Victory: An Island Tale

by Joseph Conrad

Overview

Heyst was known in the East Indies as a character: a perfect gentleman, a Swedish Baron, 'enchanted' Heyst, a dreamer. For years he had drifted harmlessly around the islands. Then, after a failed business venture, he settles alone on Samburan, only to emerge to steal Lena - violinist with the touring Ladies' Orchestra at the Schomberg Hotel - right from under Schomberg's lustful gaze. But Schomberg sends to the island three outlaws, and Samburan becomes the setting for a final duel of character.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781618959102
Publisher:	Bibliotech Press
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

JOSEPH CONRAD's major works (all published by Penguin Classics) include Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, Lord Jim, Under Western Eyes, The Secret Agent and Typhoon.

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

Read an Excerpt

Set in the islands of the Malay Archipelago, Victory tells the story of a disillusioned Swede, Axel Heyst, who rescues Lena, a young English musician, from the clutches of a brutish German hotel owner. Seeking refuge at Heyst’s remote island retreat on Samburan, the couple is soon besieged by three villains dispatched by the enraged hotelier. The arrival on the island paradise of this trio of fiends sets off a terrifying series of events that ultimately ends in catastrophe.
“With Victory, Conrad inaugurated a new style and aesthetic,” writes Peter Lancelot Mallios in his Introduction. “The tremendous literary sophistication to be found in Victory does not result in the exclusion of the popular reader.”
The text of this Modern Library Paperback Classic was set from the first British edition, published by Methuen & Co. in 1915.

Author Biography: Peter Lancelot Mallios is an assistant professor of English and American Studies at the University of Maryland.

Table of Contents

General editors' preface; Chronology; Abbreviations and note on editions; Introduction; Victory: An Island Tale; The texts: an essay; Apparatus; Textual notes; Appendices; Explanatory notes; Glossaries; Map.

Editorial Reviews

I am glad that I am alive, if, for no other reason, because of the joy of reading this book.” —Jack London

From the Publisher

I have never started a novel…without rereading Victory. It opens up the possibilities of a novel. It makes it seem worth doing.”

Paris Review Joan Didion

Whatever you do, read Conrad’s latest—Victory. Read it, if you have to pawn your watch to buy it. Conrad has exceeded himself…I am glad that I am alive, if, for no other reason, because of the joy of reading this book.”

1915 Jack London