Intimations of Joseph Conrad

Master mariner and pioneer author of Modernist technique Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) achieved such eminence in his lifetime that his presence, explicit or implicit, could be found in the lives and works of several contemporaries of consequence. Through the century since his death he has lived on as a presence in the works of later authors to the present day. A collection spanning fifteen years of the present author’s sightings of Conrad’s presences are not only literary, but also memorial. Monuments, sculpture, ships, plaques, the performing arts, cabinetry and even a pub find a place. Each sighting is described in its context―a couple of certain or likely sightings by Conrad, such as Molière and Matthew Arnold, and the rest sightings or ambient intimations of Conrad’s presence –fiction and social commentary in novels and film by significant authors who carry on his legacy, from contemporaries such as H.G. Wells, Ford Madox Ford and F. Scott Fitzgerald to moderns George Orwell, Albert Camus, John Le Carrée, Ian MacEwan and John Banfield, among others.

Presented in a clear yet poetic prose style, this record of Conrad’s influence on these contemporary and later writers brings a significant dimension to their interpretation; conversely Conrad’s place may be perceived more precisely in the historically broadening canon from Modernist to Postmodern. Together with its illustrations, Intimations of Joseph Conrad is a novel and unique concept, as entertaining as it is informative.