An Outpost of Progress and Other Stories (Dover Thrift Editions: Short Stories)

An Outpost of Progress and Other Stories (Dover Thrift Editions: Short Stories)

Drawing upon his experiences as the captain of a steamer on the Congo River, Joseph Conrad wrote "An Outpost of Progress," a sharp critique of British colonialism that the master storyteller considered his best tale. A precursor to Heart of Darkness, it traces the physical and moral degradation of two English overseers at a remote African trading post, offering a compelling view of the destructive effects of cultural isolation. This compilation presents four additional short stories: "An Anarchist (A Desperate Tale)," centering on an ex-convict's association with a radical political faction in nineteenth-century England; "The Informer (An Ironic Tale)," a character study in political contradictions focusing on an anarchist's embrace of bourgeois values; " Il Conde (A Pathetic Tale)," in which a violent crime disrupts a nobleman's visit to Naples; and "A Smile of Fortune," which recounts how a seafarer's romantic inclinations lead him into misplacing his loyalty. Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) was fluent from birth in French as well as his native Polish. He learned his third language, English, as an adult, and it was in English that he wrote his evocative stories and novels. Conrad drew upon his experiences in the British and French navies to portray the struggles of humanity amid the world's vast indifference.