Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - 1900

My Posts on Joseph Conrad

I have seen the excellant movie based on Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad a couple of times so I had an idea as to the plot.  I have read a few short stories and novellas by Conrad since I began blogging five years ago but Lord Jim is my first major Conrad novel.

Lord Jim is an excellant sea faring white man in the tropics novel. Conrad's prose is majestic, his descriptions of the terrible storm at sea that ruined his life, and his characterizations are first rate.  Some might find the descriptions of Malaysian persons racist but this just means it is reflective of how the narrator thought, not necessarily Conrad himself.  The picture below, done to sell Classics Illustrated, brings out the attitude toward South East Asian women exibited throughout Lord Jim.

Lord Jim is exciting, a classic, and I am glad I read it.  I preferred The Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent. 

In 2015 I hope to read his Nostromo. 

Mel u

Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad

Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad (1895)

I wanted to read Almayer's Folly primarily because it is Joseph Conrad's (1857 to 1924) first novel.   Conrad is pretty much universally regarded as one of the greatest of all English language novelists and is considered a superb master prose stylist.  (I have previously posted on his short story "Amy", his short novel The Secret Agent and The Heart of Darkness.  There is some background information on Conrad in those posts.).   In the very long ago I read his Lord Jim and Nostromo, considered his best novel.   I hope I will reread both of these works in the not terribly distant future.

Almayer is a European business man living in what is now Malaysia, .   He is married to a Malaysian woman with whom he has a daughter, Nina.   His failed ambition was to find a gold mine.  One day he hears the British are coming  to take over the area so he built a big house to welcome them on the spot near where he thinks they will land.   They never show up and the decaying over time house becomes to be called "Almayer's Folly".   At first he still tries to find the gold mine but he gives up and stays home and his wife comes to hate him for his stupor.  A Malayan Prince falls in love with his daughter and now the plot gets pretty complicated.      Almayer ends his folly in a fire and spends his last time on earth on opium.

I really liked the descriptions of nature in Almayer's Folly.  I have been in tropical jungles and for sure Conrad's descriptions are perfect.   It is the wonder of his prose that makes this a very much worth reading work.   The characters of his wife and his daughter will generate some misgivings as some may see them as being depicted in a way that suggests because they are Asians (orientals) they are possessed of a sinister cunning of some sort.   I think one has to see the narrator of the stories, as somehow a character in them to rise above the common place readings of Conrad, centering on The Heart of Darkness, that see him as a racist.   I think, this may offend some people, that one reason this is the common view of Conrad is that it is an easy way for teachers to approach his work and is something that can be easily grasped, which cannot be said for the deeper readings of Conrad.   It is also a way to dismiss a difficult writer and at the same time pander to the elements of society and the literary world that look at literature not as art but as something to be evaluated for political correctness.

I also want to take this opportunity to be sure that my readers are aware of a wonderful electronic edition of the Complete Works of Joseph Conrad recently released by Delphi Classics.   It contains all if the novels and novellas, in chronological order, all of his short stories and the hard to find essays of Conrad.   For those who like the idea of reading everything by an author, the Delphi editions are perfect.   I think researchers and students would find the ability to search all of an author's works for key terms would also be very useful.  The volume contains some very well done information on Conrad and some interesting photographs.

You can learn more about Delphi Classics Edition on their webpage.   For $2.99 you can have a complete edition of the works of Joseph Conrad.

Mel u

"Amy Foster" by Joseph Conrad

"Amy Foster" by Joseph Conrad (1901, 15 pages)

"Amy Foster" is the third short story by Joseph Conrad (1857 to 1924-there is some back ground information in my prior posts on Conrad)  I have read in the last few months.   I have also posted on two of his shorter novels, The Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent.   Both of the prior stories I posted on "The Secret Sharer" and  "The Lagoon" are partially about men who are in foreign to them countries because of sea voyages.   Conrad was himself a seamen for many years.  

As in Secret Agent, a mentally challenged adult plays a central part in "Amy Foster".  I do know if this is a frequent thing in the work of Conrad or not but I thought it was very interesting to find it in two back to back reads.

The story line also felt like it might be expressing something of Conrad's feelings about spending his life among people who did not speak the language of his native land, Poland.  (Conrad grew up speaking Polish, then learned French, then English and went on to become one of the greatest of English prose stylists.)

As the story opens, Janko Goral a Polish national on his way to move to America, is shipped wrecked right of the coast of England.   He makes it to the shore.   When the local people find him he can speak only Polish which no one understands so they take him for a mad man raving on in some sort of pure gibberish.   He is put into jail by the local residents who also whip him and throw rocks at him in an effort to make him speak English.   We also meet a local girl, Amy Foster, who clearly seems mentally challenged.  

Janko, who is renamed by the locals, Yanko Gooral, gets a job working for a well off local.   He saves his employer's daughter from drowning and is given his own cottage as a reward.     He and Amy meet and they fall in love and Marry.  (The descriptions of Amy are really very interesting).   I do not want to tell more of the plot.

"Amy Foster" is about xenophobia, loneliness, fear of anyone different from you.   I felt somehow Conrad was relating to his own experiences as a stranger in a strange land as I read this story.   Readers of the short stories of Hardy will relate well to "Amy Foster".  

It was included in Typhoon and  Other Stories (1903)

You can down load this and much of Conrad's other work in Kindle and other formats from Manybooks.

On Conrad, I think I will read a few more of  his short stories before reading another novel.     I hope to read four Conrad novels in 2012.  

I know many book bloggers have expressed dislike of Conrad.   Some simply do not like his prose style and others think he is a racist.    The first question is sort of a matter of personal taste.   The second question seems to me to rest on a misunderstanding of the narrative method of Conrad and might represent a rush to judgement against what some see as a hard to read writer.  

Please share your experience with Conrad with us.

Mel u