Author: Joseph Conrad
Editor(s): Ban Kah Choon
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2000
Language: English
Pages: 356
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0141003138
Description
I have seen its secret places and have looked into its very soul. It was impalpable and enslaving, like a whispered promise of mysterious delight.
Thus writes Joseph Conrad of South-East Asia, where he traveled as a young sailor between 1883 and 1889. His experiences in the region provided the material for several of his great novels and stories.
This collection brings together Conrad's most representative stories from South-East Asia, set in Java, Borneo, Singapore and Sumatra. They portray life during a period of rapid colonial expansion when society was changing dramatically. The characters are captured in moments of confrontation, often tragic, between differing ways of life, as European culture comes into conflict with indigenous Malay traditions.
Filled with memorable characters like Karain, Hollis, Arsat, Laughing Anne, Leggatt and Captain Whalley, and containing vivid depictions of life at sea and in Malay cities at the end of the nineteenth century, these stories show how common human emotions-love, greed, honour, compassion-become complex and unfamiliar in the meeting of different civilizations.
Contents
Introduction
Youth: A Narrative
The Lagoon
Karain: A Memory
The End of the Tether
Because of the Dollars
The Secret Sharer