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Lingard Trilogy #2
An Outcast of the Islands
I have been called a writer of the sea, of the tropics, a descriptive writer - and also a realist. But as a matter of fact all my concern has been with the 'ideal' value of things, events and people. That and nothing else - Joseph Conrad
When Willems stepped off the straight and narrow path of his own peculiar honesty he thought it would be a short episode - a sentence in brackets, so to speak - in the flowing tale of his life. But Willems was wrong, for he was about to embark on a voyage of discovery and self-discovery that would change, if not destroy, the reset of his life. Marooned by his own people on the shore of a Malayan island, Willems is caught in the grip of his own vulnerability and corruption.
An Outcast of the Islands was only Conrad's second novel, but in its theme, in its impressionistic use of scenery, and, and over all, in the enormous richness and power of the writing, it predicts Conrad's position as a literary figure of the highest rank.
The cover shows a detail from Old Boathouse and Riverside Vegetation, Sarawak by Marianne North.
When Willems stepped off the straight and narrow path of his own peculiar honesty he thought it would be a short episode - a sentence in brackets, so to speak - in the flowing tale of his life. But Willems was wrong, for he was about to embark on a voyage of discovery and self-discovery that would change, if not destroy, the reset of his life. Marooned by his own people on the shore of a Malayan island, Willems is caught in the grip of his own vulnerability and corruption.
An Outcast of the Islands was only Conrad's second novel, but in its theme, in its impressionistic use of scenery, and, and over all, in the enormous richness and power of the writing, it predicts Conrad's position as a literary figure of the highest rank.
The cover shows a detail from Old Boathouse and Riverside Vegetation, Sarawak by Marianne North.
295 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1896
88 people are currently reading
1302 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Conrad
3,082 books4,847 followersJoseph Conrad was a Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and, although he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he became a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. He wrote novels and stories, many in nautical settings, that depict crises of human individuality in the midst of what he saw as an indifferent, inscrutable, and amoral world.
Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.
Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires—and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism—and that profoundly explore the human psyche.
Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.
Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires—and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism—and that profoundly explore the human psyche.
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July 11, 2023
What makes a man evil or good ? Family maybe friends the environment or your own nature ? This is what Joseph Conrad's novel, An Outcast of the Islands tries to find out, Peter Willems a Dutch born poor boy leaves his miserable bleak home, to seek a better more prosperous future the Sea will be Peter's salvation. Deserting his harsh ship in colonial Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) during the late 1800's, the British and the Dutch compete for territory in the area it's the Imperialist Age of "glorious conquest". He becomes a protege of the wealthy adventurous British trader Captain Tom Lingard, who knows everything about the islands and all the important people there. Later joining Hudig & Co. a trading firm the intelligent man travels up the ladder, quickly becomes second in command and confidential secretary to Mr. Hudig himself ... Marries the boss's mixed- blood daughter (Willems, doesn't know that fact apparently, he will be the last person to discovery it) . The generous Mr. Hudig not a kind man indeed strangely gives Peter a nice home, a son arrives paradise right? But Mr. Willems quiet wife Joanna, (name should have just one n) has a lot of unmotivated relatives shall we say the descendants of Portuguese explorers and natives, they were the original European conquerors here. He proudly supports all of them well but soon loses money gambling worse yet his on the side business scheme, goes belly up. No problem for Mr.Willems a very respectable man he will "borrow" some money from Hudig , return it before long and no one ever shall know. However the arrogant Dutchman has many enemies watching and waiting to destroy him... fired from his job he flees Celebes Island alone, the ill treated Joanna doesn't want to leave her nice home. With the great help of his friend Lingard, takes the fugitive on board the Flash and settles in Borneo in a secret, remote trading post of the captain's up a river from the ocean which only Lingard knows how to navigate. The busy Englishman leaves him in the care of fellow countryman Kaspar Almayer nevertheless the two immediately hate each other, Willems has nothing to do the jungle depresses the very ambitious gentleman, the small village is not what his big dreams were made of and the only other European there does not trust him either, he's a potential rival in business the once prosperous Willems feels exceedingly humiliated. Months pass the lonely, very bored Peter meets the exotic Arab daughter named Aissa of a now old, blind man a former bloodthirsty pirate Omar ( who is not rehabilitated). An overwhelming passion for the girl commences at first sight, later he perceives being abandoned there in the primitive jungle where is the captain? Willems for his own sanity needs to get out, back to civilization... learning about conspiracies on Borneo to overthrow the established order, can and will the outcast betray his friend Lingard (more like a father) for his own selfish desires ... What price glory?
May 30, 2023
Mesmerizing!
"[...] dorinta lui pentru ea deveni imensa, arzatoare, irationala si necrutatoare, strigand prin toate simturile lui; mai tare decat ura, mai puternica decat groaza, irezistibila si sigura ca insasi moartea."
Este cel de-al doilea roman al lui Joseph Conrad, aparut in 1896, in care avem ocazia sa reintalnim personaje din cartea de debut "Almayer's Folly" precum Tom Lingard, Almayer insusi, Lakamba si Abdulla. Tom Lingard va mai aparea si in "The Rescue" (1920) formand astfel asa numita 'trilogie Lingard'.
Actiunea acestui roman il situeaza inaintea lui "Almayer's Folly" si se pare ca sursa de inspiratie a fost experienta autorului pe vasul de aburi 'Vidar'. Ne este prezentata si in acest roman salbaticia, intunecimea si frumusetea cruda a junglei cu ai sai inhabitanti, dar si o poveste de dragoste profunda si pasionala, culminand cu o tragedie. In niciun alt roman de-al lui Conrad nu este atat de vie si taioasa atmosfera, ura, iubirea sau tradarea. Cititorul are impresia ca a trait povestea si ca il doare efectiv.
Actiunea il are in prim-plan pe Tom Lingard ce "era un stapan, un indragostit si un slujitor al marii". Acesta este capitanul bricului "Flash" fiind iubit si apreciat pe toate insulele malaeziene printre care navigheaza. I se spune Rajah Laut - adica 'regele marii'.
Intr-o zi protagonistul ia pe vasul sau un tanar baiat, Willems, pe care doreste sa-l faca marinar desi acesta nu se impaca prea bine cu viata pe mare. Observand asta Lingard il lasa sa trateze diferite afaceri cu societatile comerciale, lucru la care se dovedeste deosebit de iscusit. El ajunge sa devina cu timpul mana dreapta a unui important om de afaceri. Cade insa in patima jocului de poker si este nevoit sa faca rost de bani pe cai necinstite. Fiind descoperit pierde totul.
Atunci cand nimeni nu voia sa mai aiba de-a face cu Willems, Lingard il ajuta din nou ducandu-l in Sambir la Almayer. Ajuns acolo nu se intelege cu acesta si nici cu cei din jur simtindu-se ca un proscris. Totul pana cand intr-o zi o intalneste pe frumoasa Aissa de care se indragosteste iremediabil. Fata insa este fiica dusmanului lui Lingard si lui Willems i se va cere sa-l tradeze pe acesta. Si ce nu face un barbat de dragul unei femei?
Este un roman absolut remarcabil pe care il consider de neratat pentru profunzimea si intunecimea sentimentelor si destinului personajelor. Se spun niste lucruri de viata, de iubire, de ura, de prietenie pe care nu le veti citi in nicio alta carte. Autorul vorbea adesea despre "fellowship" - acea camaraderie intre barbati, foarte necesara pe un vas care trebuie sa se lege intre ei si care se bazeaza pe fidelitate si incredere. Iar atunci cand apare femeia acest legamant este pus la incercare.
Povestea de iubire este frumoasa si extrem de patimasa, Aissa avand un caracter iesit din comun, exotic, fiind si supusa si salbatica. Criticii spuneau adesea despre Conrad ca nu stie sa contureze personaje feminine reusite insa aici indubitabil se inseala.
In incheiere va recomand nu numai acest roman ci toate creatiile lui Conrad pentru superba analiza a firii umane, a sentimentelor, pentru descrierile exotice ale tinuturilor si pentru eroii pe care ajungem sa-i indragim nespus si total meritat.
Iata si cateva citate care exprima frumusetea rara a textului:
"Viata e foarte lunga, continua cu o tristete de care nu isi dadea seama. Sa-ti fie invatatura de minte."
"Se uita din nou la femeie. Prin lumina jucausa dintre ei ii aparu cu contururile impalpabile ale unui vis, ii aparu in acelasi timp atragatoare si stralucitoare, intunecata si inaccesibila, un adevarat spirit al acestei tari de paduri misterioase..."
"Oamenii acestia victoriosi vorbesc cu glas atat de profund, privesc cu ochi atat de albastri si reci la dusmanii lor iar ea a facut ca glasul acela sa-i vorbeasca incet, ca ochii aceia sa o priveasca tandru. Acesta era cu adevarat barbat."
"La inceput sopti el visator, viata mea a fost ca o viziune a paradisului - sau a infernului; nu stiu care. De cand a plecat insa, stiu ce-i pierzania, ce-i intunecimea. Stiu ce inseamna sa fii sfasiat de viu in bucati."
"Inchipuie-ti numai ca ea traieste, respira, se misca, fara ca eu sa o pot vedea. Sunt gelos pe vantul care adie in jurul ei, pe aerul pe care il respira, pe pamantul care se bucura de atingerea piciorului ei, pe soarele care se uita acum la ea, in timp ce eu..."
"Cand inima este plina de dragoste, nu mai ramane loc in ea si pentru dreptate..."
"Nu va renunta niciodata atat timp cat exista o sansa. In general, cel mai sigur mijloc este sa te tii de vas cat timp mai pluteste, asta era una dintre zicalele lui preferate."
"[...] dorinta lui pentru ea deveni imensa, arzatoare, irationala si necrutatoare, strigand prin toate simturile lui; mai tare decat ura, mai puternica decat groaza, irezistibila si sigura ca insasi moartea."
Este cel de-al doilea roman al lui Joseph Conrad, aparut in 1896, in care avem ocazia sa reintalnim personaje din cartea de debut "Almayer's Folly" precum Tom Lingard, Almayer insusi, Lakamba si Abdulla. Tom Lingard va mai aparea si in "The Rescue" (1920) formand astfel asa numita 'trilogie Lingard'.
Actiunea acestui roman il situeaza inaintea lui "Almayer's Folly" si se pare ca sursa de inspiratie a fost experienta autorului pe vasul de aburi 'Vidar'. Ne este prezentata si in acest roman salbaticia, intunecimea si frumusetea cruda a junglei cu ai sai inhabitanti, dar si o poveste de dragoste profunda si pasionala, culminand cu o tragedie. In niciun alt roman de-al lui Conrad nu este atat de vie si taioasa atmosfera, ura, iubirea sau tradarea. Cititorul are impresia ca a trait povestea si ca il doare efectiv.
Actiunea il are in prim-plan pe Tom Lingard ce "era un stapan, un indragostit si un slujitor al marii". Acesta este capitanul bricului "Flash" fiind iubit si apreciat pe toate insulele malaeziene printre care navigheaza. I se spune Rajah Laut - adica 'regele marii'.
Intr-o zi protagonistul ia pe vasul sau un tanar baiat, Willems, pe care doreste sa-l faca marinar desi acesta nu se impaca prea bine cu viata pe mare. Observand asta Lingard il lasa sa trateze diferite afaceri cu societatile comerciale, lucru la care se dovedeste deosebit de iscusit. El ajunge sa devina cu timpul mana dreapta a unui important om de afaceri. Cade insa in patima jocului de poker si este nevoit sa faca rost de bani pe cai necinstite. Fiind descoperit pierde totul.
Atunci cand nimeni nu voia sa mai aiba de-a face cu Willems, Lingard il ajuta din nou ducandu-l in Sambir la Almayer. Ajuns acolo nu se intelege cu acesta si nici cu cei din jur simtindu-se ca un proscris. Totul pana cand intr-o zi o intalneste pe frumoasa Aissa de care se indragosteste iremediabil. Fata insa este fiica dusmanului lui Lingard si lui Willems i se va cere sa-l tradeze pe acesta. Si ce nu face un barbat de dragul unei femei?
Este un roman absolut remarcabil pe care il consider de neratat pentru profunzimea si intunecimea sentimentelor si destinului personajelor. Se spun niste lucruri de viata, de iubire, de ura, de prietenie pe care nu le veti citi in nicio alta carte. Autorul vorbea adesea despre "fellowship" - acea camaraderie intre barbati, foarte necesara pe un vas care trebuie sa se lege intre ei si care se bazeaza pe fidelitate si incredere. Iar atunci cand apare femeia acest legamant este pus la incercare.
Povestea de iubire este frumoasa si extrem de patimasa, Aissa avand un caracter iesit din comun, exotic, fiind si supusa si salbatica. Criticii spuneau adesea despre Conrad ca nu stie sa contureze personaje feminine reusite insa aici indubitabil se inseala.
In incheiere va recomand nu numai acest roman ci toate creatiile lui Conrad pentru superba analiza a firii umane, a sentimentelor, pentru descrierile exotice ale tinuturilor si pentru eroii pe care ajungem sa-i indragim nespus si total meritat.
Iata si cateva citate care exprima frumusetea rara a textului:
"Viata e foarte lunga, continua cu o tristete de care nu isi dadea seama. Sa-ti fie invatatura de minte."
"Se uita din nou la femeie. Prin lumina jucausa dintre ei ii aparu cu contururile impalpabile ale unui vis, ii aparu in acelasi timp atragatoare si stralucitoare, intunecata si inaccesibila, un adevarat spirit al acestei tari de paduri misterioase..."
"Oamenii acestia victoriosi vorbesc cu glas atat de profund, privesc cu ochi atat de albastri si reci la dusmanii lor iar ea a facut ca glasul acela sa-i vorbeasca incet, ca ochii aceia sa o priveasca tandru. Acesta era cu adevarat barbat."
"La inceput sopti el visator, viata mea a fost ca o viziune a paradisului - sau a infernului; nu stiu care. De cand a plecat insa, stiu ce-i pierzania, ce-i intunecimea. Stiu ce inseamna sa fii sfasiat de viu in bucati."
"Inchipuie-ti numai ca ea traieste, respira, se misca, fara ca eu sa o pot vedea. Sunt gelos pe vantul care adie in jurul ei, pe aerul pe care il respira, pe pamantul care se bucura de atingerea piciorului ei, pe soarele care se uita acum la ea, in timp ce eu..."
"Cand inima este plina de dragoste, nu mai ramane loc in ea si pentru dreptate..."
"Nu va renunta niciodata atat timp cat exista o sansa. In general, cel mai sigur mijloc este sa te tii de vas cat timp mai pluteste, asta era una dintre zicalele lui preferate."
August 22, 2023
3.5*
On the one hand, if nothing much happened in Conrad's assured debut, Almayer's Folly, nothing really happens here, in this doubly-assured sophomore outing and prequel to the non-eventful aforementioned.
On the other hand, if you are not a slave to things happening, this novel has manifold charms—and inevitable longueurs, of course, but Conrad is already in full possession of his talent here, and the multi-point-of-view character-and-setting-study (we are once again in Indonesia, at first in Makassar then in a remote Spleen of Darkness, itself a major playah in these pages...) is faultlessly rendered—as is the to-be-typically Conradian existential ennui:
On the one hand, if nothing much happened in Conrad's assured debut, Almayer's Folly, nothing really happens here, in this doubly-assured sophomore outing and prequel to the non-eventful aforementioned.
On the other hand, if you are not a slave to things happening, this novel has manifold charms—and inevitable longueurs, of course, but Conrad is already in full possession of his talent here, and the multi-point-of-view character-and-setting-study (we are once again in Indonesia, at first in Makassar then in a remote Spleen of Darkness, itself a major playah in these pages...) is faultlessly rendered—as is the to-be-typically Conradian existential ennui:
March 25, 2015
The Yahoo group is reading this soon and I always enjoy their choices so I read alongside. The ladies know that I am crap at bookclub reads so I shall fly in tandem - seperate but together.
Read hereFront Quote: Pues el delito mayor Del hombre es haber nacito - CALDERON
Dedication: TO EDWARD LANCELOT SANDERSON
Opening: When he stepped off the straight and narrow path of his peculiar honesty, it was with an inward assertion of unflinching resolve to fall back again into the monotonous but safe stride of virtue as soon as his little excursion into the wayside quagmires had produced the desired effect. It was going to be a short episode—a sentence in brackets, so to speak—in the flowing tale of his life: a thing of no moment, to be done unwillingly, yet neatly, and to be quickly forgotten. He imagined that he could go on afterwards looking at the sunshine, enjoying the shade, breathing in the perfume of flowers in the small garden before his house. He fancied that nothing would be changed, that he would be able as heretofore to tyrannize good-humouredly over his half-caste wife, to notice with tender contempt his pale yellow child, to patronize loftily his dark-skinned brother-in-law, who loved pink neckties and wore patent-leather boots on his little feet, and was so humble before the white husband of the lucky sister.
I usually enjoy Conrad but it seems that he has shored up the story into culicues of obfuscation.3* Heart of Darkness
3* The Secret Agent
4* Victory
1* An Outcast of the Islands
3* The Nigger of the Narcissus
3* Typhoon
January 23, 2020
«Per un uomo onesto non c’è che un solo posto. Il mare, ragazzo mio, il mare!»
Il secondo romanzo di Conrad è una specie di prequel del primo. Torniamo sul fiume malese che era la “riserva personale” del capitano Lingard, e al suo agente sul posto, Kaspar Almayer.
La follia di Almayer, che dava il titolo al primo romanzo, viene ora meglio spiegata dalla vicenda, precedente, di un altro olandese spiaggiato nella sconfitta e nei folli progetti di grandiose rivincite, Peter Willems.
Potremmo dire che si tratta quindi di un altro romanzo "di fiume" più che "di mare", però contiene alcune pagine sull'immagine del mare come attrazione irresistibile e come impareggiabile banco di prova che non si possono non citare:
«Il mare, forse perché è salato, indurisce l’esterno dell’anima dei suoi servitori ma ne conserva dolce l’interno. Il vecchio mare; il mare di tanti anni fa, i cui servitori erano schiavi devoti che passavano dalla giovinezza alla vecchiaia, o ad un’improvvisa tomba, senza dover aprire il libro della vita, perché l’eternità la potevano vedere riflessa sull’elemento che dava la vita ed elargiva la morte. Come una donna bella e senza scrupoli, il mare di una volta quando sorrideva era magnifico, quando infuriato irresistibile, capriccioso, seducente, illogico, irresponsabile; una cosa da amare, una cosa da temere. Gettava un incantesimo, dava gioia e, cullando dolcemente, dava un senso sconfinato di fiducia; poi, con furia improvvisa e immotivata, uccideva. La sua crudeltà, però, era riscattata dal fascino del suo imperscrutabile mistero, dall’immmensità delle sue promesse, dalla suprema chimera dei suoi possibili favori. Uomini forti con cuori da bambini gli erano fedeli, erano felici di vivere per grazia sua – di morire per sua volontà.»
Il secondo romanzo di Conrad è una specie di prequel del primo. Torniamo sul fiume malese che era la “riserva personale” del capitano Lingard, e al suo agente sul posto, Kaspar Almayer.
La follia di Almayer, che dava il titolo al primo romanzo, viene ora meglio spiegata dalla vicenda, precedente, di un altro olandese spiaggiato nella sconfitta e nei folli progetti di grandiose rivincite, Peter Willems.
Potremmo dire che si tratta quindi di un altro romanzo "di fiume" più che "di mare", però contiene alcune pagine sull'immagine del mare come attrazione irresistibile e come impareggiabile banco di prova che non si possono non citare:
«Il mare, forse perché è salato, indurisce l’esterno dell’anima dei suoi servitori ma ne conserva dolce l’interno. Il vecchio mare; il mare di tanti anni fa, i cui servitori erano schiavi devoti che passavano dalla giovinezza alla vecchiaia, o ad un’improvvisa tomba, senza dover aprire il libro della vita, perché l’eternità la potevano vedere riflessa sull’elemento che dava la vita ed elargiva la morte. Come una donna bella e senza scrupoli, il mare di una volta quando sorrideva era magnifico, quando infuriato irresistibile, capriccioso, seducente, illogico, irresponsabile; una cosa da amare, una cosa da temere. Gettava un incantesimo, dava gioia e, cullando dolcemente, dava un senso sconfinato di fiducia; poi, con furia improvvisa e immotivata, uccideva. La sua crudeltà, però, era riscattata dal fascino del suo imperscrutabile mistero, dall’immmensità delle sue promesse, dalla suprema chimera dei suoi possibili favori. Uomini forti con cuori da bambini gli erano fedeli, erano felici di vivere per grazia sua – di morire per sua volontà.»
January 22, 2020
La condanna della smodata ambizione, di quella brama incontrollabile di emergere, di costruire una posizione sociale, di ottenere il rispetto che, probabilmente, gli umili natali non avrebbero potuto concedere. Un romanzo crudo, cupo, triste, doloroso quanto il disincanto che spesso coglie chi nutre simili passioni e sacrifica ogni cosa in nome di un'impresa tanto rischiosa quanto moralmente vana. Speranze nutrite. Speranze disilluse. Speranza come modus vivendi di una vita tesa a raggiungere la vetta. E, spesso, a ritrovarsi poi sola...
July 18, 2013
I first read this book many years ago and remember liking it somewhat. This time, I read it on a long flight from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Los Angeles and loved it. Joseph Conrad is one of your better Eye-of-God writers, and in An Outcast of the Islands, he rises to his subject of colonialism in 19th century Indonesia.
Peter Willems is a clerk in a Macassar mercantile firm who is cashiered for "borrowing" money without permission from Hudig & Company. As he haunts the docks, wondering whether to put an end to his miserable existence, he runs across Providence in the form of Captain Tom Lingard, a successful sea captain and trader who takes him in hand for the second time in his life. Lingard is the subject of a Conrad trilogy, consisting of this novel, Almayer's Folly, and The Rescue. As Conrad describes him:
Ultimately, Willems betrays Lingard by showing one of his Arab competitors how to navigate into the port. He has fallen in love with the daughter of a blind sheik, and gives up everything for her. There is a moment of self-awareness as he faces his ruin as a human being:
Peter Willems is a clerk in a Macassar mercantile firm who is cashiered for "borrowing" money without permission from Hudig & Company. As he haunts the docks, wondering whether to put an end to his miserable existence, he runs across Providence in the form of Captain Tom Lingard, a successful sea captain and trader who takes him in hand for the second time in his life. Lingard is the subject of a Conrad trilogy, consisting of this novel, Almayer's Folly, and The Rescue. As Conrad describes him:
The sea, perhaps because of its saltness, roughens the outside but keeps sweet the kernel of its servants' soul. The old sea; the sea of many years ago, whose servants were devoted slaves and went from youth to age or to a sudden grave without needing to open the book of life, because they could look at eternity reflected on the element that gave the life and dealt the death. Like a beautiful and unscrupulous woman, the sea of the past was glorious in its smiles, irresistible in its anger, capricious, enticing, illogical, irresponsible; a thing to love, a thing to fear. It cast a spell, it gave joy, it lulled gently into boundless faith; then with quick and causeless anger it killed. But its cruelty was redeemed by the charm of its inscrutable mystery, by the immensity of its promise, by the supreme witchery of its possible favour. Strong men with childlike hearts were faithful to it, were content to live by its grace—to die by its will. That was the sea before the time when the French mind set the Egyptian muscle in motion and produced a dismal but profitable ditch. Then a great pall of smoke sent out by countless steam-boats was spread over the restless mirror of the Infinite. The hand of the engineer tore down the veil of the terrible beauty in order that greedy and faithless landlubbers might pocket dividends. The mystery was destroyed. Like all mysteries, it lived only in the hearts of its worshippers. The hearts changed; the men changed. The once loving and devoted servants went out armed with fire and iron, and conquering the fear of their own hearts became a calculating crowd of cold and exacting masters. The sea of the past was an incomparably beautiful mistress, with inscrutable face, with cruel and promising eyes. The sea of to-day is a used-up drudge, wrinkled and defaced by the churned-up wakes of brutal propellers, robbed of the enslaving charm of its vastness, stripped of its beauty, of its mystery and of its promise.Lingard sets Willems up in his own secret trading post, to which only he knows how to sail across the dangerous sand bars. His agent there, Caspar Almayer, does not think much of Willems; and, soon, they fall out after Lingard leaves them to sail to other ports.
Tom Lingard was a master, a lover, a servant of the sea. The sea took him young, fashioned him body and soul; gave him his fierce aspect, his loud voice, his fearless eyes, his stupidly guileless heart. Generously it gave him his absurd faith in himself, his universal love of creation, his wide indulgence, his contemptuous severity, his straightforward simplicity of motive and honesty of aim. Having made him what he was, womanlike, the sea served him humbly and let him bask unharmed in the sunshine of its terribly uncertain favour. Tom Lingard grew rich on the sea and by the sea. He loved it with the ardent affection of a lover, he made light of it with the assurance of perfect mastery, he feared it with the wise fear of a brave man, and he took liberties with it as a spoiled child might do with a paternal and good-natured ogre. He was grateful to it, with the gratitude of an honest heart. His greatest pride lay in his profound conviction of its faithfulness—in the deep sense of his unerring knowledge of its treachery.
Ultimately, Willems betrays Lingard by showing one of his Arab competitors how to navigate into the port. He has fallen in love with the daughter of a blind sheik, and gives up everything for her. There is a moment of self-awareness as he faces his ruin as a human being:
He was cowed. He was cowed by the immense cataclysm of his disaster. Like most men, he had carried solemnly within his breast the whole universe, and the approaching end of all things in the destruction of his own personality filled him with paralyzing awe. Everything was toppling over. He blinked his eyes quickly, and it seemed to him that the very sunshine of the morning disclosed in its brightness a suggestion of some hidden and sinister meaning. In his unreasoning fear he tried to hide within himself. He drew his feet up, his head sank between his shoulders, his arms hugged his sides. Under the high and enormous tree soaring superbly out of the mist in a vigorous spread of lofty boughs, with a restless and eager flutter of its innumerable leaves in the clear sunshine, he remained motionless, huddled up on his seat: terrified and still.
August 2, 2019
"Where there are scruples there can be no power."
Conrad's second novel will tease you with glimpses of the greatness soon to come in Heart of Darkness, but will also sour you with a moderate amount of slog and overwrought prose.
In many ways, Outcast is probably the logical jumping-off point both stylistically and thematically for Conrad (I'm no Conrad scholar). This one is about Willems, a Dutch guy who falls from the graces of Other Whites due to some embezzlement and gets placed into a kind of exile by his benefactor, English ship captain Lingard. Willems ends up living amongst Malay and Arab politicos and shady-dealers, becomes desperately enamored with a beautiful Arab girl who toys with his fate, and generally comports himself like a proto-Kurtz. Those are the best bits: the exposure of Willems' innate savagery, so much more revolting than the supposed, racist-inspired stereotypes of "barbarity" put onto the locals around him. In this way, it very much prefigures Conrad's masterpiece.
I think some concision and less overwrought description would've served this one well, but it is still a fine work.
Conrad's second novel will tease you with glimpses of the greatness soon to come in Heart of Darkness, but will also sour you with a moderate amount of slog and overwrought prose.
In many ways, Outcast is probably the logical jumping-off point both stylistically and thematically for Conrad (I'm no Conrad scholar). This one is about Willems, a Dutch guy who falls from the graces of Other Whites due to some embezzlement and gets placed into a kind of exile by his benefactor, English ship captain Lingard. Willems ends up living amongst Malay and Arab politicos and shady-dealers, becomes desperately enamored with a beautiful Arab girl who toys with his fate, and generally comports himself like a proto-Kurtz. Those are the best bits: the exposure of Willems' innate savagery, so much more revolting than the supposed, racist-inspired stereotypes of "barbarity" put onto the locals around him. In this way, it very much prefigures Conrad's masterpiece.
I think some concision and less overwrought description would've served this one well, but it is still a fine work.
May 29, 2024
Abandoned after reading half of the book. The first few chapters were good, as was the writing. Then it seemed the author wanted to tell the story mainly through one character telling another character what had happened "off stage", which made for alot of info dumps and confused this reader. I think the author should've just made the story into a novella, tightened up the plot, and let it play out in "real time" in front of the reader.
December 4, 2013
It's a perennial mystery how one can enjoy a book when there are no likeable characters and the trajectory is relentlessly downward to tragedy. It can only be that Conrad is such a superb writer, with his ability to analyse and describe emotion and to reflect it in the setting. The raw misery of these lives, especially of the women, seeps out of every page but you can't stop reading. If this book has a flaw, then some of the speech patterns, especially of Almayer, are a little stilted - just occasionally, you are reminded that Conrad was writing in a foreign language. Which makes this an even more remarkable achievement. Don't miss it - it's one of those rare novels you want to go straight back to the beginning and read again.
March 6, 2010
pure Conrad. slow, detailed, reflective. when i got done reading it i felt like i had lived it, so vivid were the memories.
Read
October 10, 2025Lately I've learned that a couple of people whose taste I usually rate really can't be doing with Conrad*. And sadly this ranks alongside Under Western Eyes as one of the times I can see their point. He would never entirely divorce himself from melodrama, and would have been the lesser if he had, but here it's served too neat, and yet also in an awkwardly drawn-out fashion where I kept having to reread passages my mind had slid off. Already he's taking some of the lineaments of the Boy's Own adventure, and repurposing them to write fiction about colonialism rather than colonialist fiction, with a mocking eye for the self-proclaimed superiority of the whites, and an explicit awareness that incuriosity about humanity beyond one's own race (or worse, in the case of titular wretch Willems, one's own self) is rank stupidity. But all the noble intentions and melancholy awareness of the shared limitations of humanity don't quite get him past writing his Arab characters as stock villains and his women as screeching plot functions. True, there are glimpses of future greatness in his portrait of the magnificent, infuriating seafarer Lingard, and the signature gift for evoking landscape and weather. And as a second novel in a third language by a sailor not yet sure if he's even sticking with this writing lark, it's still pretty good going. But all in all, it's not your best work, Joe.
*There was already Arthur Machen, of course, but as much as I love his own stuff, his preferences were incredibly erratic.
*There was already Arthur Machen, of course, but as much as I love his own stuff, his preferences were incredibly erratic.
October 14, 2019
A few weeks ago, I came across a pile of Joseph Conrad’s works in old Penguin Classics, sitting on a freebie shelf at work. (As a matter of fact, I’ve used this shelf to amass quite a few books over the years.) I couldn’t resist, and now I happen to be the owner of a majority of Conrad’s works in old, cute paperbacks, with yellowed paper and all that, including the professor’s annotations, which I enjoy to decipher whilst reading.
Now there’s nothing quite cute about Conrad himself, and this early work of his (I decided to tackle the pile in a chronological order) hasn’t aged that well. There are glimpses of insight buried in a plot that never quite takes off. Conrad seems to handle shorter fiction better. At nearly 300 pages, he overstays his welcome. Although at times gruesome – especially when characters report at length what happened to other people at some other place – the novel wasn’t detestable as a reading experience. Which isn’t saying much, I know. But I’m kind of curious to move on to the next Conrad in the pile.
Now there’s nothing quite cute about Conrad himself, and this early work of his (I decided to tackle the pile in a chronological order) hasn’t aged that well. There are glimpses of insight buried in a plot that never quite takes off. Conrad seems to handle shorter fiction better. At nearly 300 pages, he overstays his welcome. Although at times gruesome – especially when characters report at length what happened to other people at some other place – the novel wasn’t detestable as a reading experience. Which isn’t saying much, I know. But I’m kind of curious to move on to the next Conrad in the pile.
January 21, 2022
An Outcast of the island was Conrad's second novel and continued some threads from Almayer's Folly. It's the second novel but in the story we go back to the past, the events are unfolding when Nina is still a baby. This is one of Conrad's book I paid little attention to, but I was wrong. Willems is a very interesting character.
What makes a man good or bad? The environment? His desires? The story focuses on Peter Willems, an ambitious trader who, at 17, escaped from a Dutch ship and came under the care of Tom Lingard. He secured him a position with Hudig and Co, a trading company. Willems marries Hudig's daughter but then embezzles money to be one of his partners. He is found out and his wife chases him out of the house. To escape humiliation he looks for Lingard again. Lingard brings him to Sambir but work with Almayer doesn't work out ...but he meets Alissa, the daughter of the blind ex-pirate Omar, friend to the scheming Babalatchi. Together with Lakamba they develop a plan to fight against the current Rajah Patalolo and use Willems against his old friend, Lingard, all for Aissa. There's a lot of scheming in this novel.
Willrms is arrogant, scheming, ambitious and weak. He considers himself an outsider and I feel all roads lead him there through all he does. Lingard, while seems good, aldo has w certain arrogance about him. Lakamba, Babalatchi are scheming. There's nothing purely black or white in Conrad's world He shows human weaknesses as he knew them, doesn't idealise, his characters are flawed. He shows the complexity of human and racial relations. everyone loves and schemes to protect themselves. Almayer, although scheming and full of jealousy, does care for his daughter. We also learn more about Lakamba and Babalatchi. Willems escapes twice, he cannot do it for the third time.
'He was cowed. He was cowed by the immense cataclysm of his disaster. Like most men, he had carried solemnly within his breast the whole universe, and the approaching end of all things in the destruction of his own personality filled him with paralyzing awe. Everything was toppling over. He blinked his eyes quickly, and it seemed to him that the very sunshine of the morning disclosed in its brightness a suggestion of some hidden and sinister meaning. In his unreasoning fear he tried to hide within himself. He drew his feet up, his head sank between his shoulders, his arms hugged his sides. Under the high and enormous tree soaring superbly out of the mist in a vigorous spread of lofty boughs, with a restless and eager flutter of its innumerable leaves in the clear sunshine, he remained motionless, huddled up on his seat: terrified and still.
"When he stepped off the straight and narrow path of his peculiar honesty, it was with an inward assertion of unflinching resolve to fall back again into the monotonous but safe stride of virtue as soon as his little excursion into the wayside quagmires had produced the desired effect.".
Can you choose to fall back to safe stride of virtue? Can you choose to only stop at a "little excursion"? I admit, i find the opening to Outcast downright intriguing and it definitely sets the tone of Willems' struggle.
Conrad's characters definitely feel human. Almayer has moments of tenderness towards his daughter and that's genuine. Willems does not have the same instincts towards his son. He's too focused on himself and his ego. Lingard has a rather big ego too but at least he does try to help people. I still find him unlikeable.
What makes a man good or bad? The environment? His desires? The story focuses on Peter Willems, an ambitious trader who, at 17, escaped from a Dutch ship and came under the care of Tom Lingard. He secured him a position with Hudig and Co, a trading company. Willems marries Hudig's daughter but then embezzles money to be one of his partners. He is found out and his wife chases him out of the house. To escape humiliation he looks for Lingard again. Lingard brings him to Sambir but work with Almayer doesn't work out ...but he meets Alissa, the daughter of the blind ex-pirate Omar, friend to the scheming Babalatchi. Together with Lakamba they develop a plan to fight against the current Rajah Patalolo and use Willems against his old friend, Lingard, all for Aissa. There's a lot of scheming in this novel.
Willrms is arrogant, scheming, ambitious and weak. He considers himself an outsider and I feel all roads lead him there through all he does. Lingard, while seems good, aldo has w certain arrogance about him. Lakamba, Babalatchi are scheming. There's nothing purely black or white in Conrad's world He shows human weaknesses as he knew them, doesn't idealise, his characters are flawed. He shows the complexity of human and racial relations. everyone loves and schemes to protect themselves. Almayer, although scheming and full of jealousy, does care for his daughter. We also learn more about Lakamba and Babalatchi. Willems escapes twice, he cannot do it for the third time.
'He was cowed. He was cowed by the immense cataclysm of his disaster. Like most men, he had carried solemnly within his breast the whole universe, and the approaching end of all things in the destruction of his own personality filled him with paralyzing awe. Everything was toppling over. He blinked his eyes quickly, and it seemed to him that the very sunshine of the morning disclosed in its brightness a suggestion of some hidden and sinister meaning. In his unreasoning fear he tried to hide within himself. He drew his feet up, his head sank between his shoulders, his arms hugged his sides. Under the high and enormous tree soaring superbly out of the mist in a vigorous spread of lofty boughs, with a restless and eager flutter of its innumerable leaves in the clear sunshine, he remained motionless, huddled up on his seat: terrified and still.
"When he stepped off the straight and narrow path of his peculiar honesty, it was with an inward assertion of unflinching resolve to fall back again into the monotonous but safe stride of virtue as soon as his little excursion into the wayside quagmires had produced the desired effect.".
Can you choose to fall back to safe stride of virtue? Can you choose to only stop at a "little excursion"? I admit, i find the opening to Outcast downright intriguing and it definitely sets the tone of Willems' struggle.
Conrad's characters definitely feel human. Almayer has moments of tenderness towards his daughter and that's genuine. Willems does not have the same instincts towards his son. He's too focused on himself and his ego. Lingard has a rather big ego too but at least he does try to help people. I still find him unlikeable.
November 28, 2017
Joseph Conrad’s second novel and my favourite amongst his early work – but that is partly a sentimental attachment: it was the first Conrad work I read. I have now read it for a third time, but as the three readings were over a period of almost 40 years I don’t think I can be accused of overdoing it. It lacks the integration or sharpness of Conrad’s finest, later work, but it is more than an apprentice work: Conrad’s methods and interests are all there. Formally, for instance, while it doesn’t change and juggle perspectives with the same exuberance as some of the later works, An Outcast of the Islands will relate its narrative from one character’s view, but then, in a typical Conrad move, swap to another character, the same events now given a different interpretation: events are not established by the author, but the different versions must be weighed by the reader. An Outcast of the Islands is often accused of having too many purple passages and it can read as the work of a young author not fully confident in his abilities, therefore showing off with a bit of literariness, but with each reading I find this overheated literariness to be less distracting. It is one of Conrad’s tales set at the edges of the European empires, in a world just beyond full Imperial control, where different civilizations and societies are in contention. There was, of course, a lot of Victorian literature extolling the virtues and brilliance of the Empire and the Imperial project: Conrad responds with sulky despondency. At the centre of the novel is the relationship between Willems, the disgraced clerk, and his old mentor, Captain Lingard – a relationship that will end in the betrayal of Lingard. It is typical for Conrad to provide the reader with a central character – Willems – who is morally dubious: there is no easy identification with a dynamic hero. But he must have been more shocking for the Victorian reader than the modern reader. The novel begins with him being caught out as a cheat, but his central weakness is shown not in his act of theft, but in his ability to find excuses, of not taking moral responsibility, of being self-deluding. A modern reader, however, might be more understanding about his betrayal of Lingard. His motive is his overwhelming passion for the native woman Aissa – for a Victorian reader this is an expression of one of the worst scandals of the European Empires, an act that undermined the whole principle of racial difference and the idea of European superiority and rule: miscegenation. But the modern reader, hopefully, will not be scandalised, but view Willems’ passion as a mitigating factor. (Aissa, the daughter of an old pirate, is both a figure of Eastern exoticness and a strong and dynamic woman – one who flouts the expectations of Victorian seemliness and womanhood. I’m not sure if she exists as a believable human being, but she is a fascinating symbolic character.) At the end Willems tries to denounce Aissa as a femme fatale, the cause of his corruption: I suppose a reader could accept that view, but it makes more sense to see it as another act of self-delusion, his denying his moral emptiness by blaming someone else. Lingard is one of Conrad’s ‘good’ figures, but his goodness, his tendency to see the best in others, to even be optimistic about the potential of rouges (and here he contrasts with the novel's other European character, the whining Almayer), is also his weakness, the delusion that allows his betrayal. But today we might be less certain about Lingard’s status as an exemplary man: Conrad doesn’t seem to question Lingard’s past as an Imperial trader who has gained his position through a ruthless and violent overthrow of his native rivals, but we might not be so convinced. As always in his Imperial adventure stories, Conrad dissects the dubious moral claims of the Imperial project, dismisses most of the self-righteousness of it all, while never quite managing to fully reject those claims. He seems to both see and not see the barbarity of the European Empires.
December 1, 2017
Wordy Melodrama Still Strikes a Chord
As has often been noted, this novel was written before Conrad's period of greatness. Perhaps it doesn't measure up in psychological depth to such books as "The Secret Sharer", "Heart of Darkness", "The Secret Agent" or "Lord Jim", but written by anyone else, it would elevate them into the ranks of Great Literature. A scandal leads to the dismissal of a trusted agent for a Dutch trader in what is now Indonesia. His Eurasian wife, with whom relations have never been close, rejects him; he has to leave town. Looking for revenge for what he feels is an unfair dismissal, Willems, the former agent, plans to reveal a trade secret to an Arab rival. This, in the 19th century, was more than a business doublecross, it was a betrayal of "the blood". Colonialism was always about race and blood, so modern readers should understand that this is a subtext of the book. Various Malay pirates and rogues get involved. Almayer, a Dutch buyer stationed up a remote jungle river,(who appears in other Conrad novels) develops an unmitigated hatred of Willems. I should not reveal the denouement here, but believe me, it is melodramatic enough. Lots of jungle and thunderstorm atmosphere, Nature looms omnipotent in the background, not under threat from Man as in most of today's discourse.
Motivations in some cases remain a bit murky and sudden jumps in time help the author avoid explaining what might have transpired. Still, Willems, the eventual outcast, fallen from grace with his employers, become an object of scorn to his fellow Europeans in the town (probably Makassar, now Ujung Pandang in Sulawesi), is a conflicted character worthy of Conrad's other novels. Capt. Lingard, his old benefactor, is too much a super-hero, a character way too big for his boots. He tries to help his former protegée, but eventually abandons him to his fate. Aissa, Willems' Malay lover, resembles the Dragon Lady a bit too much to be true-to-life, while the other Malay characters too seemed to be comic book or cardboard cut-out figures most of the time. The distraught Eurasian wife, weak and vacillating, is rather outré. It's a good story, reflecting some of the historical patterns of the East Indies of that time. British and Dutch rivalry lasted for a long time. Arabs from the Hadramawt (now Yemen) emigrated to various European-dominated South East Asian societies and prospered mightily as middlemen and traders (see Engseng Ho's "Graves of Tarim", a historico-anthropological work). The rich Sayid Abdulla, plotting to take over the European trade network, is not an odd figure then. All in all, Conrad was impressive right from the start. This novel will definitely hold your attention. Couldn't give it less than four stars.
As has often been noted, this novel was written before Conrad's period of greatness. Perhaps it doesn't measure up in psychological depth to such books as "The Secret Sharer", "Heart of Darkness", "The Secret Agent" or "Lord Jim", but written by anyone else, it would elevate them into the ranks of Great Literature. A scandal leads to the dismissal of a trusted agent for a Dutch trader in what is now Indonesia. His Eurasian wife, with whom relations have never been close, rejects him; he has to leave town. Looking for revenge for what he feels is an unfair dismissal, Willems, the former agent, plans to reveal a trade secret to an Arab rival. This, in the 19th century, was more than a business doublecross, it was a betrayal of "the blood". Colonialism was always about race and blood, so modern readers should understand that this is a subtext of the book. Various Malay pirates and rogues get involved. Almayer, a Dutch buyer stationed up a remote jungle river,(who appears in other Conrad novels) develops an unmitigated hatred of Willems. I should not reveal the denouement here, but believe me, it is melodramatic enough. Lots of jungle and thunderstorm atmosphere, Nature looms omnipotent in the background, not under threat from Man as in most of today's discourse.
Motivations in some cases remain a bit murky and sudden jumps in time help the author avoid explaining what might have transpired. Still, Willems, the eventual outcast, fallen from grace with his employers, become an object of scorn to his fellow Europeans in the town (probably Makassar, now Ujung Pandang in Sulawesi), is a conflicted character worthy of Conrad's other novels. Capt. Lingard, his old benefactor, is too much a super-hero, a character way too big for his boots. He tries to help his former protegée, but eventually abandons him to his fate. Aissa, Willems' Malay lover, resembles the Dragon Lady a bit too much to be true-to-life, while the other Malay characters too seemed to be comic book or cardboard cut-out figures most of the time. The distraught Eurasian wife, weak and vacillating, is rather outré. It's a good story, reflecting some of the historical patterns of the East Indies of that time. British and Dutch rivalry lasted for a long time. Arabs from the Hadramawt (now Yemen) emigrated to various European-dominated South East Asian societies and prospered mightily as middlemen and traders (see Engseng Ho's "Graves of Tarim", a historico-anthropological work). The rich Sayid Abdulla, plotting to take over the European trade network, is not an odd figure then. All in all, Conrad was impressive right from the start. This novel will definitely hold your attention. Couldn't give it less than four stars.
December 4, 2013
Born in Rotterdam to an impoverished family, Peter Willems escapes that life and travels to Malaysia where he jumps ship and begs asylum. In later years, when he had worked himself up to a position of trust and importance, one stupid act brings his life and world tumbling down around him. Willems is a man, like so many, that doesn’t recognize the kismet, luck and fortune in front of him and squanders it away without even realizing it. This makes the discovery of his folly even more painful. Seldom does someone see a book as filled with unlikeable characters as this one. The authors writing talent makes it nevertheless possible to love the story. Conrad uses a multitude of flowery words to create poetic phrases which, in turn, construct descriptive paragraphs that assemble emotional chapters. If one is looking for poetry in prose you need not look farther and the author has also added emotion, love, hate, lust, greed and stupidity in for good measure. Written in 1896, An Outcast of the Islands is Joseph Conrad’s second novel and establishes him as a writer of unique abilities. I think this book would be readily enjoyed and accepted by a large audience and it has my warm recommendation.
April 12, 2019
This is Joseph Conrad’s second book and includes a reprise for characters Captain Tom Lingard, Kaspar Almayer and his family, but the book’s main thrust is a description of the foibles of Dutch ex-patriot Peter Willems and the consequences of his actions. As in some of his other books, a second, more important lesson is a description of the flawed Europeans – flawed to the point of criminal – and their stupendously disgusting attitudes to, and destructive actions toward, the darker-skinned peoples they meet and devastate everywhere they go.
“Outcast” is not usually considered Conrad’s best book, but I think it is underrated as a study of human frailty accentuated by the privilege felt by Europeans and the destructive effects if this not only on the natives but also on the Europeans themselves. Conrad’s experiences were only in the Old World, but the same situation is true for all countries in the New World including the US, a lesson we largely refuse to admit.
As the book is a character study, many readers become bored with Conrad’s long descriptions of thoughts running through minds of his characters and the plot may seem secondary, but the writing remains brilliant in terms of setting description and character development. It is, after, Joseph Conrad.
“Outcast” is not usually considered Conrad’s best book, but I think it is underrated as a study of human frailty accentuated by the privilege felt by Europeans and the destructive effects if this not only on the natives but also on the Europeans themselves. Conrad’s experiences were only in the Old World, but the same situation is true for all countries in the New World including the US, a lesson we largely refuse to admit.
As the book is a character study, many readers become bored with Conrad’s long descriptions of thoughts running through minds of his characters and the plot may seem secondary, but the writing remains brilliant in terms of setting description and character development. It is, after, Joseph Conrad.
March 6, 2017
Well, I have come to a conclusion: me and Mr Conrad don't get on. I did read Heart of Darkness all the way through. I remember trying to read the Secret Agent a few years ago and not getting into it at all. And I'm quitting this at page 58. It is drier than the driest bone in the desert, drivels on and I really couldn't give a monkeys what happens to anyone or anything in this book.
Set in Malaysia in the 1800s, there's a Dutch guy who was a raggamuffin stowaway on a British ship, if I followed it right, who then settles in this colony, gets a job with a trading company and thinks he's the bee's knees. He marries a local, native woman, and essentially looks down on her and her family, thinking they're all dumb and lazy and he has to pay for them all, and that he is just so superior. Then he loses all his money and it turns out neither his wife nor his in laws liked him that much - what a surprise! And that's pretty much as far as I got. Life is short and I don't have the energy or patience to read any more of this.
Set in Malaysia in the 1800s, there's a Dutch guy who was a raggamuffin stowaway on a British ship, if I followed it right, who then settles in this colony, gets a job with a trading company and thinks he's the bee's knees. He marries a local, native woman, and essentially looks down on her and her family, thinking they're all dumb and lazy and he has to pay for them all, and that he is just so superior. Then he loses all his money and it turns out neither his wife nor his in laws liked him that much - what a surprise! And that's pretty much as far as I got. Life is short and I don't have the energy or patience to read any more of this.
December 24, 2012
Conrad's novel "Outcast" is a good read for those interested in colonial literature about the Malay archipelago. I'd choose Lord Jim if I was reading the sublime Conrad for the first time. Conrad requires a bit of effort, but the pay off is well worth it.
September 11, 2014
For some reason I couldn't get into this book. Normally I enjoy Conrad.
July 23, 2017
Published back in 1896, this is Conrad's second novel, and it's mesmerizing. The titular outcast is a nasty human being who thinks himself superior as a white man, and as a man in general. Things don't go well for him in his life, though, honestly, they don't go too well for any character given more than a paragraph of concern in this novel. There is a quote from a contemporary HG Wells review of the novel in which Conrad is said to have to learn to leave words out, but I love the attention to detail, the elongated, complicated sentences telling us of the state of the light, the wind conditions, the actions of the trees in the forest or of the river, the positions of bodies in repose and in action, the distance or lack of same between people's faces during conversations. I wouldn't change a word, and besides, Conrad does love to leave things left unsaid at times you would expect them to be described. Though it's hard to imagine how much depth Conrad had 120 years ago in regards to race and feminist issues, it's equally hard to imagine he one iota was deserved of the white male privilege contained herein.
December 9, 2012
Man, this was dramatic! It has a very different feel to it than Heart of Darkness, which makes sense since it's an earlier work. It didn't flow or hang together quite as well as Conrad's later stuff, and I kind of felt like every single character in this book was crazy, but I still enjoyed it.
April 27, 2016
It is curious to think that Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling were both writing at around the same time, as they outline a view of colonialism that is entirely different from one another. The only thing that they have in common is their condescending and racist attitude towards the nations that are colonised.
However, while Kipling sees colonialism in a positive manner as the White Man’s Burden, part of the task of civilising other races that are inferior to his own, Conrad has no such illusions. For Conrad, colonialism is a seedy and unpleasant business, carried out for profit and bringing little benefit to the colonialist or the colonised.
This is the backdrop for Conrad’s second novel, An Outcast of the Islands, which once again returns to the Malay setting of his earlier novel, Almayer’s Folly. Set earlier in time than the other novel, this one follows the fortunes of Peter Willems, a clerk in Macassar.
Willems is a talented administrator, but he is also a sordid and weak man, with an inflated sense of his own importance. He loses his job after ‘borrowing’ work funds from his employer, and his native wife scornfully leaves him. For a second chance, Willems turns to his former patron, Captain Tom Lingard.
Lingard unwisely sets Willems up to look after his own concerns, and reveals to Willems the whereabouts of the river entrance that controls his own interests. The ungrateful Willems once again reveals his unworthiness, and betrays the whereabouts of the river to a number of native adventurers who wish to control the area. This is done in part due to his involvement with Aissa, the daughter of a local potentate.
With the help of Willems, a party of adventurers are able to overthrow Lingard’s favoured ruler and establish themselves as a power in the area. Deprived of the source of his business, Lingard eventually returns to Europe. However, he avenges himself by abandoning Willems to live trapped on the island he is residing in, and with Aissa, who Willems now hates.
However, the story does not quite end here. Almayer, the other beneficiary of Lingard’s patronage, is jealous that Willems will return to favour, and hatches a scheme to help Willems escape, with the help of Willems’ now remorseful wife. However, Willems fails to take account of the jealous Aissa, who kills him.
This is the second of Conrad’s reverse trilogy, featuring many of the same characters and settings. It is not truthfully a trilogy since the action takes place in the past, whilst the third novel, The Rescue, was completed much later and takes place even further in the past. No great knowledge of the other books is required to understand any of them.
The fact that this book before Almayer’s Folly is of some interest in the story’s development, and events here are darkened by our knowledge of what is to come. We see the moment when the ragtag of bandit would-be leaders do indeed become the local power force in the area. In the book’s only moment of tenderness, we see Almayer behaving affectionately towards his little daughter, but we know from the earlier book that this will end in tears later.
We can also see the irony of Almayer understandably rejecting Willems’ friendly overtures, realising that if Almayer had accepted Willems’ offer, then Willems would not have turned to Lingard’s enemies. This would eventually serve to destroy Lingard’s influence in the area, and leave Almayer isolated and exposed, his predicament at the beginning of Almayer’s Folly.
An Outcast of the Islands is closely aligned to Almayer’s Folly, far more than to The Rescue. Indeed it could almost be said to be a rewrite of of Almayer’s Folly, but with a younger hero. Once again a weak man seeks to set himself up as an important face in the South-East Asian setting of the earlier book. Once more his plans come to nothing, and he dies miserable.
The themes of An Outcast of the Islands are also similar, including some of the more deplorable ones. The story once again is about the fallibility and essential aloneness of the human condition. Willems falls from grace, not once but twice. He is the victim of his own ego and ungrateful selfishness, since there is really no good reason to betray his benefactor.
The second fall is worse than the first one. He does considerably more damage, destroying the influence of Lingard and allowing a more crudely repressive regime under Lakamba to control the area. He also does more damage to himself. He degrades his personality by getting obsessively involved with a local woman who is half-savage. He betrays his own kind. He also suffers a worse fate for his actions this time, as he is abandoned by Lingard, an outcast from his own people, until sudden death overtakes him.
Aissa is also alone in the world, unable to ever understand or win the total love of the man she has become devoted to. We feel less regard for her, because Conrad has greater difficulty writing for women or non-Europeans. Indeed, Conrad has a certain distaste for Asians.
After Willems falls in love with Aissa, Conrad describes him drinking muddy water: “He drank again, and shuddered with a depraved sense of pleasure at the after-taste of slime in the water”. The metaphorical inference is clear. The locals are savages, and Willems has disgraced himself by getting involved with her.
This may seem strange given Conrad’s portrayal of the Europeans, which I will turn to in a minute. However, whilst the Europeans may be corrupt and hypocritical, there is no doubt in Conrad’s mind that they are superior in understanding to the Asian population. None of the Asian characters is especially interesting or sympathetic, and there is little attempt to make them so.
Perhaps this is why the constancy of Aissa and the returning affection of Joanna (the wife of Willems) is somewhat inexplicable to the reader. To us, Willems is a weak and unlikeable character, and the affection of these two women is somewhat unconvincing. However, Conrad seems to feel that even a poor specimen of European manhood is apparently more worthy than any member of the indigenous population.
As I said, the book is set against a backdrop of colonialism. While the book is not written for the express purpose of attacking imperialism, the interference of the Europeans in the area is portrayed in a negative light. Almayer and Willems are only out for their own interests. There is no concern among anyone for helping or civilising the indigenous population. This is a greedy grab for money and power.
The nearest we come to an exception is Captain Lingard, who controls the area in a bullying and benevolent manner. However, even this is not a good thing in the world of Conrad’s novel. Lingard interferes to preserve his own interests too. He is aggressive against those who threaten his interests.
His judgement is also poor, as can be seen in his choice of Almayer and Willems as his two right-hand men. Almayer also lists a few of his other mistakes in handling situations where he erred on the side of kindness, and got himself and others into trouble. Lingard’s empire is like the house of cards that he builds for Nina, getting bigger until the day when it collapses.
An Outcast of the Islands is a longer and much more ambitious book than Almayer’s Folly, but this is not always good. It is over twice the length, but in effect it merely takes much longer to say the same thing. There are many fine descriptive passages, but often they overwhelm the book, and greatly slow the story down.
Conrad shows great interest in developing the psychology of his characters, and there are plenty of passages showing their thought processes. There are mixed feelings among critics about his success, but the attempt is clearly there.
Overall though, the book is a fine piece of writing. Its faults may be written large, but it is written with much conscientious attention and thought. It is not one of Conrad’s best books, and even he did not feel too much enthusiasm for it. However, it is a valuable step in the development of his writing, and served to further ground him in his new career as a writer.
However, while Kipling sees colonialism in a positive manner as the White Man’s Burden, part of the task of civilising other races that are inferior to his own, Conrad has no such illusions. For Conrad, colonialism is a seedy and unpleasant business, carried out for profit and bringing little benefit to the colonialist or the colonised.
This is the backdrop for Conrad’s second novel, An Outcast of the Islands, which once again returns to the Malay setting of his earlier novel, Almayer’s Folly. Set earlier in time than the other novel, this one follows the fortunes of Peter Willems, a clerk in Macassar.
Willems is a talented administrator, but he is also a sordid and weak man, with an inflated sense of his own importance. He loses his job after ‘borrowing’ work funds from his employer, and his native wife scornfully leaves him. For a second chance, Willems turns to his former patron, Captain Tom Lingard.
Lingard unwisely sets Willems up to look after his own concerns, and reveals to Willems the whereabouts of the river entrance that controls his own interests. The ungrateful Willems once again reveals his unworthiness, and betrays the whereabouts of the river to a number of native adventurers who wish to control the area. This is done in part due to his involvement with Aissa, the daughter of a local potentate.
With the help of Willems, a party of adventurers are able to overthrow Lingard’s favoured ruler and establish themselves as a power in the area. Deprived of the source of his business, Lingard eventually returns to Europe. However, he avenges himself by abandoning Willems to live trapped on the island he is residing in, and with Aissa, who Willems now hates.
However, the story does not quite end here. Almayer, the other beneficiary of Lingard’s patronage, is jealous that Willems will return to favour, and hatches a scheme to help Willems escape, with the help of Willems’ now remorseful wife. However, Willems fails to take account of the jealous Aissa, who kills him.
This is the second of Conrad’s reverse trilogy, featuring many of the same characters and settings. It is not truthfully a trilogy since the action takes place in the past, whilst the third novel, The Rescue, was completed much later and takes place even further in the past. No great knowledge of the other books is required to understand any of them.
The fact that this book before Almayer’s Folly is of some interest in the story’s development, and events here are darkened by our knowledge of what is to come. We see the moment when the ragtag of bandit would-be leaders do indeed become the local power force in the area. In the book’s only moment of tenderness, we see Almayer behaving affectionately towards his little daughter, but we know from the earlier book that this will end in tears later.
We can also see the irony of Almayer understandably rejecting Willems’ friendly overtures, realising that if Almayer had accepted Willems’ offer, then Willems would not have turned to Lingard’s enemies. This would eventually serve to destroy Lingard’s influence in the area, and leave Almayer isolated and exposed, his predicament at the beginning of Almayer’s Folly.
An Outcast of the Islands is closely aligned to Almayer’s Folly, far more than to The Rescue. Indeed it could almost be said to be a rewrite of of Almayer’s Folly, but with a younger hero. Once again a weak man seeks to set himself up as an important face in the South-East Asian setting of the earlier book. Once more his plans come to nothing, and he dies miserable.
The themes of An Outcast of the Islands are also similar, including some of the more deplorable ones. The story once again is about the fallibility and essential aloneness of the human condition. Willems falls from grace, not once but twice. He is the victim of his own ego and ungrateful selfishness, since there is really no good reason to betray his benefactor.
The second fall is worse than the first one. He does considerably more damage, destroying the influence of Lingard and allowing a more crudely repressive regime under Lakamba to control the area. He also does more damage to himself. He degrades his personality by getting obsessively involved with a local woman who is half-savage. He betrays his own kind. He also suffers a worse fate for his actions this time, as he is abandoned by Lingard, an outcast from his own people, until sudden death overtakes him.
Aissa is also alone in the world, unable to ever understand or win the total love of the man she has become devoted to. We feel less regard for her, because Conrad has greater difficulty writing for women or non-Europeans. Indeed, Conrad has a certain distaste for Asians.
After Willems falls in love with Aissa, Conrad describes him drinking muddy water: “He drank again, and shuddered with a depraved sense of pleasure at the after-taste of slime in the water”. The metaphorical inference is clear. The locals are savages, and Willems has disgraced himself by getting involved with her.
This may seem strange given Conrad’s portrayal of the Europeans, which I will turn to in a minute. However, whilst the Europeans may be corrupt and hypocritical, there is no doubt in Conrad’s mind that they are superior in understanding to the Asian population. None of the Asian characters is especially interesting or sympathetic, and there is little attempt to make them so.
Perhaps this is why the constancy of Aissa and the returning affection of Joanna (the wife of Willems) is somewhat inexplicable to the reader. To us, Willems is a weak and unlikeable character, and the affection of these two women is somewhat unconvincing. However, Conrad seems to feel that even a poor specimen of European manhood is apparently more worthy than any member of the indigenous population.
As I said, the book is set against a backdrop of colonialism. While the book is not written for the express purpose of attacking imperialism, the interference of the Europeans in the area is portrayed in a negative light. Almayer and Willems are only out for their own interests. There is no concern among anyone for helping or civilising the indigenous population. This is a greedy grab for money and power.
The nearest we come to an exception is Captain Lingard, who controls the area in a bullying and benevolent manner. However, even this is not a good thing in the world of Conrad’s novel. Lingard interferes to preserve his own interests too. He is aggressive against those who threaten his interests.
His judgement is also poor, as can be seen in his choice of Almayer and Willems as his two right-hand men. Almayer also lists a few of his other mistakes in handling situations where he erred on the side of kindness, and got himself and others into trouble. Lingard’s empire is like the house of cards that he builds for Nina, getting bigger until the day when it collapses.
An Outcast of the Islands is a longer and much more ambitious book than Almayer’s Folly, but this is not always good. It is over twice the length, but in effect it merely takes much longer to say the same thing. There are many fine descriptive passages, but often they overwhelm the book, and greatly slow the story down.
Conrad shows great interest in developing the psychology of his characters, and there are plenty of passages showing their thought processes. There are mixed feelings among critics about his success, but the attempt is clearly there.
Overall though, the book is a fine piece of writing. Its faults may be written large, but it is written with much conscientious attention and thought. It is not one of Conrad’s best books, and even he did not feel too much enthusiasm for it. However, it is a valuable step in the development of his writing, and served to further ground him in his new career as a writer.
February 4, 2020
Conrad followed up his first novel, Almayer's Folly, with this, An Outcast of the Islands. While it lacks the concentrated sense of devastation of the soul and all aspirations that appear in Almayer's Folly, Outcast yields its own bleak rewards. It reintroduces Tom Lingard and Kaspar Almayer but focuses on a degenerate failed businessman, Peter Willems, whose greatest talent, as with many other Conradian characters, is self deception and the ability to rationalize betrayal. He is the worst of the lot, although there are no redeemable characters among the others either. Certainly not the equally self deceived Lingard and Almayer. Nor the broken women who attach themselves to Willems, Joanna, his wife, or Aissa, his Malay mistress.
Yet I'm not sure that these concerns are even at the heart of the novel. More than anything else, Conrad has composed a work that almost perfectly captures the atmosphere of the tropics and Southeast Asia. The storms, the smells, the damp heat, the blazing sun, and mist laden forests at early morning ring more true than any other description of the region I've encountered. Sometimes, he might even venture into purple prose (I like some purple prose) but not really. For the panorama he describes has meaning above and behind its mere realistic depiction. When Willems contemplates his own disappearance into this landscape, it's more than simply a fear of death. It is a crushing of the spirit, the isolation of the soul, and the helpless search for the last word of the novel, which escapes from Almayer's own lips. And to think that Conrad had achieved such a complete worldview with only his second book.
One other note. Conrad makes great use of multiple perspectives and points of view in this work, anticipating his even more intense employment of narrative experimentation in works such as Lord Jim. It's not an objective point of view, because secrets remain and revelations don't occur unless the differing cast of characters decide to let us in on things. We are not only seeing into Willems but also Almayer, Lingard, Aissa, and even briefly into a handful of others.
Yet I'm not sure that these concerns are even at the heart of the novel. More than anything else, Conrad has composed a work that almost perfectly captures the atmosphere of the tropics and Southeast Asia. The storms, the smells, the damp heat, the blazing sun, and mist laden forests at early morning ring more true than any other description of the region I've encountered. Sometimes, he might even venture into purple prose (I like some purple prose) but not really. For the panorama he describes has meaning above and behind its mere realistic depiction. When Willems contemplates his own disappearance into this landscape, it's more than simply a fear of death. It is a crushing of the spirit, the isolation of the soul, and the helpless search for the last word of the novel, which escapes from Almayer's own lips. And to think that Conrad had achieved such a complete worldview with only his second book.
One other note. Conrad makes great use of multiple perspectives and points of view in this work, anticipating his even more intense employment of narrative experimentation in works such as Lord Jim. It's not an objective point of view, because secrets remain and revelations don't occur unless the differing cast of characters decide to let us in on things. We are not only seeing into Willems but also Almayer, Lingard, Aissa, and even briefly into a handful of others.
August 14, 2020
An Outcast of the Islands tells the story of Peter Willems who, through corruption, loses his good job and is rescued and relocated by the man that helped him get where he was in the first place, captain Tom Lingard. Willems is placed among natives in Sambir, where he has been given a chance to start afresh despite his previous failures. However, he gets into trouble all over again, and manages to offend the local leaders with which he is supposed to cooperate. Willem's selfishness and misogyny continue to get him into worse situations, and he never recognizes the error of his ways. This failure leads to tragic consequences for himself and others.
Joseph Conrad is one of the best stylists in the English language, and there are elements in An Outcast of the Islands that hint at what he will do in Heart of Darkness. But one of the issues with this book is that, at times, the style gets in the way and clutters the book with flowery phrases when a more plain rendering of the action would have been fitting. Additionally, the plot does not have the gripping horror of Heart of Darkness, without which it feels rather flat and uninspiring.
There is value in reading this book purely from the marvel of Conrad's descriptions and characterizations. But its other limitations prevent it from being priority reading among late 19th century works.
Joseph Conrad is one of the best stylists in the English language, and there are elements in An Outcast of the Islands that hint at what he will do in Heart of Darkness. But one of the issues with this book is that, at times, the style gets in the way and clutters the book with flowery phrases when a more plain rendering of the action would have been fitting. Additionally, the plot does not have the gripping horror of Heart of Darkness, without which it feels rather flat and uninspiring.
There is value in reading this book purely from the marvel of Conrad's descriptions and characterizations. But its other limitations prevent it from being priority reading among late 19th century works.
January 6, 2020
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) and Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) were virtual contemporaries, not only chronologically, but in their common interest in the dominating practice of nations during their time: imperialism. It is most likely that Conrad was familiar with Kipling’s evocation of ‘the white man’s burden’ : a noblesse-oblige form of benevolent despotism as the ‘god’ part of the ‘gold-glory-and-god’ triumvirate of motivations for imperial forays came into play. As well, Kipling’s famous dictum that ‘east is east, west and west/And never the twain shall meet’ certainly provides a leitmotif for this novel, Conrad’s second book about events involving Langard, Almayer, Babalatchi, and other whites, Arabs and Malays in the East Indies. Whether Conrad subscribes to this east-west polarization is a critical factor in interpreting this novel. In great part, I think he does.
Racism is thus one of the main themes in the book. Babalatchi’s plan for Willems when he comes up the river after his disgraceful termination of employment with Hudig is to have ‘the whites fight it out between themselves’. Aissa’s willingness to bring her dying father’s curses upon her own head is brought about because she has snared the interests of a white man who is, as everyone knows, a superior being. Ali, the Malay servant, believes that Langard can become invisible as well as being able to be seen in two places at once, although he does admit that not all white people can do this. Willem’s eventual desolation and Langard’s drawn out indecision as to how to react to his betrayal both arise from the seemingly unbelievable fact that a white man could conspire with the natives (who are commonly referred to as ‘savages’) against one of his own race. Willem’s decision not to burn down Almayer’s holdings results from his wish to seek some sort of redemption for his crossing of the color line. The final gunshot which brings a conclusion to the drama is prefaced by a feeling that 'Hate filled the world, filled the space between them – the hate of race, the hate of hopeless diversity, the hate of blood, the hate against the man born in the land of lies and of evil from which nothing but misfortune comes to those who are not white.’ I sincerely doubt that Conrad was so naïve as to believe whites were inherently better than browns and blacks, but I am absolutely certain that he believed the majority of the peoples if the regions he’d travelled through felt this to be the case. Racism is wrong. But racism surely existed then, just as it still continues to exist to this day.
The desperate search for Internal psychological balance is one of the main themes in the book. Virtually nobody is happy. Willems is the character who provides the title of the novel, but this appellation could reasonably be applied to many others in its pages. Initially, he thrives on the high esteem of others, but loses this and fails miserably at an attempt to break his isolated despondency with both the love of a woman and an alliance with opposing forces. He ends a shattered shell of a man. Aissa, his woman, finds herself living with a man who is not really there, having abandoned her people and her family. Almayer is even more frustrated than he was in Almayer’s Folly, scheming highly improbable scenarios of ways to salvage some of his far too unrealistic dreams of wealth and prestige in Europe when he is not bewailing how the fates have dealt with him so unfairly. Langard seems more mystified than anything else when confronted with the loss of the nice mercantile set up he had going in Sambir, and as well has to deal with the loss of his ship. Joanna, Willem’s wife, is distraught at the loss her husband, her home and any semblance of normality. These are profoundly unhappy, unsettled people, caught as they are in the nexus of frictions almost all arising from the frictions between races connected with the practice of imperialism.
A pervading sense of loneliness is a main theme in the book. Aissa’s desolation at her estrangement from Willems is just one of many examples, as the narrator explains, of ‘the tremendous fact of our isolation, of the loneliness impenetrable and transparent, elusive and everlasting, of the indestructible loneliness that surrounds, envelops, clothes every human soul from the cradle to the grave and perhaps beyond.’ I firmly believe that Conrad had an overriding existential perception of the meaninglessness of existence, one which was only assuaged by his very strong sympathy with the plight of the people he saw in all different walks of life during his travels. Willems’ frustrated isolation, Langard’s mystified indecision, Aissa’s passionate disappointment, Joanna's sense of inescapable dislocation, Babalatchi's frequent shifting of his role as confidant from one power figure to another, and Almayer’s almost pathetic dreams all arise from their loneliness, from their inability to connect in a vibrant and sustaining manner with others, especially with those of their own race.
Conrad’s writings is, as always, a pure pleasure to indulge oneself with: I frequently find myself rereading sentences and whole paragraphs for the richness of his use of adjectives and the subtle nuances of feeling and description he thus so masterfully evokes. As well, his appreciation of the injustice of the role assigned to women in the society he is describing was quite acute: not only the tragic situations of Joanna and of Aissa, but even of the old woman who watches over Aissa and Willems are shown to result from forces completely out of their control. Finally, he has an overwhelming respect for nature: both for its beauties and for its more sinister side. The journey of Langard from Almayer to Babalatchi, then to Aissa and finally to Willems is shrouded begins with a quiet, dull and ominous stillness which presages an oncoming thunderstorm, with rain and lightning providing a dramatic change which mirrors the development of the interpersonal relations Langard goes through in a truly masterful manner.
Highly, highly recommended.
I’m now going to watch the 1951 movie version of this wonderful novel.
Racism is thus one of the main themes in the book. Babalatchi’s plan for Willems when he comes up the river after his disgraceful termination of employment with Hudig is to have ‘the whites fight it out between themselves’. Aissa’s willingness to bring her dying father’s curses upon her own head is brought about because she has snared the interests of a white man who is, as everyone knows, a superior being. Ali, the Malay servant, believes that Langard can become invisible as well as being able to be seen in two places at once, although he does admit that not all white people can do this. Willem’s eventual desolation and Langard’s drawn out indecision as to how to react to his betrayal both arise from the seemingly unbelievable fact that a white man could conspire with the natives (who are commonly referred to as ‘savages’) against one of his own race. Willem’s decision not to burn down Almayer’s holdings results from his wish to seek some sort of redemption for his crossing of the color line. The final gunshot which brings a conclusion to the drama is prefaced by a feeling that 'Hate filled the world, filled the space between them – the hate of race, the hate of hopeless diversity, the hate of blood, the hate against the man born in the land of lies and of evil from which nothing but misfortune comes to those who are not white.’ I sincerely doubt that Conrad was so naïve as to believe whites were inherently better than browns and blacks, but I am absolutely certain that he believed the majority of the peoples if the regions he’d travelled through felt this to be the case. Racism is wrong. But racism surely existed then, just as it still continues to exist to this day.
The desperate search for Internal psychological balance is one of the main themes in the book. Virtually nobody is happy. Willems is the character who provides the title of the novel, but this appellation could reasonably be applied to many others in its pages. Initially, he thrives on the high esteem of others, but loses this and fails miserably at an attempt to break his isolated despondency with both the love of a woman and an alliance with opposing forces. He ends a shattered shell of a man. Aissa, his woman, finds herself living with a man who is not really there, having abandoned her people and her family. Almayer is even more frustrated than he was in Almayer’s Folly, scheming highly improbable scenarios of ways to salvage some of his far too unrealistic dreams of wealth and prestige in Europe when he is not bewailing how the fates have dealt with him so unfairly. Langard seems more mystified than anything else when confronted with the loss of the nice mercantile set up he had going in Sambir, and as well has to deal with the loss of his ship. Joanna, Willem’s wife, is distraught at the loss her husband, her home and any semblance of normality. These are profoundly unhappy, unsettled people, caught as they are in the nexus of frictions almost all arising from the frictions between races connected with the practice of imperialism.
A pervading sense of loneliness is a main theme in the book. Aissa’s desolation at her estrangement from Willems is just one of many examples, as the narrator explains, of ‘the tremendous fact of our isolation, of the loneliness impenetrable and transparent, elusive and everlasting, of the indestructible loneliness that surrounds, envelops, clothes every human soul from the cradle to the grave and perhaps beyond.’ I firmly believe that Conrad had an overriding existential perception of the meaninglessness of existence, one which was only assuaged by his very strong sympathy with the plight of the people he saw in all different walks of life during his travels. Willems’ frustrated isolation, Langard’s mystified indecision, Aissa’s passionate disappointment, Joanna's sense of inescapable dislocation, Babalatchi's frequent shifting of his role as confidant from one power figure to another, and Almayer’s almost pathetic dreams all arise from their loneliness, from their inability to connect in a vibrant and sustaining manner with others, especially with those of their own race.
Conrad’s writings is, as always, a pure pleasure to indulge oneself with: I frequently find myself rereading sentences and whole paragraphs for the richness of his use of adjectives and the subtle nuances of feeling and description he thus so masterfully evokes. As well, his appreciation of the injustice of the role assigned to women in the society he is describing was quite acute: not only the tragic situations of Joanna and of Aissa, but even of the old woman who watches over Aissa and Willems are shown to result from forces completely out of their control. Finally, he has an overwhelming respect for nature: both for its beauties and for its more sinister side. The journey of Langard from Almayer to Babalatchi, then to Aissa and finally to Willems is shrouded begins with a quiet, dull and ominous stillness which presages an oncoming thunderstorm, with rain and lightning providing a dramatic change which mirrors the development of the interpersonal relations Langard goes through in a truly masterful manner.
Highly, highly recommended.
I’m now going to watch the 1951 movie version of this wonderful novel.
June 30, 2025
Even the master can have a dud. He hasn’t really found his voice yet on his second novel. Normally he can describe the most mundane things in the most beautiful way, but here he keeps things pretty flat and grounded. The actual plot is pretty dry, personalities are well fleshed out, but the motives and actions of the characters don’t seem to be in balance and alignment with what’s actually going on.
June 17, 2022
Conrad’s typical portrayal of darkness in the scenery. Loved it.
Read
March 31, 2024Not my favorite. Hardly any likeable characters. But interesting snapshot of tensions in cultures of old colonial days
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