Joseph Conrad is one of the most intriguing and important modernist novelists. His writing continues to preoccupy twenty-first-century readers. This introduction by a leading scholar is aimed at students coming to Conrad's work for the first time. The rise of postcolonial studies has inspired interest in Conrad's themes of travel, exploration, and racial and ethnic conflict. John Peters explains how these themes are explored in his major works, Nostromo, Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness, as well as his short stories. He provides an essential overview of Conrad's fascinating life and career and his approach to writing and literature. A guide to further reading is included which points to some of the most useful secondary criticism on Conrad. This is a most comprehensive and concise introduction to studying Conrad, and will be essential reading for students of the twentieth-century novel and of modernism.

'… explores its subject's life, intellectual and artistic contexts, works, and reception …'

Source: English Literature in Transition 1880–1920

'… [Peters] has elucidated recurrent themes and issues, and, partly by his avoidance of jargon, has shown that one 'approach' demoted by theoretical pundits is the way of shrewd common sense. This is a handy and helpful volume. If you like labels, call it 'reconstructive.'

Source: Modern Language Review

'John Peter's volume offers a useful synthesis of what has been thought and said of Conrad to date. His chapter overview of Conrad's biography is balanced and judicious; it provides an overview of Conrad's fix on the trajectory of the author's life and career. …is equally useful and insightful. …Bulson's colourful opening line give us a sense of the book's down-to-earth approach and breezy style.'

Brian W.Shaffer - Rhodes College