The work, written in 1896 and partly based on Conrad's experiences of a voyage from Bombay to London, began as a short story but developed into a novella of some 53,000 words. As it grew, Conrad began to think of its being serialized. After Smith Elder had rejected it for the Cornhill Magazine, William Ernest Henley accepted it for the New Review, and Conrad wrote to his agent, Garnett, "Now I have conquered Henley, I ain't 'fraid o' the divvle himself " Some years later, in 1904, Conrad described this acceptance as "the first event in my writing life which really counted." In the United...

The story takes place in Africa during the time it was colonized by Europeans. The actual date of the events is not included, but one can surmise from the date of publication that it is sometime in the late 1800's. Carlier and Kayerts, two white men, are dropped off at the trading post by a steamboat. They live in a house, built of reeds with a verandah on all sides, which sits in a clearing in the jungle. A native man named Makola lives with his wife and three children, in a hut nearby. Beyond the houses is the grave of a painter who ran the trading post before he died of a fever. Over this...

Under Western Eyes (1911) is a novel by Joseph Conrad. The novel takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Geneva, Switzerland, and is viewed as Conrad's response to the themes explored in Crime and Punishment; Conrad was reputed to have detested Dostoevsky. It is also, some say, Conrad's response to his own early life; his father was a famous revolutionary imprisoned by the Russians, but, instead of following in his father's footsteps, at the age of sixteen Conrad left his native land forever. 1]:89 2] Indeed, while writing Under Western Eyes, Conrad suffered a weeks-long breakdown during...

"The Secret Sharer" begins with the anonymous narrator - the recently appointed captain of an unnamed ship - anchored in the Gulf of Siam (what is now called the Gulf of Thailand). As the Captain stands on the deck, alone, he soaks in the sunset and silence of the sea. He feels like a stranger to his new command, the ship, and his crew. At supper that night, the Captain remarks that he saw the masts of a ship that must be anchored inside a nearby group of islands. The Second Mate tells him that the ship is the Sephora, from Liverpool, carrying a cargo of coal. As a goodwill gesture toward the...

A Smile of Fortune is one of Joseph Conrad's lesser-known long stories. He was essentially a nineteenth century writer who anticipated and then lived into the modernist age of the early twentieth century, helping to shape its spirit of uncertainty, anxiety, and moral ambiguity. Even his own life and works share the contradictions of the era. He is best known as an author of mannish sea tales, yet he only achieved success with a novel set largely on dry land which had a woman as its central character (Flora Barral in Chance). A Smile of FortuneHe is now regarded as a great figure in the...

"An Outcast of the Islands" is my second novel in the absolute sense of the word; second in conception, second in execution, second as it were in its essence. There was no hesitation, half-formed plan, vague idea, or the vaguest reverie of anything else between it and "Almayer's Folly." The only doubt I suffered from, after the publication of "Almayer's Folly," was whether I should write another line for print. Those days, now grown so dim, had their poignant moments. Neither in my mind nor in my heart had I then given up the sea. In truth I was clinging to it desperately, all the more...

Victory (also published as Victory: An Island Tale) is a psychological novel by Joseph Conrad first published in 1915, through which Conrad achieved "popular success." The New York Times, however, called it "an uneven book" and "more open to criticism than most of Mr. Conrad's best work." The novel's "most striking formal characteristic is its shifting narrative and temporal perspective" with the first section from the viewpoint of a sailor, the second from omniscient perspective of Axel Heyst, the third from an interior perspective from Heyst, and the final section. It has been adapted into...

Much of the novel is a commentary on imperialism and gender roles, and is not plot driven. Most of the book takes place on Captain Tom Lingard's brig, Lightning or on other boats at sea around Malaysia, near the Indian Ocean. At the beginning of the novel, Lingard and his crew are traveling to the Malay Archipelago to help a friend take back his land in a fight amongst two Malay tribes. While in the waters his crew hears a loud sound, then sees the water foaming. A few moments later they see a small boat, and then hear a man, Mr. Carter, call out to them and asks to be allowed on board...

Chance is a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1913 following serial publication the previous year. Although the novel was not one upon which Conrad's later critical reputation was to depend, it was his greatest commercial success upon initial publication. Chance is narrated by Conrad's regular narrator, Charles Marlow, but is characterised by a complex, nested narrative in which different narrators take up the story at different points. The novel is also unusual among its author's works for its focus on a female character: the heroine, Flora de Barral. The narrators describe and attempt to...