Conrad, Joseph

The Heart of Darkness

The story details an incident when Charlie Marlow, an Englishman, took a foreign assignment as a ferry-boat captain, employed by a Belgian trading company on the Congo River in Africa. Though his job is transporting ivory downriver, Marlow quickly develops an intense interest in investigating Kurtz, an ivory-procurement agent in the employ of the government. Kurtz has a strange reputation throughout the region. Rumor has it that he has made himself king of tribe of natives who worship him as a god. The book is partly the basis for the movies “Apocalypse Now” and “The Third Man”.

Tales of Unrest (Penguin Classics)

JOSEPH CONRAD (1857-1924) was one of the most remarkable figures in English literature. Born in Poland, and originally named Josef Teodor Konrad Walecz Korzeniowski, he went to sea at the age of seventeen and eventually joined the crew of an English vessel, becoming a British citizen in the process. He retired from the sea in 1894 and took up the pen, writing all his works in English, a language he had only learned as an adult. Despite this, he was a master stylist, both lush and precise. His outsider's eye gave him special insights into the moral dangers of the great age of European empires. In his prefactory note to this volume, Conrad wrote, "Of the five stories in this volume, 'The Lagoon,' the last in order, is the earliest in date. It is the first short story I ever wrote and marks, in a manner of speaking, the end of my first phase, the Malayan phase with its special subject and its verbal suggestions. Conceived in the same mood which produced 'Almayer's Folly' and 'An Outcast of the Islands,' it is told in the same breath (with what was left of it, that is, after the end of 'An Outcast'), seen with the same vision, rendered in the same method -- if such a thing as method did exist then in my conscious relation to this new adventure of writing for print. I doubt it very much. One does one's work first and theorizes about it afterwards. It is a very amusing and egotistical occupation of no use whatever to any<->one and just as likely as not to lead to false conclusions."

who maintained that his name was Henry Price. However, for some reason or other, the natives down the river had given him the name of Makola, and it stuck to him through all his wanderings about the country. He spoke English and French with a warbling accent, wrote a beautiful hand, understood bookkeeping, and cherished in his innermost heart the worship of evil spirits.

The Heart of Darkness

The story details an incident when Charlie Marlow, an Englishman, took a foreign assignment as a ferry-boat captain, employed by a Belgian trading company on the Congo River in Africa. Though his job is transporting ivory downriver, Marlow quickly develops an intense interest in investigating Kurtz, an ivory-procurement agent in the employ of the government. Kurtz has a strange reputation throughout the region. Rumor has it that he has made himself king of tribe of natives who worship him as a god. The book is partly the basis for the movies ?Apocalypse Now? and ?The Third Man?.

The Shadow Line

Written in 1915, The Shadow-Line is based upon events and experiences from twenty-seven years earlier to which Conrad returned obsessively in his fiction. A young sea captain's first command brings with it a succession of crises: his sea is becalmed, the crew laid low by fever, and his deranged first mate is convinced that the ship is haunted by the malignant spirit of a previous captain.
This is indeed a work full of "sudden passions", in which Conrad is able to show how the full intensity of existence can be experienced by the man who, in the words of the older Captain Giles, is prepared to "stand up to his bad luck, to his mistakes, to his conscience." A subtle and penetrating analysis of the nature of manhood, The Shadow-Line investigates varieties of masculinity and desire in a subtext that counters the tale's seemingly conventional surface.

The Heart of Darkness

In Conrad's haunting tale, a young officer faces unimaginable horrors as he ventures deep into the The Heart of Darkness.

Set of Six

JOSEPH CONRAD (1857-1924) was one of the most remarkable figures in English literature. Born in Poland, and originally named Josef Teodor Konrad Walecz Korzeniowski, he went to sea at the age of seventeen and eventually joined the crew of an English vessel, becoming a British citizen in the process. He retired from the sea in 1894 and took up the pen, writing all his works in English, a language he had only learned as an adult. Despite this, he was a master stylist, both lush and precise. His outsider's eye gave him special insights into the moral dangers of the great age of European empires. This collection of stories, _A Set of Six,_ was one assembled by the author during his lifetime.

Certain individualities grow into fame through their vices and their virtues, or simply by their actions, which may have a temporary importance; and then they become forgotten. The names of a few leaders alone survive the end of armed strife and are further pre- served in history; so that, vanishing from men's active memories, they still exist in books.

Heart Of Darkness +

Heart Of Darkness is bundled free with "The Diaries of Fortune" by Daniel Oldis Comments on THE DIARIES OF FORTUNE: “A delight; a great idea deftly and wistfully handled” – Richard Powers, winner 2006 National Book Award “Pretty good story” – Jonathan Franzen, winner 2001 National Book Award

Passing of the Dead

Beneath a quiet monastery in Stanton, three orphaned boys release an evil from a dark tomb created by its own undying soul. The Brotherhood of Carmelites had watched over this evil with dedication until the hanging of a young monk caused a dissension, forcing them to disband and leave with their secret buried. The Church moved in to build a school, orphanage, and church, but the evil faded into forgotten history until Brad, Randy, and Greg unleashed the Carmelite's secret. Soon only Brad, kept safe by the ancient book he held, remained to tell Monsignor Breely and Father Sholtz what happened. The priests must learn the secrets of this book to send this creature back, before it destroys them all.