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May 2, 2005 Josph Conrad was one of the worlds great writers. He wrote tales of the sea. Adventure stories. These are the plots that make for great novels. Man against nature, man against man, and man agaisnt himself all rolled into one. But why would someone want to write so much and in the depth of someone like Conrad. Why not eat strawberries or salad instead? Or better yet, stawberries and salad. I suppose a great novelist could do all three. But speaking of Joseph Conrad... Amoung some of Conrad's more popular work is Lord Jim, Nostromo, The Secret Agent, Chance, and of course the one most are familiar with, Heart Of Darkness. These books have complex characters with major problems to try and sort out. The supporting casts of characters are also complex. Conrad was trying to study the big themes, and the biggest being the human condition. His years at sea and knowledge of that world made a perfect backdrop. I think his greatest work was not Heart Of Darkness, but Lord Jim. I used to collect copies of that particular book. Conrad paints with sentences and sees and describes nuances that are always there but difficult for us mere mortals to articulate. He was made for writing and it was what sustained him. It is all in the end quite dark. And this begs the question that if things are so dark then why continue to live. Well Conrad did try to kill himself. But he failed. I suppose he was best when it came to writing. He mentioned at one point that life takes a long time. Sounds odd but if the affair of life is such a problem its understandable. This brings me to my main idea about him. Why not try to kill himself again and get it over with? I think in the end that Joseph Conrad was more of an optimist than it would appear. He 'lived life through' as it were. That is admirable. Survival. And he created. Many books, many pages, many characters. He found a way to at least express life if not enjoy it as much as others were able. They say everything about a writer can be found in his works if you look close enough. There is much there in his tales of the sea. There was much in the man, in the writer. Perhaps, to use a cliche, for I'll never be a Conrad, that there was so much was both the blessing and the curse. ------------ About the author: Brian Michael Barbeito lives in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. His two most recent books are Medium Double Double Milk (non-fiction) and Fluoride And The Electric Light Queen (poems), neither currently published. Email: Brian1750@Hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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