Joseph Conrad 
Youth, a Narrative 

Youth’ is an 1898 autobiographical short story by Joseph Conrad[1] published in Blackwood’s Magazine, and then included as the first story in Conrad’s 1902 volume Youth, a Narrative, and Two Other Stories. This volume also includes Heart of Darkness and The End of the Tether, stories concerned with the themes of maturity and old age, respectively. ‘Youth’ depicts a young man’s first journey to the East. It is narrated by Charles Marlow who is also the narrator of Lord Jim, Chance, and Heart of Darkness. The narrator’s introduction suggests this is the first time, chronologically, the character Marlow appears in Conrad’s works (the narrator comments that he thinks Marlow spells his name this way).