Joseph Conrad Books

Thanks for scholars like Nicholas Delbanco who hunt down biographical details that enrich our knowledge of famous authors lives. Here is a book that offers a savory meal for the literary gourmet. Henry James liked donuts. Stephen Crane chain smoked. Conrad the English stylist spoke with a thick Polish accent. Ford Madox Ford embellished his recollections with untruths. H. G. Wells treated offers of help with cocky independence.

The author contends that for a certain interval these men associated with and admired each others literary accomplishments. "South of London in 1900, a galaxy of talent assembled that beggars in accomplishment anything the English language has since produced." He provides quotations and photographs that demonstrate social intercourse between the big five. Between the initial overview and the concluding summary, three chapters provide respectively a view of Stephen Crane on a visit to England to meet the other masters of ficti! onal prose, a study of the collaboration between Ford Madox Ford and Joseph Conrad, and an examination of one of English literature's most famous disputes - James vs. Wells.

I found the book informative and interesting and recommend it to any admirer of any of the five writers singularly or in combination. About those we admire our curiosity is insatiable. Did Shakespeare like his eggs over easy or sunny side up? We have his Hamlet, his Lear, isn't that enough? Some might say no. We have Crane's "Open Boat", Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", Ford's *Good soldier, James' *Ambassadors, Wells' *Time Machine*. Still, it's natural to inquire about the virtues, quirks, and foibles of their creators. *Group Portrait* gives us a taste of the traits that rounds out these illustrious authors.

A sad epilogue to which Mr. Delbanco refers in his lead chapter is that this literary summer was so brief. Crane died in 1900. Eventually the other associations wither! ed. By 1906 the friendship between Conrad and Ford had coo! led. *Boon* published in 1915 dissolved Wells' ties to James with its ridicule of the latter. For a while there was Camelot albeit a loose confederacy of brilliant writers. A genius needs a tough ego to sustain him for the long haul to fortune and fame. An alternate lesson from *Group portrait, perhaps one not intended, but nevertheless patent, is that collaboration must eventually give way to ego.

It is well written. The idea of a storyteller in the story is not unique but very effective. We could ponder over the word darkness for quite some time. The best way to ponder is with Cliff's Notes. Personally I wanted him to get on with it. I guess I was a little impatient for the action and the conclusion. If it hadn't been for cliff notes I would have missed haft the things he was implying.

A merchant company is missing an agent Kurtz, and Marlowe must find him. Traveling though harsher environments than he imagined possible he may have found what he was seeking. As with many of this type of epic the physical distance or direction is not as important then the transformation it plays on ones soul.

I missed this book somehow in school. The reason I started to read this book before actually I actually became immersed in it, was to see how close it came to the movie. No not the movie you are thinking of. "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death" (1988) . The film was shot primarily in the avocado groves maintained by the University of California at Riverside (UCR), which the university uses for horticultural experiments. Adrienne Barbeau is Dr. Kurtz.
The horror.....the horror.....

Most fans of Conrad seem to consider his Ford collaborations to be secondary writing. I disagree though. Although this book does not rate with Lord Jim or Nostomo as a great work, it's still a well-crafted, thoughtful piece of writing. Conrad as a non-genre sf wrier, so for this--his only SF foray--to be as good as it is is impressive to say the least. Unfortunately, there is from time to time a narrative unease between Conrad and Ford that somewhat keeps the novel from perfection. Still, it is stylish, sophisticated, and crisply written and handles its material deftly. It should be more widely known.

Joseph Conrad was one of the world's greatest English writers. How he reached that position is a fascinating story. Born in the Ukraine to parents who were ardent Polish nationalists, Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski knew oppression and difficulties at a young age. Before he was born, the nation that was once known as Poland had been dismembered and incorporated into the German, Austrian and Russian Empires. All three nations were vigorous in their repression of Polish nationalism, with the Russians being especially harsh.
After his difficult upbringing, he became a sailor, traveling all the world's oceans, starting at the bottom and eventually becoming a mate and then a captain. It was at this time that he started to write in earnest and fortunately, his talent was identified and nurtured. He gave up a life at sea to get married, write and raise children. Fortunately for us all, he was able to dedicate the time he needed to writing and produced a great deal of quality work.
This book is a short, yet essentially complete biography of this extraordinary man, who succeeded despite such enormous odds. He survived the oppression of the Polish people, managed to live through harrowing adventures at sea and learned English well enough to write compelling novels. This is an inspiring story of dedication, hard work and perseverance.

Like Ford Maddox Ford, Curle was, for a time, an intimate literary friend of Conrad's. His book provides some interesting insights into the great author's writing process and into his personality, as well. For Conradians, Curle is an indispensible source. Jocelyn Baines provides the background. Curle provides the personal reflection, as when he describes Conrad's being subject to "paroxyms of fury, into which he could be plunged by people who, for one reason or another, had angered him."

We don't usually think of the stolid, placid, stoical Conrad as being a human being who could occasionally blow his top. Curle brings him down to earth a bit, as when he reports that Conrad was notoriously afraid of "losing his self-possession, even for a moment." Certainly the pictures of the author that have come down to us try to convey the image of the steady-going voyager and captain, ever-composed and thoroughly self-possessed. Curle's depiction shows us another side to this enigmatic author. One that historians and scholars should not overlook when investigating the great man's works.

It is a good book if you are dooing research on any of Conrad's books. Even if you are not but you like Conrads book this is a fun tool to use to see his point of view.

An uneven collection of seven short stories by the author of "The Bird Artist" and "The Museum Guard". Many of the stories feature one of Howard Norman's typically quirky, unmarried, 'male in his 20s or 30s' narrators. In his novels, these characters have the opportunity to grow on, and charm, the reader - this is less the case within the confines of the short story, so that often what remains with the reader is the eccentricity, without the charm.

I found the title story, in which the main protagonist never transcends his wilful eccentricity, to be the least successful among the seven included in this book. "Old Swimmers", with its alienated teenager and geriatric survivors of a torpedoed ferry, also failed to rise above the quirkiness of its characters. "Milk Train", in which an engineer considers his life while waiting for rescue in the aftermath of a train crash, seemed pointless, lacking in any kind of resolution.

However, I really enjoyed the remaining four stories: "Jenny Aloo", in which an Eskimo woman believes the spirit of her son has been trapped in a jukebox, "Laughing and Crying" (a young teenaged boy's confusion following his parents' divorce), "Whatever Lola Wants" (a man's special 50th birthday gift to his wife), and - the best in the book, in my opinion - "Catching Heat", in which a racing announcer describes his sadness at the loss of his girlfriend to a jockey.

As I said, a mixed bag. But the four best stories are really exceptional. Norman stays on my list of interesting writers to look out for.

Joseph Conrad's stories are generally regarded as classic literature, but tend to be difficult to read, especially Lord Jim. It is a story of the downfall of a ship's officer after he wimps out at a crucial moment. Where a less sensitive individual may have found the ability to survive, Jim in haunted by his own inner guilt about the incident. He gradually withdraws from white society.

The novel tends to digress and sidetrack while developing characters, so it is some way into the story before the reader learns exactly why Jim is before a maritime court, and even farther along before you discover what actually happened to the steamer Patna. Jim had a deep desire to do heroic deeds, but an error in judgement makes him a goat. The balance of the novel is on the life Jim made for himself, and on the people he associates with, as told by a narrator.

The novel was first published circa 1900, and reflects the white European attitude towards native populations during that time period.

I did not expect to enjoy this book, and it took a little while to get into it, but I found myself enthralled--and by the conclusion, moved--almost against my will.

Conrad's style here is a bit moody for my personal taste, but beautiful nonetheless. He makes brilliant use of the English language and is a master of the judicious metaphor. He draws you in as he slowly unravels his tale of an "overly romantic" man and his "exquisite egoism."

While Conrad doesn't quite compare with the great romanticists like Hugo and Dostoevsky, Lord Jim is one of the last great romantic novels, certainly far superior to almost any fiction being written today.

I did not expect to enjoy this book, and it took a little while to get into it, but I found myself enthralled--and by the conclusion, moved--almost against my will.

Conrad's style here is a bit moody for my personal taste, but beautiful nonetheless. He makes brilliant use of the English language and is a master of the judicious metaphor. He draws you in as he slowly unravels his tale of an "overly romantic" man and his "exquisite egoism."

While Conrad doesn't quite compare with the great romanticists like Hugo and Dostoevsky, Lord Jim is one of the last great romantic novels, certainly far superior to almost any fiction being written today.