Joseph Conrad in Context

Joseph Conrad''s Polish background his extensive travels and his detached view of his adopted country Britain gave him a perspective unique among English writers of the twentieth century. Combining Continental and British influences Victorian and Modernist styles he was an artist acutely responsive to his age whose works reflect and chronicle its shaping forces. This volume examines the biographical historical cultural and political contexts that fashioned his works. Written by a specialist each short chapter covers a specific theme in relation to Conrad''s life and work: letters Modernism the sea the Polish and French languages the First World War and many other topics. This book will appeal to scholars as well as to those beginning their study of this extraordinary writer. It shows how this combination of different contexts allowed Conrad to become a key transitional figure in the early emergence of British literary modernism.