Contains the novels Lord Jim, Nostromo and The Secret Agent, together with a selection of Conrad's superb short stories.

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) is considered to be one of the great novelists in English. His novels often have a nautical setting and his characters suffer trials in the midst of an indifferent universe. His masterful prose is second to none and his Polish background brings a romantic or tragic style that was previously unknown in English novels. The "Heart of Darkness" is a true classic. A small book but every word is powerfully and perfectly placed. It is a dark allegory full of suspense, adventure, character development and psychological drama. The story is told by Marlow who on his journey up the Congo meets and becomes fascinated with Mr Kurtz who dominates the local people. This is considered to be Conrad's greatest and most enigmatic story. The" Secret Agent" is a piercing sociological evaluation of the entire culture of the western world and the many flawed sub-cultures that emerge from it. Set in London, each group has an anti-hero who epitomises the problems with a culture that is entirely based on self-interest. There is a broken time line in the novel that heightens the mystery of the identity of the tragic victim who dies early on in the story. "Lord Jim" is a sea-faring tale, but more than that is it a story of Jim's lifelong efforts to atone for an act of instinctive cowardice. This then became the classic tale that gave birth to a new genre of literature. "Nostromo" is another sea-faring epic and a complex tale of colonial life in Latin America. In this book there are flashbacks, people telling stories within stories which adds both to the complexity and the depth. The tale draws you in with a sense of foreboding as the lure of silver, greed, capitalist exploitation and rebellion evolve. "Victory" centers around the character Axel Heyst, a complex character who wishes to cut himself off from people to avoid suffering. He settles on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago. However, he is hated and misunderstood by the evil innkeeper Schomberg and then rescues a young English woman, Lena. The take is one of adventure and complex relationships, but ultimately about the incredible healing power of love.

A selection of short stories including favourites such as Youth, a modern epic of the sea; The Secret Sharer, a thrilling psychological drama; An Outpost of Progress, a blackly comic prelude to Heart of Darkness; Amy Foster, a moving story of a shipwrecked, alienated Pole; and The Lagoon and Karain, two exotic, exciting Malay tales.

Heart Of Darkness. The story of the civilized, enlightened Mr. Kurtz who embarks on a harrowing "night journey" into the savage heart of Africa, only to find his dark and evil soul. The Secret Sharer. The saga of a young, inexperienced skipper forced to decide the fate of a fugitive sailor who killed a man in self-defense. As he faces his first moral test the skipper discovers a terrifying truth -- and comes face to face with the secret itself. Heart Of Darkness and The Secret Sharer draw on actual events and people that Conrad met or heard about during his many far-flung travels. In portraying men whose incredible journeys on land and at sea are also symbolic voyages into their own mysterious depths, these two masterful works give credence to Conrad's acclaim as a major psychological writer.

At last available in a single volume: comprehensive overviews and concise analyses of the key critical texts and approaches to the most-studied works of literature. By assembling extracts from essays, reviews, and articles, the columbia critical guides provide students with ready access to the most important secondary writings on a single text or pair of texts by a given writer. each volume: -- Offers a balanced and nuanced approach to criticism, drawing on a wide array of British and American sources -- Explains criticism in terms of key approaches, allowing students to grasp the central issues for each work -- Is edited by a noted scholar who specializes in the writer or work in question -- Includes notes and a comprehensive bibliography and index. The critical works in this collection analyze the complex narrative technique of heart of darkness while exploring its evocation of myth, philosophy, and politics, its attitudes to empire, its images of Africa, and its representations of women. Examining secondary sources from the 1900s to the 1990s, this guide is an indispensable resource for the study of one of Conrad's most potent works.