Joseph Conrad Betrayal and Identity [Paperback]

Through attention to incidents of betrayal and self-betrayal in his fiction, this book traces the development of Conrad's conception of identity through the three phases of his career: the self in isolation, the self in society and the sexualised self. It shows how the early fiction negotiates the opposed dangers of the self-ideal and the surrender to passion; how the middle fiction tests the ideal code psychologically and ideologically; and how the late fiction probes sexuality and morbid psychology.Acknowledgments - Two Prototypes of Betrayal: Almayer's Folly - The Unshared Ideal of Self: An Outcast of the Islands - The Real Existence of Passions: The Sisters, 'The Rescuer' - The Brotherhood of the Sea: The Nigger of the 'Narcissus', 'Heart of Darkness', Lord Jim - The Betrayal of Land-Entanglements: Nostromo, The Secret Agent - Independence and Community: Under Western Eyes, 'The Secret Sharer' - The Wisdom of the Heart: Chance, Victory - Initiation and Invention: The Rover, The Arrow of Gold - Notes - Index