Books in the The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad series

Bringing together work composed from 1890 to 1924, the nineteen pieces collected in the posthumously published Last Essays (1926) serve as a primer to Conrad's wide interests and to the varieties of his style. This edition, supported by an extensive textual apparatus, brings together various prose pieces, including reminiscences, reviews, essays on the sea and politics, as well as several miscellaneous items, including his 'Congo Diary' and the other notebook he kept in Africa in 1890. The introduction situates these writings in Conrad's career, offers new perspectives on Conrad in the marketplace and as a writer of occasional prose and traces the contemporary reception of the volume. The notes explain literary and historical references, identify real-life places and indicate Conrad's main sources. Early drafts and notes for several essays are published here for the first time, making this authoritative critical edition a major contribution to Conrad studies.

The Secret Agent (1907) is a compelling tale of espionage and terrorism set in Edwardian London. Ironically subtitled 'A Simple Tale', it paints a terrifying portrait of revolutionaries and anarchists whose personal lives are as barren and futile as their public acts of violence. It concludes with the unwitting accomplice of a would-be terrorist blowing himself to bits with his own bomb, the terrorist's subsequent murder by his own wife, and the wife's own suicide. This new edition is based on a painstaking comparison of the original manuscript of the work with its first, truncated appearance in the American magazine Ridgeway's: A Militant Weekly for God and Country, and with all subsequent book-form publications overseen by Conrad himself. The result is a new text, purged of the printers' errors and editorial interventions that have been reproduced in all previous printings. There is also a critical introduction, an essay on the text, a textual apparatus, and helpful explanatory notes.

This volume offers scholars the first authoritative text of two works produced collaboratively by two of the most important modern British novelists. Long hard to obtain and frequently neglected by critics, each can now be appreciated both in its own right and as part of the two authors' individual oeuvres.

Victory: An Island Tale is the latest volume in the widely praised The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad. Like its predecessors, this volume offers scholars an authoritative text, free from the interference of Conrad's typists, compositors and editors; a full scholarly introduction, and textual and explanatory notes.

Joseph Conrad's short novel The Shadow-Line: A Confession (1917) is one of the key works of early twentieth-century fiction. This edition, established through modern textual scholarship, and published as part of the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad, presents Conrad's only major work written during the First World War and its 1920 preface in forms more authoritative than any so far printed. Correspondence reveals that the part- and chapter-divisions present in the historical editions lack authorial sanction, and this edition of The Shadow-Line offers a continuous text for the first time, restoring to the narrative a fluency and dramatic intensity not hitherto found in any printing. An Introduction and Explanatory Notes, as well as maps and illustrations, enrich this volume. The Appendices publish materials relevant to Conrad's maritime career and to the publishing of the American serial, and the Apparatus allows the reader to follow the creative process.

Set in the tumultuous political world of Tsarist repression and revolutionary intrigue in St Petersburg and Geneva, Under Western Eyes (1911) renders with searing intensity the psychological torment of its Russian protagonist, a university student who, in betraying another, has betrayed himself. Based upon a comparison of the existing manuscript and other materials, this scholarly and first extensively annotated edition of Joseph Conrad's great novel Under Western Eyes differs from all previous printings by more accurately reflecting Conrad's writing process. The reading text is supported by new scholarly materials that are the result of fifteen years of investigation: essays on the textual and biographical history of the novel, extensive notes, appendices and maps, as well as a full listing of the thousands of textual variants in the early forms of the novel, including the 18,000 words that Conrad himself deleted.

Since its first appearance in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in 1899 and 1900, Lord Jim (1900) has been acclaimed as a modernist masterwork. Its narrative innovations and psychological complexity make it one of the most influential fictions written in the twentieth century and it has challenged and stimulated generations of readers as well as writers on and of fiction. This edition, established through modern textual scholarship, presents Conrad's novel and its preface in a form more authoritative than any so far printed. The Introduction situates the novel in Conrad's career and traces its sources and contemporary reception. The explanatory notes identify literary and historical references and real-life places and indicate Conrad's main influences. Glossaries, maps and illustrations are provided for further context, as well as a new transcription of 'Tuan Jim: A Sketch', a partial draft of the novel, and appearing in print for the first time, Conrad's contract for the book.

Published posthumously in 1925, Suspense is set in Genoa in early 1815. This edition of Conrad's last novel, established through modern textual scholarship, presents the text in a form more authoritative than any so far printed. The introduction situates the novel in Conrad's career and traces its sources and contemporary reception. The explanatory notes explain literary and historical references, identify real-life places and indicate Conrad's main research materials. A glossary of foreign words and phrases enriches the explanatory matter, as do four illustrations and a map. A notebook of Conrad's research for the novel and deleted drafts are published here for the first time. The essay on the text and apparatus lay out the history of the work's composition and publication and detail interventions in the text by Richard Curle, who, as Conrad's de facto literary executor, saw the novel into print, along with typists, compositors and editors.

An Outcast of the Islands is the latest volume in the widely praised Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad. Like its predecessors in this series, this volume offers scholars an authoritative text, free from the interference of early typists, compositors and editors, and comprehensive textual and explanatory notes.

'Youth', Heart of Darkness and 'The End of the Tether' make up Conrad's most celebrated collection of short narratives. Heart of Darkness forms its sombre centrepiece: set in the Congo of the 1890s, this haunting and widely influential Modernist masterpiece explores the limits of human experience as well as the nightmarish realities and consequences of imperialism. The Cambridge edition presents this trio of stories and Conrad's preface to the collection in forms more authoritative than any so far published. The introduction situates the stories in Conrad's publishing career, traces their sources and surveys contemporary reception. The edition includes detailed explanatory and contextual notes, a glossary of nautical terms, maps and illustrations. A textual essay and comprehensive apparatus reveal the history of each story's composition, revision and publication. This volume will allow scholars to see these familiar stories in a fresh light, by returning to Conrad's original texts.

Serialized in Ford Madox Ford's English Review in 1908-9, A Personal Record (1912) both documents and fictionalizes Conrad's early life and the opening stages of his careers as a writer and as a seaman. It is also an artistic and political manifesto. This volume provides the most accurate and scholarly edition available. Mistakes introduced by typists and earlier publishers have been corrected to present the text as Conrad intended it. The introduction traces Conrad's sources and gives the history of writing and reception. The essay on the text and the apparatus set out the textual history. The notes explain literary and historical references, identify places, and gloss foreign terms. Four maps and a genealogical table supplement this explanatory material. This edition of A Personal Record, established through modern textual scholarship, presents Conrad's reminiscences and the volume's two prefaces in forms more authoritative than any so far printed.

New texts of Joseph Conrad's modern classic 'The Secret Sharer' and of two other tales appear in this edition of 'Twixt Land and Sea with numerous words, sentences, and entire paragraphs restored from Conrad's manuscripts and typescripts. Written while he was working on Under Western Eyes, these stories, when collected together in 1912, marked the turning point in Conrad's professional fortunes that Chance would soon confirm. Published for the first time as Conrad meant them to be, these authoritative texts are accompanied by a new Introduction that discusses their sources, composition, and publication, and their reception up to our time. The Notes explain nautical, geographical, and historical references and are supplemented by diagrams, maps, and other illustrations. A textual essay and apparatus examine the revisions, excisions, divisions, and censorship the tales underwent, which till now have been reflected in editions unduly trusted by countless readers.

The twenty-six essays collected in Notes on Life and Letters (first published 1921) offer a kaleidoscopic view of Joseph Conrad's literary views and interest in the events of his day, including the Titanic disaster, First World War, and the re-emergence of his native Poland as a nation state. The introduction gives the history of the gathering of these diverse pieces into a single volume, traces the book's reception, and offers new perspectives on its relationship to Conrad's other writings. His essays underwent multiple layers of unauthorized intervention by typists, compositors and editors: this history is set out in the essay on the text and in the apparatus. The notes explain literary and historical references, identify places mentioned, and gloss foreign terms. Two maps supplement the explanatory material. This edition, first published in 2004 and established through modern textual scholarship, presents Conrad's essays and reviews in an authoritative form.

The latest publication in the widely praised Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) is the first, comprehensive critical edition of The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897). This volume offers scholars an authoritative text based on Conrad's original manuscript completed in 1897, supported by extensive introduction and notes.

Within the Tides (1915) was the last volume of short stories published during Conrad's lifetime. In this book, the stories are published for the first time in a critical edition based upon a thorough analysis of the original documents, and the critical texts have been emended so as to include Conrad's later revisions. The introduction discusses Conrad's main sources and influences, places the stories in their contemporary contexts and traces the volume's contemporary reception. The essay on the texts and the 'Apparatus' document the history of composition and publication and detail the revisions that the texts underwent, demonstrating as well how editors and compositors shaped their presentation in serial form. Also included are explanatory notes glossing literary and historical allusions. Two glossaries - of nautical terms and of foreign words and phrases - further enrich the explanatory matter, as do a map and six illustrations.

Set in eastern Borneo during the 1880s, Almayer's Folley recreates the conflicts of imperial Europe with the colonised East Indies through Joseph Conrad's story of Kaspar Almayer's personal tragedy: his loss of both his daughter of mixed race to her native lover and his dream of finding enough gold to return to Amsterdam in triumph. The introduction gives the history of the composition over almost five years as Conrad went to the Congo, Australia, the Ukraine, Belgium, Switzerland, and France as a seaman and on holiday. The novel has suffered seven layers of unauthorised intervention by typists and publishers, as set out in the essay on the text and the apparatus. The notes explain Malay terms and historical references, and there are two regional maps. This is the text of Almayer's Folley, established through modern textual scholarship, as Conrad would have like it to have appeared in 1895.

This latest volume in the highly respected Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad offers the first comprehensive critical edition of Conrad's once highly popular, now sometimes overlooked, novel, The Rover (1923), which explores large themes of personal and national identity, loyalty and love in a historical setting.