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Joseph Conrad Message Board 1/1/2012
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Conrad has written!

Author Conrad's Book Reviews

Children of the Sea
In Children of the Sea, a ship picks up a black man named James Wait. He soon falls ill, and the other sailors tend to him as he dies. They discover some basic truths about society as a whole....
Heart of Darkness
Marlow tells his companions the story of his adventures in Africa. He is hired by a European company to be the captain of a steamer to pilot the boat through the rivers to reach the different stations. The company's pretext is to spread knowledge through Africa, but they are there to make money, particularly from ivory. Their travels through Africa are made when Africa was at its roughest, with cannibals still a danger. Marlow hears about a man...
Lord Jim
After a public naval disgrace disbars him from being a sailor anymore, Jim becomes the head of a remote trading station in the East Indies and ultimately has to come to terms with what his position of authority over the local natives actually means, and requires. Jim grew up on tales of the sea. He always wanted nothing more than to be a heroic sailor exploring the world's vast oceans, so when he gets his seaman's certificate and a posting on the Patna, ...
Nostromo
Nostromo is the story of a sailor named Nostromo, who left his own country, Italy, for a Latin American country, Costaguan by name, where he becomes respected by people there. From start to finish, Nostromo is so much concerned about his own reputation. All that he cares for is what other people say about him. He feels happy when people call him "man of the people." Once, Nostromo is asked by Mr. Charles Gould, the richest businessman and the ...

Conrad booklist

The Secret Agent
An incompetent secret agent in late-19th century London finds that he can no longer coast along in his espionage duties and gets caught up in an ill-conceived anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Adolf Verloc lives a double life. On the surface, he is an odd, lazy man who owns a small shop that sells various pornographic and sexual items. But this is merely a front for his real job as an odd, lazy secret agent employed by the Russian emba...
Under Western Eyes
This is the story of Razamouv, a student of philosophy at Petersburg University, who is so interested in studying. But in time, he is startled by the traumatizing arrival of Victor Victrovitch Haldin, a bloody revolutionary who managed to assasinate a famous Russian minister, Mr. d-P. For Razamouv, Haldin is a terrorist. Hence, he betrays Haldin to the Russian police after he promised to give him a helping hand. Haldin was executioned by the Russian aut...
Victory
Axel Heyst, a wealthy recluse, gets drawn into the imperial maneuvering in the East Indies; he rejects it all for the idle happiness of a remote island, only to have it all taken away from him in a single tragic moment. For Heyst, a simple and relatively small act of generosity sets the entire plot into motion. The novel begins with Heyst having a chance encounter with an English businessman named Morrison. During their conversation, Morrison complains a...