7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mental Unrest, September 5, 2007
In these tales, people are put under heavy mental stress by fatal accidents, hostile environments or insoluble doubts. Their reactions become uncontrollable.
The short stories give a good picture of Conrad's themes, story building with surprising outcomes and view on mankind: `Morality is not a method of happiness'.
In `Karain: a Memory', a Malay war-chief makes an odyssey trying to kill a woman who left her native village with a white man. He becomes haunted by the spirit of his dead brother.
In `The Lagoon', the adduction of a woman turns into a fatal accident. `There is no light and no peace in the world; but there is death - death for many. I left him in the midst of the enemies; but I am going back.'
In `An outpost of Progress', two lonely `progressive' colonialists become haunted by their hostile environment; `a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion tries the civilized nerves.'
In `The Return', a marriage turns sour on the impossible `certitude of love and faith'.
In `The Idiots', a less successful offspring puts a marriage under extreme pressure.
These sometimes furiously written stories with their high evocative power of landscapes, feelings and conflicts should not be missed.
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Probing the Murky Waters ot the Soul, September 11, 2004
his anthology of 216 pages provides an excellent introduction for new readers to Polish-born Joseph Conrad, who deftly paints on an English canvass. Having selected five of his tales the editors present readers with settings in both the exotic tropics of Malaysia and Africa, as well as the chilly social milieus of socialite London and pastoral France. Perhaps the editors chose the word UNREST for their title, because all the protagonists experience psychological malaise from a diversity of causes.
KARAIN. This Malay chieftain feels cursed by his past, so he desperately seekst a new English charm to ward off his fatal stalker.
THE IDIOTS. A simple French peasant couple are cursed by bearing children who are severely mentally retarded.
OUTPOST OF PROGRESS. The title is sheer irony, since a useless African trading station is run by two ineffectual English agents. The men are pursued by their failed pasts, general laziness, incompetence, extreme heat and company indifference.
THE RETURN. A young socialite husband returns home to discover a note from his wife, explaining that she has left him for another man. In this most psychological of the tales, the wronged husband undergoes a series of intense emotions and decisions, ultimately defying the very Society he represents.
THE LAGOON. A native is pre-grieving the death of his beloved wife, unburdening his soul before his only white friend. Although this represents Conrad's first published short story, curiously it concludes this particular anthology. Prepare to explore the murky waters of the human heart and soul.
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