Victory: An Island TaleIn Victory (1915) Conrad returns to the Malay Archipelago, to the setting of his first mature novel, Lord Jim, and in Axel Heyst he creates a hero who is in many ways similar to Jim, a noble altruist destroyed by his ideals. Heyst is emotionally crippled by the influence of his dead father, a sceptical philosopher who has bequeathed to Heyst an attitude to life summed up in the father's dying words: 'Look on - make no sound.' Despite this injunction Heyst allows himself to become inextricably involved with an English Cockney girl whom he rescues from Giancomo's Travelling Ladies' Orchestra and carries off to his isolated retreat on the island of Samburan. His action incurs the fatal wrath of Schomberg, the island's innkeeper, who sends in pursuit of Heyst three demonic strangers whose invasion of his island paradise leads rapidly to the novel's violent and tragic close. Victory was the first of Conrad's novels to be completed after the commercial success of Chance (1914) had transformed Conrad's fortunes and made him internationally famous. It is a more complex example of the literary form which Conrad evolved for Lord Jim: a story of action and high adventure coexisting with an exhaustive study of the psychology of the central character. |
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Page 42
... girl ! " You might have knocked me down with a feather , ' Davidson told us some time afterward . 99 By then he was taking an indulgent view of both the parties to that amazing transaction . First of all , on reflection , he was by no ...
... girl ! " You might have knocked me down with a feather , ' Davidson told us some time afterward . 99 By then he was taking an indulgent view of both the parties to that amazing transaction . First of all , on reflection , he was by no ...
Page 47
... girl ? The girl is nothing to me . " He shot out an infamous word which made Davidson start . That's what the girl was ; and he reiterated the assertion that she was nothing to him . What he was concerned for was the good name of his ...
... girl ? The girl is nothing to me . " He shot out an infamous word which made Davidson start . That's what the girl was ; and he reiterated the assertion that she was nothing to him . What he was concerned for was the good name of his ...
Page 49
... girl . I saw them rushing around making inquiries . I don't know what they would have done to the girl , but they seemed quite ready to fall upon your Heyst , Davidson , and kill him on the quay . ' He had never , he said , seen ...
... girl . I saw them rushing around making inquiries . I don't know what they would have done to the girl , but they seemed quite ready to fall upon your Heyst , Davidson , and kill him on the quay . ' He had never , he said , seen ...
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Common terms and phrases
Alfuro arms asked believe boat breath bungalow chair Chinaman Chink Conrad course dark Davidson door doorway dream eyes face faint feeling fellow felt Flores Sea Ford Madox Ford frightened gaze gentleman girl glance gleam gone governor hand head heard Heyst hotel-keeper island Java Sea jetty JOHN BATCHELOR Jones Joseph Conrad Lena light lips looked Lord Jim Martin matter mean mind Morrison moved murmured mysterious never night Norman Sherry Nostromo Number once Pedro perhaps Ricardo round Samburan Schom Schomberg schooner secretary seemed seen shadow shoulders side sight silence smile sort sound Sourabaya speak staring stood strange suddenly surprised table d'hôte talk tell Tesmans There's thing thought tion told tone Tony Tanner turned understand verandah voice walked Wang Wang's watched wharf What's whispered woman wonder words Zangiacomo