Joseph Conrad

The masterpiece of Joseph Conrad’s later years, the autobiographical short novel The Shadow-Line depicts a young man at a crossroads in his life, facing a desperate crisis that marks the “shadow-line” between youth and maturity.This brief but intense story is a dramatically fictionalized account of Conrad’s first …

»A Smile of Fortune«, originally published in 1912 in Conrad’s volume of tales »Twixt Land and Sea«, tells the story of a young sea captain at the beginning of a promising career. His first mission is a voyage to the Indian Ocean where he is supposed to do lucrative trade with local merchants. He arrives at an island …

Almayer's Folly, published in 1895, is Joseph Conrad's first novel. Set in the late 19th century, it centers on the life of the Dutch trader Kaspar Almayer in the Borneo jungle and his relationship to his mixed heritage daughter Nina.