Joseph Conrad – Interesting Literature

The Lesser Conrad: Notes on Under Western Eyes

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle revisits one of Joseph Conrad’s less celebrated masterpieces

The narrative style of Joseph Conrad’s 1911 novel Under Western Eyes is unusual. The narrator is not quite an omniscient third-person narrator (certainly, there is much he doesn’t know, as he keeps reminding us); nor is he a first-person narrator recounting things from his perspective (he wasn’t there any more than we were); nor is he merely the frame device for introducing the ‘found’ text of the protagonist Razumov’s account of the events, since he insists on mediating throughout, and won’t merely hand over the account of what happened fully to us. Nor does Razumov recount the events of the novel to us in the form of a verbal tale, as Marlow does with Conrad’s earlier novella, Heart of Darkness (1899). In short, Under Western Eyes has an odd narrative premise.

A Short Analysis of Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

F. Scott Fitzgerald left behind one of the most perfect novels ever written, The Great Gatsby: at least, that is the version of many critics. But even Fitzgerald once said, ‘I’d rather have written Conrad’s Nostromo than any other novel.’

Yet Nostromo is a challenging and multi-layered novel, demanding much of its readers, even when compared with the high demand Conrad places on his other fiction. What is Nostromo about, and how should we analyse this classic modernist novel about South American mining, capitalism, and revolution?

A Summary and Analysis of Joseph Conrad’s The Shadow-Line

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Joseph Conrad’s 1916 novella The Shadow-Line is much more conventional, at least ostensibly or superficially, than some of his most celebrated earlier fiction, such as Nostromo (1904) or Under Western Eyes (1911), even though it was written later than both of those novels. In many ways it signals a return to Conrad’s earlier writing, from the 1890s, and in particular such stories as ‘Youth’ (1898).

The Best Joseph Conrad Novels

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Joseph Conrad wrote numerous full-length novels, but what were Conrad’s best books? From his debut in 1895, Almayer’s Folly, to his final novel, Suspense (which he left unfinished – aptly, given the novel’s title – upon his death in 1924), Conrad’s fiction is an intriguing blend of difficult prose, exotic locations, adventure and betrayal, and moral and philosophical contemplation.

What follows is our pick of the best Joseph Conrad novels which everyone should read, presented in order where number 1 is ‘the best’ (a judgment that is bound to attract disagreement!). We’ve tried to steer clear of ‘spoilers’ per se, and instead offer very general summaries of the principal setup of the books being discussed.

Five Fascinating Facts about Joseph Conrad

Five fun facts about Joseph Conrad, author of the classic novella Heart of Darkness 1. In his twenties, Conrad resolved to kill himself with a gun – but miraculously he survived. Joseph Conrad – born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in Russian-occupied Poland in 1857 – was a bit of a gambler in his youth. In 1878, up to his … Read more