The Portable Conrad

by Joseph Conrad, Michael Gorra (Introduction)

Overview

A collection of Conrad's most enduring work, edited by Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Gorra

A great novelist of the sea, a poet of the tropics, a critic of empire and analyst of globalization, a harbinger of the modern spy novel, an unparalleled observer of the moments in which people are stripped of their illusions-Joseph Conrad is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. This revised edition of The Portable Conrad features the best known and most enduring of Conrad's works, including The Secret Agent, Heart of Darkness, and The Nigger of the "Narcissus," as well as shorter tales like "Amy Forster" and "The Secret Sharer," a selection of letters, and his observations on the sinking of the Titanic.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143105114
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/27/2007
Series:	Penguin Classics Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	752
Sales rank:	254,795
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joseph Conrad (originally Józef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski) was born in the Ukraine in 1857 and grew up under Tsarist autocracy. In 1896 he settled in Kent, where he produced within fifteen years such modern classics as Youth, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes. He continued to write until his death in 1924. Today Conrad is generally regarded as one of the greatest writers of fiction in English—his third language.

Michael Gorra is a professor of English at Smith College. His books include The Bells in Their Silence: Travels Through Germany and After Empire: Scott, Naipaul, Rushdie. His book, Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece (2012), was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography. 

Date of Birth:

December 3, 1857

Date of Death:

August 3, 1924

Place of Birth:

Berdiczew, Podolia, Russia

Place of Death:

Bishopsbourne, Kent, England

Education:

Tutored in Switzerland. Self-taught in classical literature. Attended maritime school in Marseilles, France

Table of Contents

The Portable ConradAcknowledgments
Introduction by Michael Gorra
Joseph Conrad: A Chronology

I. A Calm and a Storm

The Secret Sharer: An Episode from the Coast
Preface to The Nigger of the "Narcissus"
The Nigger of the "Narcissus": A Tale of the Sea

II. Three Stories

Karain: A Memory
Amy Foster
The Warrior's Soul

III. Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness

IV. The Secret Agent

Author's Note
The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale

V. Essays, Autobiography, and Letters

Autocracy and War
Some Reflections on the Loss of the Titanic
FROM The Mirror of the Sea, "Initiation"
FROM A Personal Record
Letters
To Marguerite Poradowska, 26 September 1890
To Carol Zagorski, 10 March 1896
To R. B. Cunninghame Graham, 20 December 1897
To Edward Garnett, 29 March 1898
To John Galsworthy, 12 March 1899
To R. B. Cunninghame Graham, 14 October 1899
To William Blackwood, 31 May 1902
To Roger Casement, 21 December 1903
To William Rothenstein, 3 September 1904
To J. B. Pinker, 30 July 1907
To J. B. Pinker, 16? July 1908
To Edward Garnett, 27 May 1912
To John Quinn, January 1917
To John Quinn, 6 February 1918
To Hugh Walpole, 10 February 1922
To C. K. Scott Moncrieff, 17 December 1922

Suggestions for Further Reading

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This is the best one-volume selection of Conrad available. Michael Gorra's learned and acute introduction puts both Conrad, and Conrad criticism, in essential context."
-James Wood

Editorial Reviews

"This is the best one-volume selection of Conrad available. Michael Gorra's learned and acute introduction puts both Conrad, and Conrad criticism, in essential context."
-James Wood

From the Publisher