Conrad's Eastern Vision: A Vain and Floating Appearance

247 Pages·2008·1.52 MB·English

by  Agnes Swee Kim Yeow

Conrad’s Eastern Vision
99778800223300__554455229988__0011__pprreexx..iinndddd ii 1100//1155//22000088 77::3311::1111 PPMM
This page intentionally left blank
Conrad’s Eastern Vision
A Vain and Floating Appearance
Agnes S.K. Yeow
99778800223300__554455229988__0011__pprreexx..iinndddd iiiiii 1100//1155//22000088 77::3311::1111 PPMM
© Agnes S.K. Yeow 2009
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2009 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN-13: 978–0–230–54529–8 hardback
ISBN-10: 0–230–54529–7 hardback
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yeow, Agnes.
Conrad’s Eastern vision : a vain and fl oating appearance /
Agnes S. K. Yeow.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978–0–230–54529–8 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–230–54529–7 (alk. paper)
1. Conrad, Joseph, 1857–1924 – Knowledge – East Asia. 2. Literature
and anthropology – History – 20th century. 3. Literature and history –
East Asia – History – 20th century. 4. East Asia – In literature. I. Title.
PR6005.O4Z955 2009
823(cid:1).912—dc22 2008030686
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne
99778800223300__554455229988__0011__pprreexx..iinndddd iivv 1100//1155//22000088 77::3311::1111 PPMM
For Bernie
99778800223300__554455229988__0011__pprreexx..iinndddd vv 1100//1155//22000088 77::3311::1122 PPMM
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 The Collision of Indistinct Ideas 30
2 Patusan and the Malays 68
3 The Rest of That Pantai Band 104
4 A Vain and Floating Appearance 147
Coda 188
Map 192
Chronology 193
Glossary 195
Notes 197
Bibliography 208
Index 227
vii
99778800223300__554455229988__0011__pprreexx..iinndddd vviiii 1100//1155//22000088 77::3311::1122 PPMM
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Paula Kennedy, Christabel Scaife, Steven Hall, and the
team at Palgrave Macmillan for providing a first-time author with
much-needed guidance and invaluable advice. I would also like to thank
Gerald Cubitt for granting me permission to use his evocative photo-
graph for the book jacket. Thanks also to Roshdy Abu Daud for his
cartographic rendering of the Malay Archipelago. Finally, to all Conrad-
ians, past and present, I owe a deep and lasting debt.
viii
99778800223300__554455229988__0011__pprreexx..iinndddd vviiiiii 1100//1155//22000088 77::3311::1122 PPMM
Abbreviations
Works by Joseph Conrad
Unless otherwise stated below, quotations from Conrad’s work in the
text are from the Dent Collected Edition, London, 1946–55. Almayer’s
Folly and Tales of Unrest appear in one volume but are not continuously
paginated and are therefore accorded separate abbreviations. Likewise,
the following three volumes: The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’ which appears
with Typhoon, Amy Foster, Falk, To-morrow; The Mirror of the Sea which
appears with A Personal Record; and Tales of Hearsay which appears with
Last Essays. Lastly, not every work listed below is quoted in the book.
AF Almayer’s Folly
APR A Personal Record
LE Last Essays
LJ Lord Jim
N Nostromo
NB Notes on My Books (Doubleday, Page & Company, 1920)
NLL Notes on Life and Letters
OI An Outcast of the Islands
T Typhoon, Amy Foster, Falk, To-morrow
TH Tales of Hearsay
TLS ’Twixt Land and Sea
TMS The Mirror of the Sea
TNN The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’
TR The Rescue
TSA The Secret Agent
TSL The Shadow-Line (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1986)
TU Tales of Unrest
V Victory
WTT Within the Tides
Y Youth, Heart of Darkness, The End of the Tether
Letters, interviews, etc. by Joseph Conrad
CL T he Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad. Frederick R. Karl and
Laurence Davies, eds, vols 1–5; Laurence Davies, Frederick Karl,
ix
99778800223300__554455229988__0011__pprreexx..iinndddd iixx 1100//1155//22000088 77::3311::1122 PPMM