Product Description
Edited and with an Introduction by Dr Keith Carabine, Chairperson of the Joseph Conrad Society of Great BritainAs these three specially commissioned stories amply demonstrate, Conrad is our greatest writer of the sea. His characters are tested by dramatic events 'that show in the light of day the inner worth of a man, the edge of his temper, and the fibre of his stuff; that reveal the quality of his resistance and the secret stuff of his pretences, not only to others but also to himself'.In Typhoon, Conrad's funniest story, Captain MacWhirr blunders into a hurricane that reveals the sea's treachery, violence and terror.Falk is desperate to get married, but first he must tell of his terrible experiences as sole survivor of a stricken ship that once drifted into the ice-caps of Antarctica.The Shadow-Line is a poignant and beautiful story. Written during the First World War and based on Conrad's fond evocation of his own first command, it expresses his solidarity with all who were obliged to cross in early youth the shadow-line of their war-torn generation.Includes a glossary of nautical terms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The unexpected influences of the hour
These stories give an eminent picture of Conrad's craftsmanship in building short tales and in brushing a vitally true portrait of live on the sea. For him, `the sea is the only world that counted' and ships `the test of manliness, of courage and fidelity - and of love.'

`Typhoon' relates the brutal battle between a ship (and its crew) against the combined forces of raging winds and water. The violent struggle for survival sharpens the already strained relations between friends and foes within the crew and the passengers (Chinese coolies).
In `Falk: A Reminiscence', the storyteller becomes a match-maker between a German girl and a `cannibal'. Cannibalism was forced on him by the cruel sea, which has `no respect for decency. An elemental force is ruthlessly frank.'
In `The Shadow Line' (`warning one that the region of early youth must be left behind'), the storyteller relates his first job as a captain: `a ship, spellbound, unable to live, to get into the world (till I came), like an enchanted princess.' The journey becomes a nightmare with a sick crew, no medicines and no wind. After the voyage, `well I am no longer a youngster.'

In these stories, the elemental forces of nature are combined with professional and emotional frontal collisions between crew members at all levels and even with jealous bureaucrats. `Human nature is, I fear, not very nice right trough. There are ugly spots in it.'

Not to be missed.
... Read more

Product Description
The concept of mastery straddles a largely unexamined seam in contemporary thought dividing admirable self-control from a reprehensible will to power. Although Joseph Conrad has traditionally been viewed as an admirable master--master mariner, storyteller, and writer--his reputation has been linked in recent years to the negative masteries of racism, imperialism, and patriarchy.

In this book, Geoffrey Galt Harpham delves not only into Conrad's literary work and reputation but also into the concept of mastery. Outlining a psychology of composition that embraces Conrad's personal as well as historical circumstances, Harpham sheds new light on traditional issues in Conrad criticism, such as his Polish background and his preoccupation with the sea, by linking them to less frequently discussed subjects, including his elusive sexuality and his idiosyncratic relation to the English language.

One of Us represents both a methodological innovation in the practice of literary criticism and an important contribution to our understanding of how masters--and canons based on them--are made. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of eight critical essays on Conrad's novel, arranged in chronological order of publication. ... Read more

Product Description
Published here for the first time with Conrad’s complete Congo Diary and Up–river Book, this is a centenary edition of the author’s masterpiece—a profound exploration of the human subconscious twinned with a terrifying portrayal of the dangers of imperialism. A work of immense significance, it has been hailed as the first novel of the 20th century.

In this searing tale, Seaman Marlow recounts his journey to the dark heart of the Belgian Congo in search of the elusive Mr. Kurtz. Far from civilization as he knows it, he comes to reassess not only his own values, but also those of nature and society. For in this heart of darkness, it is the fearsome face of human savagery that becomes most visible.With a Foreword by A.N. Wilson. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

"Mistah Kurtz--he dead."An influential work on five 20th century seminal works
I read this book for a graduate Humanities course.Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, written in 1899 is a seminal work about the ills of colonialism, as well as a postmodern look at the subject of mankind.Conrad's book had a crucial influence on five important works of the twentieth century: J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough.Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Francis Ford Coppolla's movie Apocalypse Now, screenplay by John Milius, was based on Conrad's book.Another interesting fact is that this work was read by Orson Welle's Mercury Theater Players on the radio and was to be his first movie.After doing some work on it he abandoned the project to do Citizen Kane!I would have loved to of seen what Welles could have done with this story.Conrad's story is so riveting in part, because he himself served as a riverboat captain.High school teachers and college professors who have discussed this book in thousands of classrooms over the years tend to do so in terms of Freud, Jung, and Nietzsche; of classical myth, Victorian innocence, and original sin; of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism.

Just a taste of the plot reels you in! Marlow, the narrator of Heart of Darkness and Conrad's alter ego, is hired by an ivory-trading company to sail a steamboat up an unnamed river whose shape on the map resembles "an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country and its tail lost in the depths of the land" (8). His destination is a post where the company's brilliant, ambitious star agent, Mr. Kurtz, is stationed. Kurtz has collected legendary quantities of ivory, but, Marlow learns along the way, is also rumored to have sunk into unspecified savagery. Marlow's steamer survives an attack by blacks and picks up a load of ivory and the ill Kurtz; Kurtz, talking of his grandiose plans, dies on board as they travel, downstream.

Sketched with only a few bold strokes, Kurtz's image has nonetheless remained in the memories of millions of readers: the lone white agent far up the great river, with his dreams of grandeur,his great store of precious ivory, and his fiefdom carved out of the African jungle.Perhaps more than anything, we remember Marlow, on the steamboat, looking through binoculars at what he thinks are ornamental knobs atop the fence posts in front of Kurtz's house and then finding that each is "black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids-a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth" (57).

I especially became interested in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness from the movie Apocalypse Now.There is a scene in the movie that shows Colonel Kurtz's nightstand in his cave.T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land is one of three books on the nightstand.The other two are Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, and J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough.Anyone wanting to understand the movie Apocalypse Now, especially the character of Colonel Kurtz, and what Milius and Copolla are trying to tell their audience need to read these three books as well as Conrad's Heart of Darkness!

As a graduate student reading in philosophy and history I recommend this book for anyone interested in literature, myth, history, philosophy, religion and fans of Apocalypse Now.

PBRK at 34ºSouth
Heart of Darkness is encapsulated in a time of human history when exploitation, murder and mayhem was brought onto Africa and its peoples by besotted power-hungry brutally callous buccaneering white men from Europe.The riches of Africa were raped and plundered and its peoples humiliated, murdered, displaced and treated as animals. Africa was butchered like a wild animal and the carcass divided amongst the colonial powers.

Marlow, the narrator, during that sad epoch, tells his story of a mission to the Congo to pilot a steamboat on the Congo River for `the Company'.On arrival at the decrepit sham of a Central Station on the River where suspicion and decay and corruption hangs over everything Marlow learned that a very important trading station was in jeopardy and that it's chief, Mr. Kurtz was ill at a deserted trading post 300 miles down stream.

The manager of the Central Station, a sordid, greedy, cruel and bloated insecure white man live a life of uncertainty amongst filth and decaying bodies of chained and starvingindigenous black people and idle suspicious white workers.And Kurtz is piped to succeed him.And he hates Kurtz with a vengeance.And Kurtz hates and despises him.

Kurtz a man "of greatness, of generous mind, of noble heart, a great musician, and a man of magnificent eloquence" is a man of great influence with the Council in Europe.Kurtz asked to be sent to the outpost. His self declared mission "each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a center for trade of course, but also humanizing, improving, instructing"

Kurtz send large hoards of ivory to the Central Station with his assistant and returned alone in a dugout canoe to his trading post. And Kurtz disappeared for nine months; wild rumors reached the Central Station; and the ivory from Kurtz dries up to the consternation of the manager of the Central Station.

Going up the river to Kurtz's trading post Marlow experienced the great silence and spookiness of the impenetrable tropical rainforest and the boat followed by angry indigenous people hiding in the thickets. Finding Kurtz, metamorphose has happened, the refined man turned into a maniac, adoring his fence posts with black, dried human heads.The wilderness has found him and crept into his being. His weary brain was haunted by shadowy images - images of wealth and fame - and turbulent angst tormented his soul.He transformed into a heart of darkness. He hoarded all the ivory he could find and claim it as his; he raised an impi of naked spear carrying indigenous black men lead by a black warrior woman and he died lonely and frightened and his body was slid into the turbulent waters of the Congo River.

A Haunting Re-Readable Classic
Set in the Belgian Congo during the 19th century Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, is a journey to the darkest corners of the wilderness and the human heart. The story is told by Marlow, a sailor, who journeys to the Congo to captain a river steamer and ends up on a expedition to save an extrodinary ivory trader by the name of Mr. Kurtz.

Throughout this journey he encounters the raw brutality of colonialism in all its horror and greed. Conrad brings the reader to the frontier where men do savage things all for the spoils of conquest. This is in sharp contrast with other African adventure classics, such as King Solomon's Mines, which take a much more amiable view of the conquest of Africa.

Conrad shows all this barbarism with vivid imagery. His description of the Congo wilderness brings it life with all the mystery and majesty it is due. Conrad's prose is magnificent; you feel like you are at Marlow's side throughout the whole story. However anyone thinking this is a fast paced thriller is mistaken. It plot moves at a leisurely pace and isn't as rushed as novels today.

Another one of the beauties of this book is its re-readability. I first read it through without reading the introduction and I am glad I did. It let me interperet the meaning of the book without anyone else's influences and when I read the introduction at the end I found that there was a myraid of other themes that could be drawn from the story that I had not thought of. I am now reading it a second time in a new light. I suggest anyone reading it the first time to skip the intro and the footnotes until you've read it once. It will definetly make it a more enjoyable read.

Not that it is not already an excellent book. Heart of Darkness is a literature masterpiece that shows the raw repungent character of colonialism and human nature with haunting power.

The horror! The horror!
Being that it is only about 90 pages long, I was able to finish this story in one afternoon. It is easy to see why Whites and Blacks get such different messages from the book.

The reader is encouraged, throughout the story, to be sympathetic to the White characters. Since most Whites, even in the 21st century, have yet to shed their racist garments, they will naturally emphathize with the plight of these poor White guys who, unfortunately, are "forced" to put up with the strangeness of this strange land in order to steal the resources from that land's inhabitants. After all, White guys are having to put up with similar trials even today in order to steal the resources from, yeah, that's right, the same country, the Congo. Oh, pity those poor French military advisors who are forced to go into the "Heart of Darkness" to keep the natives fighting each other, to make sure they don't turn on the real theives of their abundant mineral resources. The horror! The horror!

By contrast, Conrad's treatment of his black characters is non-existent. They are soul-less beasts of burden. Conrad doesn't even bother to give them names. They are just referred to as niggers. When they are described as being beaten, or left alone to die, or forced to work on Marlow's ship for over a month with no food except rotten hippo meat (Marlow's only concern was that the smell of the rotted meat was annoying the White guys), Conrad writes of these incidents with no more sympathy than what you would expect from a description of an ant being stepped on by our poor embattled protagonist. Only a Black fool would not be offended by Conrad's work and Barak Obama is anything but that.

To get some idea of just how bad Conrad's character development is, compare it to that of one of his contemporaries who actually had talent ... Mark Twain. It is a sign of Twain's genius that he could suck Whites in by using the word "nigger", but at the same time get them to see his black characters as human beings. His black characters had names, families, they could even feel love and pain. Just like White people. Imagine that.

A fictional account of the novelist's experience in Africa
The story is that of a group of men aboard the Nellie, among them the anonymous narrator, who are told Marlow's experience in the Congo in the 1890s. Marlow's career, like Conrad's, spans an important period in the history of relations between Europe and Africa. The author's purpose is to show that the "civilising" mission actually reveals the "darkness" at its own heart instead of bringing light into the darkness as it claims.
In 1890 Conrad was appointed to the Congo by the Societe Anonyme Belge pour le Commerce and in June that year he reached Kinshasa, the Central Station in "Heart of Darkness". But soon the idealised realities of a boy's dreams were replaced by "the distasteful knowledge of the vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human conscience and geographical exploration" (in "Last Essays").
Thus Marlow's journey to the Congo becomes a moral journey in which he confronts the workings of colonialism and his account is a frame-tale with inset stories, a so-called "oblique narration" - a tale within another tale. The darkness of Marlow's expedition is enhanced by the fact that his quest for Kurz contains repeated references to the latter's "eloquence" and "gift of expression" thus promising to articulate the solution to the moral and philosophical problems that the journey has created. Marlow's encounter with Kurz is a bitter disappointment with its "desolate exclamations, shrugs, hints ending in sighs".
Although Conrad shows the criminality of inefficiency and selfishness of Europeans when dealing with the civilising work of Africa, the narrative is not gloomy. Kurz himself is merely a victim of the discourse of imperialism and his break-up shows how damaging it is for both Africans and Europeans.
Another aspect in Conrad's novel is the stereotypical representation of women and the exclusion of the female reader. This is shown in Kurz's last words before dying: "The horror! The horror!" which refer to his Intended! ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Conrad's Gift to the Insomniac
Forced to read this for a college English course.Conrad is better than any sleeping pill.

Difficult book, but one of my favorites
This is a fascinating book. Although it is difficult to understand, if one reads carefully and even discovers the basic plot, it is an incredibly rewarding experience. When I first read it I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. I recommend this book to anyone who read Heart of Darkness and is interested in the further adventures of the philisopical and self-reflective Marlow. This is an awesome book. ... Read more

Product Description
Lord Jim, first published in 1900, confirmed Conrad's place in literature as one of the first 'modernists' of English letters. Set in the Malay Archipelago, not only does the novel provide a gripping account of maritime adventure and romance, but also an exotic tale of the East.Nostromo is the only man capable of the decisive action needed to save the silver of the San Tome mine and secure independence for Sulaco, Occidental Province of the Latin American state of Costaguana. Is his integrity as unassailable as everyone believes, or will his ideals, like those which have inspired the struggling state itself, buckle under economic and political pressure?
The Secret Agent, Conrad's story of espionage and anarchists, tells of Winnie Verloc and her devotion to her peculiar and simple-minded brother, Stevie. Its savagely witty themes of human absurdity and misunderstanding are written in an ironic style that provokes both laughter and unease.
This volume also includes a selection of Conrad's matchless short stories - Youth, Typhoon, Heart of Darkness, The End of the Tether and The Shadow-Line ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The book is HUGE
I was looking forward to receiving this single volume collection of Conrad's, but it is HUGE!It is bigger than Strongs Concordance!This makes for uncomfortable reading.The two positives are that I will be able to read Conrad and build my arm muscles up at the same time.Seriously, they should have made this a two-volume set. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
Adolph Verloc leads a double life. As well as running his seedy Soho shop, he is also a secret agent, operating for an underground anarchist cell - and his job is about to get far more dangerous. When his leaders instruct him to plant a bomb at Greenwich Observatory, his plans go terribly awry, with tragic repercussions for him and his family. Books that save lives come in one colour. Choose (Penguin Classics) Red, Save Lives. Penguin Classics has partnered with (Product) Red to bring you our selection of some of the best books ever written. We will be contributing 50 per cent of the profits from the sale of (Penguin Classics) Red editions to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. Now great books can help save lives. ... Read more

Product Description
The Fourth Edition is again based on Robert Kimbrough’s meticulously re-edited text.Missing words have been restored and the entire novel has been repunctuated in accordance with Conrad’sstyle. The result is the first published version of Heart of Darkness that allows readers to hearMarlow’s voice as Conrad heard it when he wrotethe story."Backgrounds and Contexts" provides readers with a generous collection ofmaps and photographs that bring the BelgianCongo to life. Textual materials, topicallyarranged, address nineteenth-century views ofimperialism and racism and includeautobiographical writings by Conrad on his lifein the Congo. New to the Fourth Edition is anexcerpt from Adam Hochschild’s recent book, King Leopold’s Ghost, as well as writings on race byHegel, Darwin, andGalton."Criticism" includes a wealth of new materials, including nine contemporaryreviews and assessments of Conrad and Heart ofDarkness and twelve recent essays by ChinuaAchebe, Peter Brooks, Daphne Erdinast-Vulcan,Edward Said, and Paul B. Armstrong, amongothers. Also new to this edition is a section of writings on the connections between Heart ofDarkness and the film Apocalypse Now by Louis K. Greiff, Margot Norris, and Lynda J. Dryden.AChronology and Selected Bibliography are alsoincluded. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Real perspective
Conrad was there. He saw the savagery. He wrote a story. Today we form opinions about American Indians, or African colonialism, based on input from many sources. Most of these sources are revisionist. The reality is it was all savage. At one with nature? Yeah right. Nature is hot, brutal, and exploitative. Stop to think about it too long and it will drive you insane.

What will man do when away from "civilization"
This is an incredible look at what is in our heart and how devoid critical eyes we may act.I would love to think that some of the actions of Kurtz is not something I could bring myself to doing, but being a Soldier I have even seen slips of "right/wrong" when you have ultimate power over someone.

This short book should be poored over in silence so you can actually feel the emotions that poor from Conrad.If you have not read this book in a decade, read it again and you will probably come away with a very different feeling (or maybe it is just that I have experienced combat since reading it last).

Finally, being a Buddhist I really felt that the "circle" of life was explained in Kurtz final words, "the horror", but part of me was pulling for his redemption and longed for part of the story of what Kurtz would have become if he had left the river.

One last thing that may haunt the reader is the spooky thought that there may be a Kurtz inside each of us.If you will not accept this fact I think you have not truly inspected your own posibilities.....and how different situations will drastically change what you will allow of yourself.

Understanding Apocalypse Now
How I came to this book was my interest and fascination in Francis Ford Coppola's feature film Apocalypse Now. Apocalypse Now was based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

Heart of Darkness traces the journey of the central character Charles Marlow who takes employment as the captain of a ferry boat at the behest of his employer, a Belgian Trading Company, with instructions to transport ivory down the Congo river and, more significantly so, to bring Kurtz (a trading post commander and ivory trader) back.

Without making comparisons between the feature film and the book, let's just say that upon reading Conrad, I fully understood the Kurtz character in the feature. Marlow, in the book, and at a station on the way up the river, is told by his employer's accountant that Kurtz is a "remarkable person".

And therein develops Marlow's fascination with the man Kurtz and the subtle, yet extremely powerful, development of Kurtz the character in advance of Marlow's final meeting with him. Marlow is provided with snippets of information about Kurtz which reveal Kurtz more and to Marlow adding fuel to Marlow's benign interest in him. Saying Kurtz's reputation precedes him is an insult to the man. Kurtz has become a deity in the jungle.

Implicit in the book is the issue of the colonisation by Europe of Africa and the plundering of Africa's resources. As you will no doubt know, King Leopold of Belgium raped and plundered the Congo for his own benefit which unfortunately has set in motion the future of the present day country, which still finds itself mired in corruption, genocide and exploitation of natural resources and it's people(pretty much the same as most African states which were former Eurpoean colonies).

Conrad has been unfairly accused of being racist in his alleged depiction of native Africans in the book as savages. If anything, Conrad is sensitive to the plight of the indigenous people and their exploitation by their European masters.

Marlow's final encounter with Kurtz at his jungle outpost and his personal meeting with the man is electric and will leave you with a permanent imprint of Kurtz in both the book and the feature film.

Many reviews unfortunately give away the plot and in doing so spoil the piece of literature. I will not do that. My advice is this: watch the movie (the Redux version) with the volume up loud and absorb the the sights, sounds, texture and power that is Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Then take a few weeks off, allowing your mind to quietly ruminate over Coppola's masterpiece. Then read the book. Once you've read the book, Kurtz in both the feature and the book will make perfect sense to you.

A surreal narrative on the savagery of imperialism
The narrative of the trip down the Congo River by Charles Marlowe is filled with mystery, suspense, and subtlety.It is the late 1800s, and the narrator--Mr. Marlowe--is commissioned to sail deep down into Africa on a steamship to retrieve a Mr. Kurtz.Kurtz is spoken of as almost a demigod who forages for ivory amongst the tribes deep in the jungle.
Mechanical failures and brutal native ambushes help to set the scene for the final horrible port of the ship--Kurtz's outpost.Kurtz has been living amongst the natives, using them for his savage exploits.The narrator himself is both appalled and softened by seeing this shell of a supposedly great man now turned into a monster.
Conrad's message with this novella is a strong anti-colonial one.Most pieces of literature of the preceding couple centuries portrayed imperialism as a extended form of patriotism and manifest destiny for European states; it was a way of further expanding the supposed-greatness that already existed.Conrad turns that on its head by showing how well educated, civilized men full of deep-seeded moral rigor can quickly turn into abject monsters, as even the narrator is at times swayed with empathy for Kurtz.


Matt Finizio
[...]
Box off.Life on.

Heart of Truthfulness
This is one of those books that I've heard about all my life, but never got around to reading.This is not because I don't like to read, but because I read too much -- for research and pleasure -- and don't have time or strength of eye to read what I WANT to read, just because I want to.So I listened to the book-on-CD version of Conrad's classic, and was glad I did.

One thing about the book is, skip all the commentary and just read or listen to the book.If you have extra time, go back and read it again.(I'll want to mark key passages eventually on a paper version.)Conrad is a great writer; his writings do not need to be "explained."

It's not only a good story -- and it is that -- Heart of Darkness is also (transparently, who needs commentary?) a critique both of colonialism and of human nature in general.The narrator's preference for the raw barbarity of his anti-hero over the veneer of civility in the Beligian company for which he works, is telling.

It is also, perhaps, significant that the scene of this descent into moral madness is Belgian Congo.Go back to day, and how much has changed?It's still one of the nastiest places on earth.

As a former missionary, I do happen to think there are better models of cultural transmission than either of the alternatives Conrad describes.I believe redemption is possible, not only in theory, but in historical fact.But I appreciate his description of the journey upriver -- which in many ways is a journey into the raw human heart.He reminds me of Orwell, another atheist who faced the cruelty of human nature with great honesty.Redemption doesn't need to end with the Heart of Darkness, but it does begin by honestly facing these truths. ... Read more

Product Description
The Inheritors is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Joseph Conrad is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Joseph Conrad then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Kindle edition okay, content is the problem
I concur with previous reviewer: this one is BORING!!! I like Joseph Conrad fiction, and would recommend "Heart of Darkness" instead. The tropical locale makes the story much more vivid, and Conrad's descriptions and characterization are far better.Same is true for Conrad's "Lord Jim", if you want something longer than "Heart of Darkness". Both are available for Kindle.

Regarding Kindle, this is a reasonable quality version of the original work, with few errors or oddities. Otherwise, I would've given only one star.

While Acclaimed by Many . . .
While acclaimed by many, The Secret Agent does not seem to me to be Conrad at his best.If you want him at his best, read the stories of the sea or stories taking place in exotic locales -- Nostromo, Almayer's Folly, Youth, Lord Jim or others with similar settings.

Readable version of the tale
I'll let you look other places for a description of the tale.For Kindle readers, I thought it might be helpful to know that the transcription of the work appears near error free.(I encountered one typo during my read.)So, if you're interested in the novel, this certainly is well worth the price. ... Read more

Product Description
Webster's edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of synonyms and antonyms for difficult and often ambiguous English words that are encountered in other works of literature, conversation, or academic examinations. Extremely rare or idiosyncratic words and expressions are given lower priority in the notes compared to words which are ¿difficult, and often encountered¿ in examinations. Rather than supply a single synonym, many areprovided for a variety of meanings, allowing readers to better grasp the ambiguity of the English language, and avoid using the notes as a pure crutch. Having the reader decipher a word's meaning within context serves to improve vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not already highlighted on previous pages. If a difficult word is not noted on a page, chances are that it has been highlighted on a previous page. A more complete thesaurus is supplied at the end of the book; synonyms and antonyms are extracted from Webster's Online Dictionary.

PSAT¿ is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT¿ is a registered trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE¿, AP¿ and Advanced Placement¿ are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT¿ is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT¿ is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Great Collection
Joseph Conrad is one of the greatest short story and novella writers, and this excellent omnibus has four of his best short works:"Youth," "Heart of Darkness," "Amy Foster," and "The Secret Sharer." All are essential for any fan or critic and an excellent place for the curious to start. However, all are available in many editions with widely varying supplemental material and prices. Readers must decide what edition suits their needs, but anyone wanting a representative selection with substantial supplementary material at a reasonable price could do no better.

"Youth" is one of Conrad's most famous and acclaimed stories but is in my view the weak link. Like the better-known "Heart of Darkness," it is told by the character Marlow through another first-person narrator, but the plot is more akin to the symbolic, adventure-esque seafaring stories of prior Conrad. There is more traditional excitement and suspense than in most Conrad, especially later work, which may attract those who usually dislike his fiction. However, as nearly always with him, symbolism is the real point. As the title suggests, this is a tale about youth and all it stands for and arguably one of its best literary representations. Marlow recalls the excitement and elation he felt when he first captained a ship, fondly recalling exuberance and naïveté long since lost. However, as so often in such situations, nearly everything goes wrong, and youthful ideals are put to experience's harshly dramatic test. "Youth" is thus a sort of mini-bildungsroman, though Marlow's mad rush for the symbolic finish at the end of his story proper shows he learned very little at the time. However, he is now wiser and older, and retelling the old story brings several ambivalent feelings. He sees how much he has conventionally grown and learned but cannot help lamenting the loss of idealism that is possible only in youth and that steadily dissipates with age to the extent that it becomes hardly recognizable. Many will unfortunately relate strongly to this, and there is a good dose of Conrad's always beautiful prose and, very unusually for him, even a little humor. "Youth" would easily be most writers' masterpiece but lacks the scope, ambition, and style of Conrad's best works.

"Heart of Darkness" is Conrad's most famous and arguably best work - not only one of the greatest short works ever but simply one of the greatest period. At once vividly realistic and profoundly symbolic, it on the one hand did much to expose the Belgian Congo's atrocities and on the other is a brilliant allegory whose precise meaning is still hotly debated over a century later. One would be very hard-pressed to find a text of such length with so many and various interpretations - nay, a text of any length; Shakespeare and a few other mainstays aside, hardly any other English language text has proven so malleable. It has been seen through lenses ranging from historical to psychoanalytic to seemingly everything between them - not least including biographical, as the scariest thing about the story is just how closely it is based on Conrad's experience. "Heart" is in many ways the culmination of early Conrad, which featured, among other focuses, a strong sea element and an emphasis on European colonialism in Africa and elsewhere. It fuses both into a dark masterpiece that works on many levels. Most simply and obviously, it can be appreciated as a sort of adventure story involving exploration and human endurance pushed to its limit; it has some fine suspense in this sense. Far more importantly, it is an unflinching look into the darkness of humanity's heart - a dramatization of just how low human nature can sink. This is most overt in the depiction of brutal inhumanity toward fellow human beings, but multiple symbolic layers make it all the more disturbing. Conrad shows that, for all civilization's supposed progress, the bestial instincts underlying humanity are only repressed - and quite weakly at that. It takes only an ostensibly primitive setting to bring them out, and when unleashed they can be at least as vicious as any wild animal's and worse in being malicious. Marlow's own harsh experience suggests all this, but it comes across most forcefully in the legendary character Kurtz. Like many ambitious but unethical Europeans of the era, Kurtz had no problem exploiting those in the Congo for personal gain, but the shocking conditions and enforced brutality eventually wear him down to the point where he snaps. It is debatable whether his days end in madness or some extreme guilt/shock combination, but his immortal final words - "The horror! The horror!" - sum up the whole story and all it symbolizes. The realization of just how bad things are hits Marlow so hard that he cannot bring himself to tell Kurtz's widow the truth, letting her think that his last words were her name, though he was so far gone that he had no time to even think of such things. As his final comment says, "It would have been too dark--too dark altogether..." Much the same may be said of the story itself, so realistically unflattering is its humanity depiction, which is a large part of the reason it is a masterwork. There are many others, not least Conrad's hauntingly beautiful and complex prose. Much of his reputation as a stylist comes from this, and it is simply incredible that he was not a native English speaker.

These factors among many others made "Heart" a standard of English curricula for decades, and its popularity shows no sign of lessening. However, it has been the focus of attention for another reason in the last few decades - racist accusations stemming from African writer Chinua Achebe's famous essay. Conrad was certainly prejudiced and ethnocentric, if not necessarily racist in today's sense, which is reflected in "Heart" and most of his other work. That said, for what it is worth, he was no more so than the average writer - much less the average person - of his day. Indeed, his experience as a Polish, initially non-English speaking outsider on ships around the world and in England gave him more empathy for those outside mainstream Western culture than nearly anyone else in it could have had. One can even argue that it is perverse to pick on "Heart" when racist overtones can be found in nearly every work from the Victorian era - nay, nearly everything right up until the last few decades - since it shows some empathy for Africans, is generally seen as anti-colonialist, and eventually helped lead to reform. Many also say that such a stance misses the story's larger point, racist or not. Yet there is much to Achebe's reading, and all serious fans should read it and make their own decision. Many editions include it, but all should seek it out.

This debate is also relevant to "Amy Foster"; Conrad's most underrated story, it shows the sufferings and uncertainties of outsiders in Western culture. Again inspired by Conrad's life, though considerably more dramatized than "Heart," it shows that he was keenly aware of just how alone even an ostensibly well-adjusted foreigner could be in nineteenth century Western Europe. Drenched in pathos, this is one of Conrad's most moving works and very thought-provoking. It is also of historical interest for those curious about the era's treatment of foreigners and other outsiders and abounds with anthropological significance. Including this is one of the collection's true strengths, as it is not as frequently anthologized as the rest.

"The Secret Sharer" is one of Conrad's final works of major short fiction and one of his best. It finds him returning to the sea after a long absence and has much of the suspense and adventurous spirit of his early works. Indeed, it may well be his most suspenseful and conventionally entertaining work of all; its influence on later writers is easy to see. This is so much so that it can be enjoyed by nearly anyone on this surface level, but as always with Conrad, there is deep symbolic value. "The Secret" again dramatizes outsider status, though more subtly and ambiguously than "Amy." It also deals with other important themes, including the clash of rules and personal morality, authority vs. individualism, etc. The story ends the collection on a very high note and will, along with the rest, lead readers to seek more Conrad.

Like all Barnes & Noble Classics editions, this has a wealth of supplemental material. Perhaps the most valuable is Conrad's own introduction, as his non-fiction pieces are always interesting and often insightful. Secondary material includes a long introduction giving an excellent overview of Conrad's life and thought, the historical context of the stories, and some critical analysis; extensive notes; a Conrad timeline; a rundown of works inspired by "Heart"; a summary of the stories' critical history; discussion questions; further reading suggestions; and even a map of the Belgian Congo. "Heart" aside, the stories are among Conrad's most accessible, but he can be a difficult read, making supplemental material necessary for most and invaluable for many. There are so many extras here that even hard-cores who already have the stories may be interested. That said, those who care not for extras will be able to find these stories - likely along with others - in cheaper editions, and those wanting more stories will also have to look elsewhere. All others can rejoice in this excellent collection.

Awesome book
Although English was not his initial language, I think that had it been, Conrad would have wielded much the same command of the language as Shakespeare in his day. But regardless of the writing quality, this is also a gripping and mesmerizing story. Perhaps some of this is because Conrad used to be in the same line of work as the main character, Marlow, who recurs in many of his works, but this story delves far beyond mere personal reflections, dealing with far more difficult and weighty issues than, say, Anna Karenina, and even many of the plays of Shakespeare; But, for me, the story is nevertheless as thrilling as any modern day mass-market novel, if not more because of its superior writing and philosophical quality. My favorite sections are Part 2, and the final scene, so don't give up early. I would give this six stars if I could. This is not my favorite edition, but the one I read first.

The best review ever
An excellent collection of short fiction. Each tale is as compelling, as it is entertaining. Conrad is one of the best short story writers ever he is like a darker Stevenson who delves into the human psyche.

"Mistah Kurtz--he dead."An influential work on five 20th century seminal works
I read this book for a graduate Humanities course.Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, written in 1899 is a seminal work about the ills of colonialism, as well as a postmodern look at the subject of mankind.Conrad's book had a crucial influence on five important works of the twentieth century: J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough.Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Francis Ford Coppolla's movie Apocalypse Now, screenplay by John Milius, was based on Conrad's book.Another interesting fact is that this work was read by Orson Welle's Mercury Theater Players on the radio and was to be his first movie.After doing some work on it he abandoned the project to do Citizen Kane!I would have loved to of seen what Welles could have done with this story.Conrad's story is so riveting in part, because he himself served as a riverboat captain.High school teachers and college professors who have discussed this book in thousands of classrooms over the years tend to do so in terms of Freud, Jung, and Nietzsche; of classical myth, Victorian innocence, and original sin; of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism.

Just a taste of the plot reels you in! Marlow, the narrator of Heart of Darkness and Conrad's alter ego, is hired by an ivory-trading company to sail a steamboat up an unnamed river whose shape on the map resembles "an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country and its tail lost in the depths of the land" (8). His destination is a post where the company's brilliant, ambitious star agent, Mr. Kurtz, is stationed. Kurtz has collected legendary quantities of ivory, but, Marlow learns along the way, is also rumored to have sunk into unspecified savagery. Marlow's steamer survives an attack by blacks and picks up a load of ivory and the ill Kurtz; Kurtz, talking of his grandiose plans, dies on board as they travel, downstream.

Sketched with only a few bold strokes, Kurtz's image has nonetheless remained in the memories of millions of readers: the lone white agent far up the great river, with his dreams of grandeur,his great store of precious ivory, and his fiefdom carved out of the African jungle.Perhaps more than anything, we remember Marlow, on the steamboat, looking through binoculars at what he thinks are ornamental knobs atop the fence posts in front of Kurtz's house and then finding that each is "black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids-a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth" (57).

I especially became interested in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness from the movie Apocalypse Now.There is a scene in the movie that shows Colonel Kurtz's nightstand in his cave.T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land is one of three books on the nightstand.The other two are Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, and J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough.Anyone wanting to understand the movie Apocalypse Now, especially the character of Colonel Kurtz, and what Milius and Copolla are trying to tell their audience need to read these three books as well as Conrad's Heart of Darkness!

As a graduate student reading in philosophy and history I recommend this book for anyone interested in literature, myth, history, philosophy, religion and fans of Apocalypse Now.

... Read more

Product Description
"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad is one of those classics of literature that should be read by everyone. Dark and deeply psychological, "Heart of Darkness" is more than just a great novel--it isone of the most frequently referenced culture touchstones in the western world and served as inspiration for the film "Apocalypse Now." For a century, Joseph Conrad's novel has drawn both raves and rage.Recently criticized by PC "academics" for its racism, "Heart of Darkness" remains one of the best books ever written. While it could be called racist, it is no different than most of the prejudices held by Western Europeans of the period. That doesn't detract from the fact that this book is beautifully written an amazing allegory depicting the battle between man and the inner beast. Before letting anyone turn you off on "Heart of Darkness" for its racism or its long sentence structure, just give it a read-through. This is one trip upriver you won't regret. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

"Mistah Kurtz--he dead."An influential work on five 20th century seminal works
I read this book for a graduate Humanities course.Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, written in 1899 is a seminal work about the ills of colonialism, as well as a postmodern look at the subject of mankind.Conrad's book had a crucial influence on five important works of the twentieth century: J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough.Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Francis Ford Coppolla's movie Apocalypse Now, screenplay by John Milius, was based on Conrad's book.Another interesting fact is that this work was read by Orson Welle's Mercury Theater Players on the radio and was to be his first movie.After doing some work on it he abandoned the project to do Citizen Kane!I would have loved to of seen what Welles could have done with this story.Conrad's story is so riveting in part, because he himself served as a riverboat captain.High school teachers and college professors who have discussed this book in thousands of classrooms over the years tend to do so in terms of Freud, Jung, and Nietzsche; of classical myth, Victorian innocence, and original sin; of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism.

Just a taste of the plot reels you in! Marlow, the narrator of Heart of Darkness and Conrad's alter ego, is hired by an ivory-trading company to sail a steamboat up an unnamed river whose shape on the map resembles "an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country and its tail lost in the depths of the land" (8). His destination is a post where the company's brilliant, ambitious star agent, Mr. Kurtz, is stationed. Kurtz has collected legendary quantities of ivory, but, Marlow learns along the way, is also rumored to have sunk into unspecified savagery. Marlow's steamer survives an attack by blacks and picks up a load of ivory and the ill Kurtz; Kurtz, talking of his grandiose plans, dies on board as they travel, downstream.

Sketched with only a few bold strokes, Kurtz's image has nonetheless remained in the memories of millions of readers: the lone white agent far up the great river, with his dreams of grandeur,his great store of precious ivory, and his fiefdom carved out of the African jungle.Perhaps more than anything, we remember Marlow, on the steamboat, looking through binoculars at what he thinks are ornamental knobs atop the fence posts in front of Kurtz's house and then finding that each is "black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids-a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth" (57).

I especially became interested in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness from the movie Apocalypse Now.There is a scene in the movie that shows Colonel Kurtz's nightstand in his cave.T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land is one of three books on the nightstand.The other two are Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, and J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough.Anyone wanting to understand the movie Apocalypse Now, especially the character of Colonel Kurtz, and what Milius and Copolla are trying to tell their audience need to read these three books as well as Conrad's Heart of Darkness!

As a graduate student reading in philosophy and history I recommend this book for anyone interested in literature, myth, history, philosophy, religion and fans of Apocalypse Now.

"Mistah Kurtz--he dead."An influential work on five 20th century seminal works
I read this book for a graduate Humanities course.Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, written in 1899 is a seminal work about the ills of colonialism, as well as a postmodern look at the subject of mankind.Conrad's book had a crucial influence on five important works of the twentieth century: J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough.Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Francis Ford Coppolla's movie Apocalypse Now, screenplay by John Milius, was based on Conrad's book.Another interesting fact is that this work was read by Orson Welle's Mercury Theater Players on the radio and was to be his first movie.After doing some work on it he abandoned the project to do Citizen Kane!I would have loved to of seen what Welles could have done with this story.Conrad's story is so riveting in part, because he himself served as a riverboat captain.High school teachers and college professors who have discussed this book in thousands of classrooms over the years tend to do so in terms of Freud, Jung, and Nietzsche; of classical myth, Victorian innocence, and original sin; of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism.

Just a taste of the plot reels you in! Marlow, the narrator of Heart of Darkness and Conrad's alter ego, is hired by an ivory-trading company to sail a steamboat up an unnamed river whose shape on the map resembles "an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country and its tail lost in the depths of the land" (8). His destination is a post where the company's brilliant, ambitious star agent, Mr. Kurtz, is stationed. Kurtz has collected legendary quantities of ivory, but, Marlow learns along the way, is also rumored to have sunk into unspecified savagery. Marlow's steamer survives an attack by blacks and picks up a load of ivory and the ill Kurtz; Kurtz, talking of his grandiose plans, dies on board as they travel, downstream.

Sketched with only a few bold strokes, Kurtz's image has nonetheless remained in the memories of millions of readers: the lone white agent far up the great river, with his dreams of grandeur,his great store of precious ivory, and his fiefdom carved out of the African jungle.Perhaps more than anything, we remember Marlow, on the steamboat, looking through binoculars at what he thinks are ornamental knobs atop the fence posts in front of Kurtz's house and then finding that each is "black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids-a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth" (57).

I especially became interested in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness from the movie Apocalypse Now.There is a scene in the movie that shows Colonel Kurtz's nightstand in his cave.T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land is one of three books on the nightstand.The other two are Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, and J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough.Anyone wanting to understand the movie Apocalypse Now, especially the character of Colonel Kurtz, and what Milius and Copolla are trying to tell their audience need to read these three books as well as Conrad's Heart of Darkness!

As a graduate student reading in philosophy and history I recommend this book for anyone interested in literature, myth, history, philosophy, religion and fans of Apocalypse Now.

Great Reading of a Great Book
This is an excellent reading.Cosham, the reader, is a trained actor, and has a good sense of performance.My intial reaction was that Cosham's reading wasn't "salty" enough for Marlow, but as it went on I realized that a highly showy performance would have worn thin over time.

Moreover, hearing this work in audio brings out qualities of some of the denser passages that are hard to digest with a silent reading.To me, it's much like the way that seeing a Shakespeare performance can really bring alive words that seem too dense and knotted on the page.

If you like Conrad, and you like audio books, this is a can't-miss performance. ... Read more

Product Description
Several of us, all more or less connected with the sea, were dining in a small river-hostelry not more than thirty miles from London, and less than twenty from that shallow and dangerous puddle to which our coasting men give the grandiose name of "German Ocean." And through the wide windows we had a view of the Thames; an enfilading view down the Lower Hope Reach. But the dinner was execrable, and all the feast was for the eyes. ... Read more

Product Description
The Secret Sharer is a popular early 20th century novel written by author Joseph Conrad. The story taking place at sea, is told from the perpsective of a young sea captain. Not knowing his crew ahead of time except for the previous night, he struggles to see if he can life up to the authorty role that is a must among captains. The Secret Sharer is a an excellent book for those who are interested in novels dealing with the sea and also those who are fans of the writings of Joseph Conrad. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Story=5 Stars, Edition=1
"The Secret Sharer" is one of Conrad's final works of major short fiction and one of his best. However, since it is widely anthologized -- e.g., in Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction --, it is hard to justify buying a standalone. The story is certainly worth reading by itself, but one might as well get other excellent stories with it.

"The Secret" finds Conradreturning to the sea after a long absence and has much of the suspense and adventurous spirit of his early works. Indeed, it may well be his most suspenseful and conventionally entertaining work of all; its influence on later writers is easy to see. This is so much so that it can be enjoyed by nearly anyone on this surface level, but as always with Conrad, there is deep symbolic value. "The Secret" again dramatizes outsider status, though more subtly and ambiguously than prior works like "Amy." It also deals with other important themes, including the clash of rules and personal morality, authority vs. individualism, etc. Reading it alone has the virtue of leading one to more Conrad, but why not just get more along with it?

Loved it!
A 1900ish sailing tale - a new untested captain falls into circumstances where he is harboring a stowaway - this is a great read on many levels . . . .

An interesting sailing tale from years gone by, it educates of ship's organization and operations.It is a study in leadership, the authority and the lonliness,the rewards and the risks.It is a study in "following", as in this story the crew thought the captain to be a fool, but they didn't know the whole body of the situation.

And it is a real study in "situational ethics":Was the captain breaking a law, either statutory or moral?Did he have a duty to aid this fugitive?Did he have the right?Was he out of bounds to risk his ship and crew for the marginal benefit of one man?

Great story, on many levels.As much as I hated Conrad's Heart of Darkness (which was obscure and confusing), I loved The Secret Sharer (which was thought-provoking and adequately deep, yet at the same time accessible and plainly told, even entertaining).

A case study for any leadership seminar
The Secret Sharer is part of Conrad's so-called Bangkok trilogy with stories set in Thailand and its waters.
The narrator is a young captain who was recently given his first command, taking a ship that he does not know, with a crew that he does not know, from Bangkok back to England. Only the 2nd mate is younger than the captain, and he is an unpleasant know-all, while the chief mate is a somewhat dumb older fellow. The whole population on board is skeptical about the new boss. That's what he thinks.

And then he has his first real crisis right after leaving Bangkok, having been tugged out of the river to the sea, where the ship lies at anquor, waiting for winds to take it to the South through the Gulf of Siam. A Liverpool steamer lies nearby, and at night a runaway from that ship comes to our hero: the former 2nd mate of the steamer has been under arrest for killing a sailor in a fight. He has escaped and looks for help. Inexplicably, our narrator decides to help, hiding the escapee in his cabin, which heightens the tension between him and his crew, since he needs to behave funny to avoid detection.

The 'secret sharer' is in every respect a 'double' of the captain: age, education, looks, attitudes. The captain decides to help him get away by keeping him on board and taking him to land further South. In order to do that he has to give ununderstandable instructions to his crew, who think he is crazy and will lose the ship.
Which he very nearly does. This is about sailing too close to land. A metaphor for many comparable situations when there are conflicting objectives.

Leadership
This novel was recommended as one of the Harvard Business Review's top reads on leadership.After reading, I selected it as the primary text for a new leadership team.It sparked wonderful conversation and thought.Over a year later, the team still talks about "getting too close to the shore". ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Story, Questionable Edition
"Youth" is one of Conrad's most famous and acclaimed stories though not in my view one of his best. It is certainly well worth reading, but the fact that it is in so many collections - e.g., Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction or Typhoon and Other Tales - makes it difficult to justify purchasing a standalone, especially as some collections cost little or no more than this.

Like the better-known "Heart of Darkness," "Youth" is told by the character Marlow through another first-person narrator, but the plot is more akin to the symbolic, adventure-esque seafaring stories of prior Conrad. There is more traditional excitement and suspense than in most Conrad, especially later work, which may attract those who usually dislike his fiction. However, as nearly always with him, symbolism is the real point. As the title suggests, this is a tale about youth and all it stands for and arguably one of its best literary representations. Marlow recalls the excitement and elation he felt when he first captained a ship, fondly recalling exuberance and naïveté long since lost. However, as so often in such situations, nearly everything goes wrong, and youthful ideals are put to experience's harshly dramatic test. "Youth" is thus a sort of mini-bildungsroman, though Marlow's mad rush for the symbolic finish at the end of his story proper shows he learned very little at the time. However, he is now wiser and older, and retelling the old story brings several ambivalent feelings. He sees how much he has conventionally grown and learned but cannot help lamenting the loss of idealism that is possible only in youth and that steadily dissipates with age to the extent that it becomes hardly recognizable. Many will unfortunately relate strongly to this, and there is a good dose of Conrad's always beautiful prose and, very unusually for him, even a little humor. "Youth" would easily be most writers' masterpiece but lacks the scope, ambition, and style of Conrad's best works. Anyone interested in Conrad should read it, but not necessarily here.
... Read more

Product Description
Kindle collection of the works of Joseph Conrad with active table of contents.

Works include:

Non-Fiction:
The Mirror of the Sea
Notes on Life and Letters
A Personal Record

Novels:
Almayer's Folly
The Arrow of Gold
Chance
End of the Tether
Gaspar Ruiz
Heart of Darkness
The Inheritors
Lord Jim
The Nigger Of The "Narcissus"
Nostromo
An Outcast of the Islands
The Point Of Honor
The Rescue
Romance
The Secret Agent
A Set of Six
The Shadow Line
Some Reminiscences
Tales Of Hearsay
Tales of Unrest
'Twixt Land & Sea
Typhoon
Under Western Eyes
Victory
Within the Tides

Plays:
One Day More

Stories:
Amy Foster
Falk
The Secret Sharer
To-morrow
Youth ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Ignore the other review! Formatting is fine
Despite what the other reviewer claims, this text formats fine, at least on a Kindle 3. I rate it only four stars only because it does not have a link to the table of contents. You must go to the cover, and page down. Other than that, this is a good text and great value.

Font doesn't read well.
Why, oh why, would they use Courier or what appears to be a fixed-width font? It's impossible to read, I had to make the text as large as possible, and then you only get 3-4 words pero line, any smaller text options are really tiring to read. That's why I rate it 1 Star.

Obviously Joseph Conrad is a genius, and his works all deserve 5 stars, specially Heart of Darkness. ... Read more