Joseph Conrad's Critical Reception

Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Joseph Conrad''s novels and short stories have consistently figured into - and helped to define - the dominant trends in literary criticism. This book is the first to provide a thorough yet accessible overview of Conrad scholarship and criticism spanning the entire history of Conrad studies from the 1895 publication of his first book Almayer''s Folly to the present. While tracing the general evolution of the commentary surrounding Conrad''s work John G. Peters''s careful analysis also evaluates Conrad''s impact on critical trends such as the belles lettres tradition the New Criticism psychoanalysis structuralist and post-structuralist criticism narratology postcolonial studies gender and women''s studies and ecocriticism. The breadth and scope of Peters''s study make this text an essential resource for Conrad scholars and students of English literature and literary criticism.