Victory: An Island Tale

by Joseph Conrad

Overview

Axel Heyst, a disenchanted Swede, becomes involved in the operation of a coal company on a remote island in the Malay archipelago. When that fails, he turns his back on humanity until, once again, he is drawn into contact with the world by a girl whom he rescues and bears off to his island retreat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781981475230
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	12/07/2017
Series:	Joseph Conrad
Pages:	218
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.02(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Joseph Conrad

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 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

'While all of the volumes to appear to date in The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad have been a great addition to the scholarly community interested in the works of Conrad, it may be that this edition of Victory is the most valuable book yet produced.' John Peters, English Literature in Transition

From the Publisher

This is the latest of the classic works by Joseph Conrad ably narrated by David Horovitch. This 1915 work, relatively unknown, concerns a drifter named Axel Heyst who runs a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago and his relationship with an English girl. He saves her from her employer, and then she saves Heyst from himself. There is quite a bit of psychological drama in this work, and Horovitch's performance is a great match for the text. His English accent, resonant and deep timbre, and expressive intonation make this a remarkable listening experience. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

MAY 2024 - AudioFile