VictoryAxel Heyst, a dreamer and a restless drifter, believes he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from others. Then he becomes involved in the operation of a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago, and when it fails he turns his back on humanity once more. But his life alters when he rescues a young English girl, Lena, from Zangiacomo's Ladies' Orchestra and the evil innkeeper Schomberg, taking her to his island retreat. The affair between Heyst and Lena begins with her release, but the relationship shifts as Lena struggles to save Heyst from the detachment and isolation that have inhibited and influenced his life. Marked by a violent and tragic conclusion, Victory is both a tale of rescue and adventure and a perceptive study of a complex relationship and of the power of love. |
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Page vii
... wonder which lurks still at the bottom of our old humanity . Victory was the last word I had written in peace time . It was the last literary thought which had occurred to me before the doors of the Temple of Janus flying open with a ...
... wonder which lurks still at the bottom of our old humanity . Victory was the last word I had written in peace time . It was the last literary thought which had occurred to me before the doors of the Temple of Janus flying open with a ...
Page xii
... wonder what the point was . I never saw him again because I believe he went straight on board a mail - boat which left within the hour for other ports of call in the direction of Aspinall . Mr. Jones ' characteristic insolence belongs ...
... wonder what the point was . I never saw him again because I believe he went straight on board a mail - boat which left within the hour for other ports of call in the direction of Aspinall . Mr. Jones ' characteristic insolence belongs ...
Page 25
... the direction of New Guinea or in the direction of Saigon- to cannibals or to cafés . The enchanted Heyst ! Had be at last broken the spell ? Had he died ? We were too indifferent to wonder over - much . You see VICTORY 25.
... the direction of New Guinea or in the direction of Saigon- to cannibals or to cafés . The enchanted Heyst ! Had be at last broken the spell ? Had he died ? We were too indifferent to wonder over - much . You see VICTORY 25.
Page 26
Joseph Conrad. too indifferent to wonder over - much . You see we had on the whole liked him well enough . And liking is not sufficient to keep going the interest one takes in a human being . With hatred , apparently , it is other- wise ...
Joseph Conrad. too indifferent to wonder over - much . You see we had on the whole liked him well enough . And liking is not sufficient to keep going the interest one takes in a human being . With hatred , apparently , it is other- wise ...
Page 40
... wonder of it , as trying to converse with a mechanism . A smile played about the fat features of Davidson ; the smile of a man making an amusing experiment . He spoke again to her : " But the other members of that orchestra were real ...
... wonder of it , as trying to converse with a mechanism . A smile played about the fat features of Davidson ; the smile of a man making an amusing experiment . He spoke again to her : " But the other members of that orchestra were real ...
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Common terms and phrases
ain't Alfuro arms asked believe boat breath brig bungalow chair cheroot chimæras Chinaman clairvoyance course dark Davidson door doorway eyes face faint feeling fellow felt frightened gaze gentleman gharry girl glance gleam gone governor gunwale hand hanging head heard Heyst hotel-keeper island Java Sea jetty Jones knew Lena light lips looked Malay Martin matter mean mind Morrison moustaches moved movement murmured mysterious never night Number once paused Pedro perhaps physiognomy quiet Ricardo round Samburan sarong sauceboat Schom Schomberg schooner seemed shadow shoulders side sight silence smile sort sound Sourabaya speak staring stood strange suddenly surprised Swede table d'hôte talk tell Tesmans There's thing thought tion told tone Tropical Belt Coal trouble turned understand verandah voice walked Wang watched wharf What's whispered woman wonder words Zangiacomo