Under Western Eyes (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics) - Hardcover

Conrad, Joseph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679405542 ISBN 13: 9780679405542

Publisher: Everyman's Library, 1991

Synopsis

Under Western Eyes traces a sequence or error, guilt, and expiation. Its composition placed such demands upon Conrad that he suffered a serious breakdown upon its completion. It is by common critical consent one of his finest achievements. Bomb-throwing assassins, political repression and revolt, emigre revolutionaries infiltrated by a government spy: much of Under Western Eyes (1911) is more topical than we might wish. Set in tsarist Russia and in Geneva, its concern with perennial issues of human responsibility gives it a lasting moral force. The contradictory demands placed upon men and women by the social and political convulsions of the modern age have never been more revealingly depicted. Joseph Conrad personally felt no sympathy with either Russians or revolutionaries. None the less his portrayal of both in Under Western Eyes is dispassionate and disinterested. Through the Western eyes of his narrator we are given a sombre but not entirely pessimistic view of the human dilemmas which are born of oppression and violence.

About this title

Review:

"A century after its publication, Under Western Eyes is as compelling and as relevant to our own age as it was to an earlier age of political terrorism. John Peters' introduction and ample appendices offer a magisterial guide to the composition of this novel, which Conrad struggled to complete at the cost of his own mental health, and to the revolutionary struggles that were an integral part of the political, social, and intellectual crises of the decade leading up to the First World War. Like other Broadview Editions, which never skimp on the materials that make for a thorough understanding of the text, this edition of Under Western Eyes is the one to read."--Sanford Schwartz

"This new edition of Under Western Eyes will significantly enhance our understanding of the novel. Peters' introduction is lucid, informative, and extremely well written. The appendices are superbly chosen. Together, they clarify why and how Conrad wrote the novel, and why it was such a major challenge for him, artistically, personally, and psychologically. The scholarly apparatus is brilliantly done; it is concise, compelling, well written, and illuminating. Any and all readers of the novel, even those who think they already know it well, will benefit enormously from this edition."--Stephen Ross

“A century after its publication, Under Western Eyes is as compelling and as relevant to our own age as it was to an earlier age of political terrorism. John Peters’ introduction and ample appendices offer a magisterial guide to the composition of this novel, which Conrad struggled to complete at the cost of his own mental health, and to the revolutionary struggles that were an integral part of the political, social, and intellectual crises of the decade leading up to the First World War. Like other Broadview Editions, which never skimp on the materials that make for a thorough understanding of the text, this edition of Under Western Eyes is the one to read.” — Sanford Schwartz, Pennsylvania State University

“This new edition of Under Western Eyes will significantly enhance our understanding of the novel. Peters’ introduction is lucid, informative, and extremely well written. The appendices are superbly chosen. Together, they clarify why and how Conrad wrote the novel, and why it was such a major challenge for him, artistically, personally, and psychologically. The scholarly apparatus is brilliantly done; it is concise, compelling, well written, and illuminating. Any and all readers of the novel, even those who think they already know it well, will benefit enormously from this edition.” — Stephen Ross, University of Victoria

"A century after its publication, Under Western Eyes is as compelling and as relevant to our own age as it was to an earlier age of political terrorism. John Peters' introduction and ample appendices offer a magisterial guide to the composition of this novel, which Conrad struggled to complete at the cost of his own mental health, and to the revolutionary struggles that were an integral part of the political, social, and intellectual crises of the decade leading up to the First World War. Like other Broadview Editions, which never skimp on the materials that make for a thorough understanding of the text, this edition of Under Western Eyes is the one to read." -- Sanford Schwartz, Pennsylvania State University

"This new edition of Under Western Eyes will significantly enhance our understanding of the novel. Peters' introduction is lucid, informative, and extremely well written. The appendices are superbly chosen. Together, they clarify why and how Conrad wrote the novel, and why it was such a major challenge for him, artistically, personally, and psychologically. The scholarly apparatus is brilliantly done; it is concise, compelling, well written, and illuminating. Any and all readers of the novel, even those who think they already know it well, will benefit enormously from this edition." -- Stephen Ross, University of Victoria

"A century after its publication, Under Western Eyes is as compelling and as relevant to our own age as it was to an earlier age of political terrorism. John Peters' introduction and ample appendices offer a magisterial guide to the composition of this novel, which Conrad struggled to complete at the cost of his own mental health, and to the revolutionary struggles that were an integral part of the political, social, and intellectual crises of the decade leading up to the First World War. Like other Broadview Editions, which never skimp on the materials that make for a thorough understanding of the text, this edition of Under Western Eyes is the one to read." -- Sanford Schwartz, Pennsylvania State University

"This new edition of Under Western Eyes will significantly enhance our understanding of the novel. Peters' introduction is lucid, informative, and extremely well written. The appendices are superbly chosen. Together, they clarify why and how Conrad wrote the novel, and why it was such a major challenge for him, artistically, personally, and psychologically. The scholarly apparatus is brilliantly done; it is concise, compelling, well written, and illuminating. Any and all readers of the novel, even those who think they already know it well, will benefit enormously from this edition." -- Stephen Ross, University of Victoria

Book Description:

Set in the tumultuous world of Tsarist repression and revolutionary intrigue, Under Western Eyes (1911) is a meditation on conflicting loyalties, political ideologies and national identity. This first extensively annotated edition provides a full listing of textual variants, extensive notes and the biographical history of the novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Everyman's Library
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0679405542
• ISBN 13: 9780679405542
• Binding: Hardcover