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A Set of Six

A set of six excellent and valuable short stories by Joseph Conrad. Unlike much of his other work, none of these stories are based on Conrad's personal experience. "The Brute" is the only sea story in this collection.

Some are merely entertaining, others are so much more. Often overlooked by scholars, these stories have merit in themselves. They also provide much information about important themes running throughout Conrad’s works, including his ideas concerning alter egos, anarchism, politics, and the incomprehensible nature of human existence.

“Gaspar Ruiz” (an enjoyable read), “The Informer”, and “An Anarchist” shed special light on some of the issues that arise in Nostromo and The Secret Agent, both clarifying these concepts and reinforcing them. The same tension between individuals and political movements in these two titles appear in these stories, as does the same sharp skepticism toward politics. In addition, the plight of Paul in “An Anarchist,” who unwittingly becomes numbered among the anarchists, and of D’Hubert in “The Duel,” who inexplicably becomes embroiled in an endless duel, anticipate that of Razumov in Under Western Eyes, who becomes hopelessly associated with a political assassination in which he has played no part. In each case, a man finds himself thrust into an absurd predicament and then attempts (mostly unsuccessfully) to make sense of a seemingly senseless world. Furthermore, they exhibit some important narrative techniques found nowhere else in Conrad’s fiction.

"The Duel" is the longest story in this book. It was previously published as "The Point of Honour". Conrad described it as "convincing by the mere force of its absurdity". “The Duel”, was the basis for the 1977 Ridley Scott movie ”The Duellists”, starring Harvey Keitel and David Carradine.

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