Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Maps
- Note on Geographical Names
- Genealogies
- Chronology
- Conrad’s Sea Voyages
- Joseph Conrad A Life
- I In the Shadow of Alien Ghosts: 1857–1874
- II In Marseilles: 1874–1878
- III The Red Ensign: 1878–1886
- IV Master in the British Merchant Marine: 1886–1890
- V To the End of the Night: 1890
- VI The Sail and the Pen: 1891–1894
- VII Work and Romance: 1894–1896
- VIII Strivings, Experiments, Doubts: 1896–1898
- IX Ford, The Pent, and Jim: 1898–1900
- X Difficult Maturity: 1900–1904
- XI Uphill: 1904–1909
- XII Crisis and Success: 1910–1914
- XIII Journey to Poland: 1914
- XIV The War and the Memories: 1914–1919
- XV Hope and Resignation: 1919–1924
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Bibliographical Note
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
- Illustration Credits
- Plate section
X - Difficult Maturity: 1900–1904
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Maps
- Note on Geographical Names
- Genealogies
- Chronology
- Conrad’s Sea Voyages
- Joseph Conrad A Life
- I In the Shadow of Alien Ghosts: 1857–1874
- II In Marseilles: 1874–1878
- III The Red Ensign: 1878–1886
- IV Master in the British Merchant Marine: 1886–1890
- V To the End of the Night: 1890
- VI The Sail and the Pen: 1891–1894
- VII Work and Romance: 1894–1896
- VIII Strivings, Experiments, Doubts: 1896–1898
- IX Ford, The Pent, and Jim: 1898–1900
- X Difficult Maturity: 1900–1904
- XI Uphill: 1904–1909
- XII Crisis and Success: 1910–1914
- XIII Journey to Poland: 1914
- XIV The War and the Memories: 1914–1919
- XV Hope and Resignation: 1919–1924
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Bibliographical Note
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
- Illustration Credits
- Plate section
Summary
ON 20 JULY 1900, Conrad Hurried off, forgetting even to send letters ready for posting to Blackwood and Meldrum, with Jessie and Borys for a month’s holiday in Belgium, where they were awaited by the Fords and their daughter. Ford met them in Ostend; from there all six proceeded first to Bruges and then to Knocke-sur-Mer, to the Grand Hôtel de la Plage. Conrad felt “exhausted mentally and very depressed,” but he could not even think of resting, as he still had to prepare a clean copy of Jim’s ending and to proofread the successive installments of the novel. Moreover, he hoped to work with Ford on Seraphina.
Nothing came of their plans, however, for about 1 August Borys fell seriously ill with dysentery. Ford helped Jessie look after the sick child, and years later she still recalled with gratitude the devotion shown by the man whom she otherwise detested: “He was always at hand to shift my small invalid, fetch the doctor or help with the nursing.” Conrad, plunged into distress, had an attack of gout. It could have been a symptom of depression—or its cause, since rheumatic ailments often lower the spirits. Exhausted by their holiday, the Conrads returned to The Pent about 20 August.
Ford joined them there, and the two writers set to work for a few weeks on Seraphina—to the obvious displeasure of Conrad, whose mind was elsewhere. “Bosh! Horrors!” Ford reports him as saying. About the middle of September Conrad began writing “Typhoon,” although originally he thought about starting First Command. The story about the captain of the Nan-Shan and the coolies fighting under the deck was meant to be short and written quickly: on 8 October, Conrad promised to send off the finished text in a week. As usual, it took him longer. On 27 November he was complaining: “The typhoon is still blowing. I find it extremely difficult to express the simplest idea clearly. It is a sort of temporary fog on the brain.” In the end, “Typhoon” was not finished until 11 January 1901.
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- Joseph ConradA Life, pp. 306 - 346Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007