Books by Ian Watt

In the space of a single generation, three eighteenth-century writers - Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding - invented an entirely new genre of writing: the novel. This book explains why these authors wrote in the way that they did, and how the complex changes in society - the emergence of the middle-class and more.

Conrad's great novel is a rich study not only of a typical South American country, but of the politics of any underdeveloped country, and for this reason it is permanently topical. Ian Watt addresses Conrad's concerns when writing the work, and provides an accessible introduction, taking account of background, history and politics, and reception and influence.

Ian Watt (1917-1999) has long been acknowledged as one of the finest of post-War literary critics. Essays on Conrad is a collection of Watt's most characteristic essays on the work of Joseph Conrad, together with his moving account of his experiences as a prisoner of war on the River Kwai.