation by Joseph Conrad, read by Tony Roberts Country Miles by Robert King, read by Marian Seldes
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space
A classic Joseph Conrad tale pits a young naval officer against the fickle sea, and a woman drives for miles just to keep up with life.
A special Symphony Space evening entitled “Actors’ Choice Night” featured stories selected by the performers. Hollywood and Broadway star Tony Roberts, whose credits include many of Woody Allen’s pictures—among them “Annie Hall,” “Radio Days”, and “Hannah and Her Sisters”--as well as stage appearances in “The Sisters Rosensweig,” “Victor/Victoria,” and “Cabaret,” turned out to be a Joseph Conrad fan. He chose “Initiation,” a gripping tale of a young naval officer’s first encounter with maritime disaster and the fickle nature of the sea.. The story has all the lush and powerful hallmarks of a work by the author of Heart of Darkness and Nostromo, who lived from 1857 to 1924.
Perhaps in keeping with our increasingly mobile and miniaturized times, the short story genre has evolved a fictional subset--mini-fictions or micro-fictions. These compact tales can have all the power and effect of a longer work, and we devoted an evening at Symphony Space to celebrating a volume published by W.W. Norton, entitled New Sudden Fiction: Short-short Stories from America and Beyond, edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas. From it, we selected “COUNTRY MILES” by Robert King, Professor Emeritus at the University of North Dakota. In it, an ordinary life suddenly takes on epic proportions—at least in terms of mileage! The reader is the distinguished American actress Marian Seldes.
Initiation by Joseph Conrad, read by Tony Roberts Country Miles by Robert King, read by Marian Seldes
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space
About Selected Shorts
Selected Shorts features some of the finest artists of the American theater reading contemporary and classic short fiction-the most distinguished works of the early masters such as Chekhov, Maupassant, Malamud and dozens of others.
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