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A review by paul_cornelius
An Outcast of the Islands by Joseph Conrad
4.0
Conrad followed up his first novel, Almayer's Folly, with this, An Outcast of the Islands. While it lacks the concentrated sense of devastation of the soul and all aspirations that appear in Almayer's Folly, Outcast yields its own bleak rewards. It reintroduces Tom Lingard and Kaspar Almayer but focuses on a degenerate failed businessman, Peter Willems, whose greatest talent, as with many other Conradian characters, is self deception and the ability to rationalize betrayal. He is the worst of the lot, although there are no redeemable characters among the others either. Certainly not the equally self deceived Lingard and Almayer. Nor the broken women who attach themselves to Willems, Joanna, his wife, or Aissa, his Malay mistress.
Yet I'm not sure that these concerns are even at the heart of the novel. More than anything else, Conrad has composed a work that almost perfectly captures the atmosphere of the tropics and Southeast Asia. The storms, the smells, the damp heat, the blazing sun, and mist laden forests at early morning ring more true than any other description of the region I've encountered. Sometimes, he might even venture into purple prose (I like some purple prose) but not really. For the panorama he describes has meaning above and behind its mere realistic depiction. When Willems contemplates his own disappearance into this landscape, it's more than simply a fear of death. It is a crushing of the spirit, the isolation of the soul, and the helpless search for the last word of the novel, which escapes from Almayer's own lips. And to think that Conrad had achieved such a complete worldview with only his second book.
One other note. Conrad makes great use of multiple perspectives and points of view in this work, anticipating his even more intense employment of narrative experimentation in works such as Lord Jim. It's not an objective point of view, because secrets remain and revelations don't occur unless the differing cast of characters decide to let us in on things. We are not only seeing into Willems but also Almayer, Lingard, Aissa, and even briefly into a handful of others.
Yet I'm not sure that these concerns are even at the heart of the novel. More than anything else, Conrad has composed a work that almost perfectly captures the atmosphere of the tropics and Southeast Asia. The storms, the smells, the damp heat, the blazing sun, and mist laden forests at early morning ring more true than any other description of the region I've encountered. Sometimes, he might even venture into purple prose (I like some purple prose) but not really. For the panorama he describes has meaning above and behind its mere realistic depiction. When Willems contemplates his own disappearance into this landscape, it's more than simply a fear of death. It is a crushing of the spirit, the isolation of the soul, and the helpless search for the last word of the novel, which escapes from Almayer's own lips. And to think that Conrad had achieved such a complete worldview with only his second book.
One other note. Conrad makes great use of multiple perspectives and points of view in this work, anticipating his even more intense employment of narrative experimentation in works such as Lord Jim. It's not an objective point of view, because secrets remain and revelations don't occur unless the differing cast of characters decide to let us in on things. We are not only seeing into Willems but also Almayer, Lingard, Aissa, and even briefly into a handful of others.