Chapter III

Finally, what will be the effect of the work of Joseph Conrad upon the English novel of the future? Does this Romantic-Realism that he has provided for us show any signs of influencing that future? I think that it does. In the work of all of the more interesting younger English novelists--in the work of Mr E. M. Forster, Mr D. H. Lawrence, Mr J. D. Beresford, Mr W. L. George, Mr Frank Swinnerton, Mr Gilbert Cannan, Miss Viola Meynell, Mr Brett Young--this influence is to be detected. Even with such avowed realists as Mr Beresford, Mr George and Mr Swinnerton the realism is of a nature very different from the realism of even ten years ago, as can be seen at once by comparing so recent a novel as Mr Swinnerton's _On the Staircase_ with Mr Arnold Bennett's _Sacred and Profane Love_, or Mr Galsworthy's _Man of Property_--and Mr E. M. Forster is a romantic-realist of most curious originality, whose _Longest Journey_ and _Howard's End_ may possibly provide the historian of English literature with dates as important as the publication of _Almayer's Folly_ in 1895. The answer to this question does not properly belong to this essay.

It is, at any rate, certain that neither the old romance nor the old realism can return. We have been shown in _Nostromo_ something that has the colour of _Treasure Island_ and the reality of _New Grub Street_. If, on the one hand, the pessimists lament that the English novel is dead, that everything that can be done has been done, there is, surely, on the other hand, some justification for the optimists who believe that at few periods in English literature has the novel shown more signs of a thrilling and original future.

For signs of the possible development of Conrad himself one may glance for a moment at his last novel, _Victory_.

The conclusion of _Chance_ and the last volume of short stories had shown that there was some danger lest romance should divorce him, ultimately, from reality. _Victory_, splendid tale though it is, does not entirely reassure us. The theme of the book is the pursuit of almost helpless uprightness and innocence by almost helpless evil and malignancy; that is to say that the strength and virtue of Heyst and Lena are as elemental and independent of human will and effort as the villainy and slime of Mr Jones and Ricardo. Conrad has here then returned to his old early demonstration that nature is too strong for man and I feel as though, in this book, he had intended the whole affair to be blown, finally, sky-high by some natural volcanic eruption. He prepares for that eruption and when, for some reason or another, that elemental catastrophe is prevented he consoles himself by strewing the beach of his island with the battered corpses of his characters. It is in such a wanton conclusion, following as it does immediately upon the finest, strongest and most beautiful thing in the whole of Conrad--the last conversation between Heyst and Lena--that we see this above-mentioned divorce from reality. We see it again in the more fantastic characteristics of Mr Jones and Ricardo, in the presence of the Orang-Outang, and in other smaller and less important effects. At the same time his realism, when he pleases, as in the arrival of the boat of the thirst-maddened trio on the island beach, is as magnificent in its austerity and truth as ever it was.

Will he allow his imagination to carry him wildly into fantasy and incredibility? He has not, during these last years, exerted the discipline and restraint that were once his law.

Nevertheless, at the last, when one looks back over twenty years, from the _Almayer's Folly_ of 1895 to the _Victory_ of 1915, one realises that it was, for the English novel, no mean nor insignificant fortune that brought the author of those books to our shores to give a fresh impetus to the progress of our literature and to enrich our lives with a new world of character and high adventure.

A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH CONRAD'S PRINCIPAL WRITINGS

[The date is given of the first edition of each book. New edition signifies a change of format or transference to a different publisher.]

Almayer's Folly: A Story of an Eastern River _(Unwin)_. 1895. New editions: _(Nash)_. 1904; _(Unwin)_. 1909, 1914, 1915.

An Outcast of the Islands _(Unwin)_. 1896. New edition, 1914.

The Nigger of the "Narcissus": A Tale of the Sea _(Heinemann)_. 1897. New edition, 1910.

Tales of Unrest _(Unwin)_. 1898. New edition, 1909.

Lord Jim: A Tale _(Blackwood)_. 1900. New edition, 1914.

The Inheritors: An Extravagant Story. By Joseph Conrad and Ford M. Hueffer _(Heinemann)_. 1901.

Youth: a Narrative, and Two Other Stories _(Blackwood)_. 1902.

Typhoon and Other Stories _(Heinemann)_. 1903. New edition, 1912.

Romance: A Novel. By Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Hueffer _(Smith, Elder)_. 1903. New edition _(Nelson)_. 1909.

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard _(Harper)_. 1904.

The Mirror of the Sea: Memories and Impressions _(Methuen)_. 1906. New editions, 1913, 1915.

The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale _(Methuen)_. 1907. New edition, 1914.

A Set of Six: Tales _(Methuen)_. 1908.

Under Western Eyes _(Methuen)_. 1911. New edition, 1915.

Some Reminiscences _(Nash)_. 1912.

'Twixt Land and Sea: Tales _(Dent)_. 1912. New edition, 1914.

Chance: A Tale in Two Parts _(Methuen)_. 1914.

Within the Tides: Tales _(Dent)_. 1915.

Victory: An Island Tale _(Methuen)_. 1915.

AMERICAN BIBLIOGRAPHY

Almayer's Folly: A Story of an Eastern River _(Macmillan)_. 1895. New editions, 1912; _(Doubleday)_. 1914.

An Outcast of the Islands _(Appleton)_. 1896. New edition _(Doubleday)_. 1914.

Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle _(Dodd, Mead)_. 1897. New edition, 1912. New edition under English title: "The Nigger of the 'Narcissus'" _(Doubleday)_. 1914.

Tales of Unrest _(Scribner)_. 1898.

Lord Jim _(Doubleday)_ 1900. New edition, 1914.

The Inheritors. By Joseph Conrad and Ford M. Hueffer _(McClure Co.)_. 1901.

Typhoon _(Putman)_. 1902. New edition _(Doubleday)_. 1914.

Youth, and two Other Stories _(McClure Co_. Afterwards transferred to _Doubleday)_. 1903.

Falk: Amy Foster: To-morrow [Three Stories] _(McClure Co.)_. 1903. New edition _(Doubleday)_. 1914.

Romance. By Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Hueffer _(McClure Co_. Afterwards transferred to _Doubleday)_. 1904.

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard _(Harper)_. 1904.

The Mirror of the Sea: Memories and Impressions _(Harper)_. 1906.

The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale _(Harper)_. 1907.

A Point of Honour: A Military Tale _(McClure Co_. Afterwards transferred to _Doubleday)_. 1908.

Under Western Eyes: A Novel _(Harper)_. 1911.

A Personal Record _(Harper)_. 1912.

'Twixt Land and Sea: Tales _(Doran)_. 1912. New edition _(Doubleday)_. 1914.

Chance: A Tale in Two Parts _(Doubleday)_. 1914.

A Set of Six [Tales: one, "The Duel," previously issued as "A Point of Honour"] _(Doubleday)_. 1915.

Victory: An Island Tale _(Doubleday)_. 1915.

Within the Tides: Tales _(Doubleday)_. 1916.

INDEX

_Almayer's Folly_

Bennett, Arnold Beresford, J. D. _Brothers Karamazov, The_ Browning

_Chance_ _Cherry Orchard, The_ Chesterton, G. K. Conrad, J., birth; naturalised Curle, R.

Dickens Dostoievsky

Eliot, George _End of the Tether, The_ _Evan Harrington_ _Eve of St Agnes, The_

Flaubert Form Forster, E. M. _Freya of the Seven Islands_

Galsworthy, J. George, W. L.

Hardy _Heart of Darkness_ Hueffer, F. M.

Irony

James, Henry

Keats Kipling, R.

_Lord Jim_ Lyrical impulse

_Madame Bovary_ Meredith Method in fiction Mid-Victorian English novel _Mirror of the Sea, The_

Nature _Nigger of the Narcissus, The_ _Nostromo_

_Outcast of the Islands, An_

Philosophy Poland

Realism _Return, The_ _Richard Feverel_ _Romance_ Romance. Russian Influence

Sea _Secret Agent, The_ _Secret Sharer, The_ _Set of Six, A_ Shaw, Bernard Ships _Smile of Fortune, A_ _Some Reminiscences_ _Sordello_ _Spectator, The_ Stevenson, Robert Louis Style Swinnerton, Frank

_Tales of Unrest_ Tchekov Themes Tolstoi _T. P.'s Weekly_ _Tremolino_ Trollope, Anthony Turgéniev _'Twixt Land and Sea_ _Typhoon_

_Under Western Eyes_ _Une Vie_

_Victory_

Wells, H. G. Wharton, Mrs Whitman

_Yellow Book, The_ _Youth_