The Black Galley

This story is packed with romance and adventure, with a heroic fight for freedom and liberation against an army of ruthless dictators to a young couple that is reunited against all odds. It offers entertainment and the heart-warming message of how a fight for national independence against foreign power can be triumphant in the end. Even though this seems to be the message on the superficial level, there is a much deeper and darker hidden intention in this novel. Wilhelm Raabe (pseudonym Jakob Corvinus) was a German writer best known for realistic novels of middle-class life. He was one of the greatest realistic authors of the 19th century. With this early story about two inseparable friends, Jan Norris and Myga van Bergen, Raabe proved that he knows how to amuse his readers with a colorful action and love story. Raabe also includes also gothic elements like the Black Gallery into the tale.