The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad
Edited by R. Davies, Laurence Karl
Published on 14. April 1988
Book
Hardback
576 pages
978-0-521-32387-1 (ISBN)
Description
This is the third of the projected eight-volume edition comprising all the surviving letters of Joseph Conrad under the general editorship of Professor Frederick R. Karl. When completed, it will have assembled about 4,000 letters, over a third of them published before only in defective versions. As with previous volumes in the series, this volume contains an editorial introduction, illustrations, and extensive annotation. The period covered by the third volume is 1903 to 1907 when Conrad stood at the height of his powers. It was during these years that he completed Nostromo and The Secret Agent. Yet this was not a happy time for him: his plans for leisurely, contemplative work were constantly interrupted by dangerous illnesses in the family, his own bad health, financial worries, and the pleas of editors desperate for copy. Conrad maintained his correspondence with old friends such as Galsworthy, Wells, and Ford Madox Ford, and developed a number of new friendships. This is also the period in which Conrad became absorbed in political fiction, and this is reflected in an intriguing sequence of America, and censorship. As always, the letters to his literary agent J. B. Pinker provide a detailed (and largely unpublished) account of Conrad's plans and literary commitments, week by week, month by month.
Reviews / Votes
"The scholarly wealth and care of this edition, the clarity of lay-out and secondary material are beyond praise. This represents the archival energy of American scholarship at its finest." George Steiner, The Sunday Times "These letters are impeccably edited and presented...To anyone interested in the history of fiction writing or the emergence of modernism, they are indispensable." Tony Tanner, The Times Higher Education Supplement "One of the advantages of this new collection -- besides that of providing accurate texts of unpublished correspondence and of the many letters that have long been available in unreliable editions -- is that it enables us to appreciate the extent to which some of Conrad's letters are themselves part of his achievement at a prose writer." Louis Menand, The New York Review of Books "Altogether, this volume (like the preceding ones already published in this edition) is a book that anyone interested in Joseph Conrad's emergence as a major English novelist will wish to have. It will certainly become an indispensable guide and invaluable source for literary scholars: the editorial principles on which it is based are clearly indicated and scrupulously observed; the scholarly apparatus itself is impressively thorough and careful, without being obtrusive or distracting." Brian Thomas, ConradianaMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
14 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
838 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-32387-1 (9780521323871)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
List of plates; Acknowledgments; List of holders of letters; Published sources of letters; Chronology, 1903-1907; Introduction to Volume three; Conrad's correspondents, 1903-1907; Editorial procedures; Letters; Silent corrections to the text; Corrigenda for Volume two; Index of recipients; Index of names.