Almayer's Folly (1895)

Conrad's first novel, with an good sense of place (though as someone else noted, not so much of geography) and very interesting characters, not so well developed. Not bad (not bad at all) but I was left feeling like I didn't really get why characters were doing what they did. ( )

Prepare yourself for some purple patches towards the end, but this is a great story about the lust for money and power in the Dutch East Indies. Kaspar Almayer marries a Malay girl who’s been ‘rescued’ from a life of ‘piracy’ because the rescuer feels guilty about having made her an orphan. Almayer doesn’t want to marry the girl, but he agrees because she comes with an attractive dowry: all of Linghard’s wealth, and the promise of more if Almayer manages the trading station on the island of Simber while Lingard goes upriver to find the fabled gold and diamonds of the interior.

To see the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/almayers-folly-by-joseph-conrad/ ( )

This has been sitting on my shelves for many years, either unread or completely forgotten: I returned to it after reading Ocean Sea and wondering where Baricco got the name "Almayer". As Kennewell says, it's a beautifully written little book, sometimes a touch too poetic, perhaps, but it isn't too easy for a modern reader to identify with the subject-matter.

The main "problem" with the book is, of course, that the particular act of folly on which the tragic plot depends is Almayer allowing himself to be persuaded into marrying Lingard's Malay adopted daughter. On one level, the book exposes itself to a simplistic racist interpretation: Almayer provokes his own destruction by abandoning the standards expected of him as a white man and making an inter-racial marriage.

However, there's a lot more to it than this. Conrad makes it clear that Almayer was acting from greed and ambition. He marries to get his hands on his father-in-law's treasure, and believes he will be able to ditch his "native wife" later on. Mrs Almayer's nastiness comes from the nature of her upbringing and the way she's been treated by white people (including Lingard and Almayer), not from her race. Nina decides that she would rather identify as Malay than as a person of mixed race, again because of the contempt she gets from white people. Much of the story is told from the point of view of non-white characters, and the Orang Blanda (Hollanders) are never seen as characters the reader can identify with. So it isn't quite the simple racist narrative it appears to be at first sight, but it does perhaps lend itself to more subtle racist interpretations (people of different races shouldn't/can't live together, etc.). ( )

Beautifully written first novel of Joseph Conrad with the atmosphere of life in the period well documented, if some of the more racist attitudes would be hard to offer today (despite Conrad's introductory apology/explanation. Personally I found many of the characters poorly drawn and the geography of "The River" hard to decipher. That said I found it an excellent page turning yarn. Besides, who am I to criticize such a giant among novelists? ( )

Excellent uniform set of volumes - value $800 + ( )