ALMAYER'S FOLLY (Wordsworth Collection) [Paperback]

Joseph Conrad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1998 | Series: Wordsworth Collection

Set in a jungle village in eastern Borneo during the 1880s, Almayer's Folly recreates the many conflicts - economic, religious, racial, cultural, sexual - of imperial Europe with the colonized 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 of Conrad's first book, which was started in London in the autumn of 1889 and completed four and a half years later; the manuscript went with him to the Congo, Australia, the Ukraine, Belgium, Switzerland and France on his travels as a seaman and on holiday. During this long gestation, some of the chapters were typed twice, and later Conrad's slightly foreign English was tidied several times by publishers. The novel has suffered seven layers of unauthorized intervention, 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 The notes explain Malay terms and historical references, and there are two regional maps.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 Folly, established through modern textual scholarship, as Conrad would have liked it to have appeared in 1895.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Almayer's Folly remains a provocative literary document, both for the psychologically compelling story it tells and the artistic story it foretells." English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description

Set in eastern Borneo during the 1880s, Almayer's Folly recreates the conflicts of imperial Europe with the colonized East Indies. This edition presents Joseph Conrad's first novel freed from seven layers of publishers' and typists' corruptions. Complete textual and contextual histories, full annotation and two regional maps are provided. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853262978
• ISBN-13: 978-1853262975
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,998,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful tale of the East, June 3, 2002

By 

Carool Kersten - See all my reviews

This review is from: Almayer's Folly: A Story of an Eastern River (Everyman's Library (Paper)) (Paperback)

Loosely based on the life of a Dutch merchant, setting up a trading post along a river in the interior of Borneo, Conrad's novel 'Almayer's Folly' is actually about man's alienation from his environment and eventually himself.

Written during the heyday of western imperialism, when the great powers of Europe subjected the tropics to their rule, the tale of Almayer explores how the tropics actually devoured the individual westerner.

The main character of the book is a man obsessed. Chasing a dream, he completely loses touch with reality. Although on the surface it may seem that he is a white man gone native, Almayer hasn't got a clue what he is dealing with. He is blind to the schemings of his Malay wife and equally oblivious to the fact that his daughter is drifting away from him.

Admittedly, the book has 'orientalist' overtones but, then, Joseph Conrad is both a man of his time and a master of poweful prose, not a politically-correct scholar. The stereotypical mystique of Asia and the inscrutable oriental are exploited as a literary means to descend into the deeper levels of man's psyche. Just like the 'true heart' of Borneo and its inhabitants is hidden under layer upon layer of deceiving images, so is the core of each and every individual. The scariest place to travel is not the interior of an Indonesian Island, but the inner reaches of our own soul.

Almayer's Folly is one of the best novels ever written. Not only because of the author's masterful portrayals of character, but also due his astounding command of English. It is hard to believe that Conrad's first and second language were Polish and French: he only learned English as an adult. It is this combination of psychological understanding and extraordinary use of language that make him into a literary genius.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underappreciated Jewel, January 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Almayer's Folly: A Story of an Eastern River (Everyman's Library (Paper)) (Paperback)

This was Conrad's first novel, and I think it's an underappreciated jewel. It's written with a typical Victorian plotline, and one part of it has a romantic couple seeking their own happy ending, but don't be mistaken - it's real Conrad, so there's the glorious Conradian gloom, fear and descent into madness, too. It's a tale about a Dutchman in a business-gone-bad stranded in the Indonesian boondocks with his witch-like Malay wife who wishes him all the ill in the world. His only hope in life anymore is for his beautiful daughter and he dreams constantly of getting her educated and married off back in Amsterdam so he can wash his hands of his island nightmare and go back to normal life in Europe. But she grows up, grows distant to him, and he's clueless about the reality that she's adopted the local style and wants to be there. A handsome Balinese prince seeks her hand and the plot cranks into motion, spinning to a thrilling climax. It's an interesting study of problems of interracial, intercultural interaction, as valid today as it was in the late 19th century. The visual picture it paints of the old Dutch East Indies - the rivers, the tangled jungle flowers and the wildlife is another of its finest points.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent, Accessible Book, July 21, 2000

By 

Molly Fleming "avid reader" (Santa Clara, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Almayer's Folly (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics ) (Paperback)

I was surprised to find out this was Conrad's first book. I expected an awkwardness of a writer refining his skill, but what I found was a captivating, accessible and satisfying story. It has suspense and romance as well as the tragedy that Conrad is known for. I think the young characters and themes make this book far more accessible to a young person than the standard required Conrad novel--Heart of Darkness. Almayer's Folly is an excellent introduction to Conrad's work.