JOSEPH CONRAD: TALES OF LAND AND SEA

A brief introduction by the editor, William McFee, gives slim biographical background, and an analysis of his reasons for feeling that Conrad has influenced more of modern writers than possibly any other single writer since Kipling. While he points out many of Conrad's extraordinary qualities, his perception, his intuition, his freshness, his irony, his ability to portray both the grandeur and the rascality of men, somehow he fails to convey the contagion of his fascination. For this go to the tales themselves. Four of the longer tales,- Youth. The Nigger of the Narcissus, Typhoon, The Shadow Line are essential to any collection. The omission of Victory and Lord Jim will disturb some devotees, but there is richness and variety in some of the lesser known and shorter inclusions:- Heart of Darkness which shows his ability to write of the jungle; Gasper Ring, of Latin America; The Secret Sharer and The End of the Tether, the eastern seas; The Duel, an incident of the Napoleonic wars, and so on. Rich harvest.