Hi. Conrad anyone?

[Thomas Hobbes]

I'm new here and I would like to discuss literature with people but do not know where to start. I am German, but that is irrelevant except that it explains why my taste is slightly different than that of most people here, who, judging by the fleeting impression I gathered reading other people's posts, are not German.

My favourite writers are, in no particular order, Vladimir Nabokov, Joseph Conrad, William Shakespeare, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Mann, H.P. Lovecraft, E.A. Poe, W.B. Yeats, Alan Moore. I will study philosophy next year because they didn't take me for English Literature.

On to my question: what does everyone think of Joseph Conrad? I've read Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim and Nostromo, and it's really quite weird - there's no such thing as "entertainment" to be derived from the guy whatsoever, and if anything to do with classic literature actually deserves to be called "dated" by ignorant people then it's Marlow's narrative style in "Lord Jim" - did anybody actually talk like that? Back then?

If, however, you want to know why literature is as great as it is and what it can do, the opening chapter of "Nostromo" should be a good bet. He is just the single most vivid writer I've encountered in my short life. It may take another read of all these books for me to actually properly get what he's on about, but the scenery, the atmosphere, the places and the people are firmly engraved in my mind.

So what does everyone else think about him?

[ajoe]

He used the heavy kind of language (read: not very readable) like Henry James, and so he's not going to be my favorite writer anytime soon.

[Rotty1021]

Couldn't discuss Conrad with you because I've never read him, but, welcome to the boards. It's a great atmosphere for us bibliophiles to discuss what we love most: books.

[Koa]

Welcome T. Hobbes, I'd advise you to look through the old topics and find the ones about Conrad, there has been at least one, and I remember having expressed my opinion more than once, maybe in different topics though. This just because I'm too lazy to repeat everything, and anyway if you're interested on the subject you might enjoy reading old topics and make them re-live if you want.

As for Conrad, briefly... i read Heart of Darkness and it left me very very very confused. The style was very hard to read, I must honestly say that I didn't even understand too much in some points, or I wasn't sure to have understand (it was one of those things that make me realise how far from perfect my English still is). I understood more after some lessons about it on my English Lit. course... But still my opinion is confused. Maybe what you said it's true: it's good stuff, but not entertaining. I can't say I enjoyed reading it, but I did enjoy reading comments and analysis about it, maybe because they gave me food for thoughts and explained all I would have never found by myself.

Yuhuu...how verbose am I?

[fayefaye]

i did not like heart of darkness at all.

[Dick Diver]

I love Conrad - I still think Heart of Darkness is his best novel because its brevity suits Conrad's brooding claustrophobia.

He creates an incredible world in Nostromo but the tagged-on ending is SO unsatisfactory.

Under Western Eyes is pretty mental too.

And of course no Conrad = no Apocalypse Now.

[aprildew]

I've read Heart of Darkness and a couple of his short stories. I love his work especially his vivid descriptions of Africa as symbolic of man's descent to his most base and natural form. The psychology behind his characters is fascinating as he digs into man's subconcious and makes him face his own demons. I recommend him highly!