Conrad's Western World

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, 1971 - 455 pages
Conrad's Western World traces the sources of Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, The Secret Agent and some of the short stories related to these novels. As in his highly acclaimed Conrad's Eastern World, Professor Sherry provides an interesting blend of biographical reconstruction and investigation into the originals of the main incidents and characters - Kurtz, Nostromo, Verloc and many of the minor figures as well. It has been possible to show in the study of Conrad's source material a movement away from analyses of personal experience or the narrated experiences of others to a manipulation of material entirely outside the bounds of his own experience. This change reveals also a movement in interest from personal and private dilemmas to wider and more public concerns, and shows Conrad developing a progressive sense of the frightening underside of human society. Finally, Professor Sherry considers the play of Conrad's mind over his source material and traces the development of individual works from the given sources to the completed fiction. This reconstruction of Conrad's original materials and the tracing of their development into literary works of great distinction gives us a unique insight into Conrad's preoccupations and art.
 

Contents

The Fascination of Africa
2
Stanley Fallsthe Heart of Darkness
8
62
26
Kurtz
92
Henry Morton Stanleythe Yawl Nellie
119
An Outpost of Progress
131
Gaspar Ruiz
137
The Garibaldino
153
The Assistant Commissioner
296
Chief Inspector Heat
302
Verloc
314
A P Kriegera speculation
325
Conclusion
337
APPENDICES
373
A Johannes Freieslebens death certificate
375
B Movement of shipping through Bangala
376

The Informer page
205
An Anarchist
219
The Bomb Outrage
228
The Anarchists
248
Karl Yundt
253
Michaelis
260
The Professor
274
Sir Ethelred the Home Secretary
286
Kleins death certificate
378
The Greenwich Mystery
379
E Two unpublished letters from Conrad to Krieger
395
Notes
396
Nostromo and Decoud
417
Index
443
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