Distant Reading Recommends: Ships that Pass in the Night by Beatrice Harraden

Reference

Luminița Andrada Baldovin, Georgiana Aurelia Crivăț, Gianina Drăgan, Diana Florentina Geantă, and Andra-Mihaela Vlădoiu. “Ships that Pass in the Night by Beatrice Harraden (Distant Reading Recommends)”, Distant Reading, (2021). URL: https://www.distant-reading.net/distant-reading-recommends-ships-that-pass-in-the-night-by-beatrice-harraden/

Abstract

Initially rejected by a publisher, Ships that Pass in the Night soon became a bestseller, with more than a million copies sold and was later translated into numerous languages, including Japanese. The title of the book is a metaphoric expression for the relationship between the main characters: the ships that pass become an embodiment of a doomed love affair; death puts an end to a journey that has not even begun. The lyrics that mark the beginning of the novel are taken from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s (1807-1882) poem, Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863). Ships that pass in the night is a metaphorical expression that states life’s ephemerality. This sad story achieved fame when it was published in 1894, largely on account of its taking title – which suggests the importance of our existence, being evocative in many ways: ships that pass express the stages of life, while in the night may be seen as nothingness.

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BibTex

@article{baldovin_ships_2021,
	title = {Ships that {Pass} in the {Night} by {Beatrice} {Harraden} ({Distant} {Reading} {Recommends})},
	url = {https://www.distant-reading.net/distant-reading-recommends-ships-that-pass-in-the-night-by-beatrice-harraden/},
	abstract = {Initially rejected by a publisher, Ships that Pass in the Night soon became a bestseller, with more than a million copies sold and was later translated into numerous languages, including Japanese. The title of the book is a metaphoric expression for the relationship between the main characters: the ships that pass become an embodiment of a doomed love affair; death puts an end to a journey that has not even begun. The lyrics that mark the beginning of the novel are taken from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s (1807-1882) poem, Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863). Ships that pass in the night is a metaphorical expression that states life’s ephemerality. This sad story achieved fame when it was published in 1894, largely on account of its taking title – which suggests the importance of our existence, being evocative in many ways: ships that pass express the stages of life, while in the night may be seen as nothingness.},
	journal = {Distant Reading for European Literary History (COST Action CA16204)},
	author = {Baldovin, Luminița Andrada and Crivăț, Georgiana Aurelia and Drăgan, Gianina and Geantă, Diana Florentina and Vlădoiu, Andra-Mihaela},
	editor = {Duțu, Carmen and Mihurko-Poniz, Katja},
	month = dec,
	year = {2021},
	keywords = {type\_publication},
}