Book Review: To-morrow, by Joseph Conrad (1902)

The Penguin Little Black Classics edition of To-morrow, by Joseph Conrad. (Originally published in 1902, this edition published in 2015.)

Author Joseph Conrad, pictured in 1904.

Joseph Conrad’s short story “To-morrow,” was first published in the pages of The Pall Mall Magazine in 1902. The following year it appeared in book form in the collection Typhoon and Other Stories. In 2015, Penguin Classics issued “To-morrow” as a stand-alone book in their “Little Black Classics” series. It seems somewhat silly to issue just one story on its own, especially as “To-morrow” is only 50 pages long, but I happened upon “To-morrow” at Half Price Books for 99 cents, and since I don’t have the story in any of my other Conrad books, I decided to buy it. 

“To-morrow” tells the story of Captain Hagberd, who moves to the seaport of Colebrook in the hope of being reunited with his son, whom the Captain has not seen in many years. The Captain is a widower, and his one friend is his next-door neighbor, Bessie Carvil, who takes care of her father, a boat-builder who has gone blind. 

The story is full of Conrad’s beautiful prose. He describes Bessie looking at Captain Hagberd: “She would look at her father’s landlord in silence—in an informed silence which had an air of knowledge, expectation, and desire.” (p.2)

After Captain Hagberd has been in Colebrook for a while, he stops speaking to the townspeople about when he thinks his son will be back. Conrad writes: “For all one could tell, he had recovered already from the disease of hope; and only Miss Bessie Carvil knew that he said nothing about his son’s return because with him it was no longer ‘next week,’ ‘next month,’ or even ‘next year.’ It was ‘to-morrow.’” (p.8-9) 

Captain Hagberd is convinced that his son will return tomorrow. He is continually optimistic, as he is always looking forward to the next day. “To-morrow” reminded me a bit of a Samuel Beckett play, with a character living in constant anticipation of the future, rather than living in the present. 

“To-morrow” is a superb story, and it highlights Conrad’s ability to craft an engaging tale.