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Up-to-date and extensive revision of Najder's much-acclaimed
scholarly biography of Conrad, employing newly accessible sources.
Joseph Conrad is not only one of the world's great writers of
English -- and world -- literature, but was a writer who lived a
particularly full and interesting life. For the biographer this is
a double-edged sword, however: thereare many periods for which
documentation is uncommonly difficult. Zdzislaw Najder's
meticulously documented biography first appeared in English in
1983, garnering high praise as the best, most complete biography of
Conrad. Najder's command of English, French, Polish, and Russian
allowed him access to a greater variety of sources than any other
biographer, and his Polish background and his own experience as an
exile have afforded him a unique affinity forConrad and his milieu.
All this has come into play once again in the present, extensively
revised edition: much of its extensive new material was unearthed
in newly-opened former east-bloc archives. There is new material on
Conrad's father's genealogy and his role in Polish politics;
Conrad's service in the French and British merchant marines; his
early English reading and correspondence; his experiences in the
Congo; the circumstances of writing his memoirs, and much more. In
addition, several aspects of Conrad's life and works are more
thoroughly analyzed: his problems with the English language; his
borrowings from French writers; his attitude toward socialism, his
reaction to the reception of his books. Zdzislaw Najder teaches at
the European Academy, Cracow.
Zdzislaw Najder, one of the world's leading authorities on Joseph
Conrad and author of the major biography Joseph Conrad: A Chronicle
(1983), is widely acclaimed for his particular insights into
Conrad's Polish background. The fruits of thirty years of Conrad
study appear in this landmark volume of his essays, which explore a
wide range of topics: Conrad's national and cultural heritage; his
fictions, from the unfinished 'Sisters' and Lord Jim to The Secret
Agent; his attitude towards Russia in general and Dostoevsky in
particular; his concepts of man and society; and the role of the
idea of honour in his work. In a series of more general essays
Najder goes on to place Conrad's work within a broad European
philosophical, political and literary context. Conrad in
Perspective offers new insights into the life and work of one of
the twentieth century's greatest novelists by one of his most
perceptive critics.
This volume brings together a wide range of letters and documents
which collectively shed a great deal of light on Joseph Conrad's
cultural roots, a subject of growing interest in recent years. The
texts have been edited by Professor Zdzislaw Najder, one of the
most eminent of Conrad scholars, and translated by Halina
Carroll-Najder. Very few of the texts collected here have been made
available in English before; many have never appeared in the
original Polish. The texts are grouped according to the events and
subjects referred to. A significant collection of letters by
Conrad's parents is particularly revealing. His mother, Ewa,
emerges as a deeply patriotic and religious woman who was intensely
loyal to her husband. His father, Apollo, was a complex man; proud,
self-centered, even opinionated, he was a poet and writer of
satirical comedies as well as being an outspoken democrat and
fierce patriot. A different influence on the young Conrad was
exerted by his uncle - guardian, Tadeusz Bobrowski, a levelheaded
rationalist and enlightened liberal; numerous fragments of his
memoirs are included in the book. His book will be an essential
tool of reference for all serious students of Conrad.
Serialized in Ford Madox Ford's English Review in 1908-9, A
Personal Record (1912) both documents and fictionalizes Conrad's
early life and the opening stages of his careers as a writer and as
a seaman. It is also an artistic and political manifesto. This
volume provides the most accurate and scholarly edition available.
Mistakes introduced by typists and earlier publishers have been
corrected to present the text as Conrad intended it. The
introduction traces Conrad's sources and gives the history of
writing and reception. The essay on the text and the apparatus set
out the textual history. The notes explain literary and historical
references, identify places, and gloss foreign terms. Four maps and
a genealogical table supplement this explanatory material. This
edition of A Personal Record, established through modern textual
scholarship, presents Conrad's reminiscences and the volume's two
prefaces in forms more authoritative than any so far printed.
This volume brings together a wide range of letters and documents
which collectively shed a great deal of light on Joseph Conrad's
cultural roots, a subject of growing interest in recent years. The
texts have been edited by Professor Zdzislaw Najder, one of the
most eminent of Conrad scholars, and translated by Halina
Carroll-Najder. Very few of the texts collected here have been made
available in English before; many have never appeared in the
original Polish. The texts are grouped according to the events and
subjects referred to. A significant collection of letters by
Conrad's parents is particularly revealing. His mother, Ewa,
emerges as a deeply patriotic and religious woman who was intensely
loyal to her husband. His father, Apollo, was a complex man; proud,
self-centered, even opinionated, he was a poet and writer of
satirical comedies as well as being an outspoken democrat and
fierce patriot. A different influence on the young Conrad was
exerted by his uncle - guardian, Tadeusz Bobrowski, a levelheaded
rationalist and enlightened liberal; numerous fragments of his
memoirs are included in the book. His book will be an essential
tool of reference for all serious students of Conrad.
Zdzislaw Najder, one of the world's leading authorities on Joseph
Conrad and author of the major biography Joseph Conrad: A Chronicle
(1983), is widely acclaimed for his particular insights into
Conrad's Polish background. The fruits of thirty years of Conrad
study appear in this landmark volume of his essays, which explore a
wide range of topics: Conrad's national and cultural heritage; his
fictions, from the unfinished 'Sisters' and Lord Jim to The Secret
Agent; his attitude towards Russia in general and Dostoevsky in
particular; his concepts of man and society; and the role of the
idea of honour in his work. In a series of more general essays
Najder goes on to place Conrad's work within a broad European
philosophical, political and literary context. Conrad in
Perspective offers new insights into the life and work of one of
the twentieth century's greatest novelists by one of his most
perceptive critics.
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