Joseph Conrad Master Mariner

The Novelist’s Life At Sea, Based on a Previously Unpublished Study by Alan Villiers

Joseph Conrad, the 19th-century novelist, was a master mariner whose life at sea was nearly as eventful as his novels.

That is the premise of this exquisitely written biography of Conrad which breaks new ground because it was based on a hitherto unpublished study by the export sailor, Alan Villiers whose work was completed after his death by his son, Peter Villiers.

Although the book mentions points of contact between Conrad s life at sea and his novels, the focus is firmly on Conrad as a sailor, rather than as a writer.

One need not like Conrad s novels to enjoy the biography.

Despite the books wealth of detail about 19th-century sailing, its very accessible.

The book includes a glossary of sailing terms and is illustrated by color reproductions of paintings of ships on which Conrad sailed. As a scholarly book with color reproductions, it would be equally at home on a coffee table, on the shelf of a yacht or in the office of a Conrad scholar. The book, however, contains no charts, so paragraphs on navigational routes will require some readers to consult a globe. Conrad, after commanding a deep-water ship, took on a very different navigational task.

In 1890 he steered a boat on familiarity. Conrad was appalled at the Belgians exploitation of Africans and this experience led Conrad to write the pessimistic, nightmarish novella Heart of Darkness. Any sailor with a genuine interest in the realities economic, navigational and experiential, of 19th-century merchant sailing will enjoy this book.

The author is the son of maritime historian Alan Villiers, and this volume completes a study of author Joseph Conrad’s experience at sea that the elder Villiers left unfinished at the time of his death in 1982.

Author :  Alan Villiers

Paperback : 125 pages

SKU : P4303