Joseph Conrad

Marlow, the narrator of this story, travels up the Congo River to rescue Mr. Kurtz, a representative of a trading company. Kurtz is trapped in this desolate territory along with its uncontrollable occupants and brooding atmosphere. Kurtz's search for truth slowly and surely transforms him into an impenetrable dignitary. The trip is ominous with unpredictable dangers until finally Marlow comes face to face with Kurtz. Marlow tries to interpret the...

Under Western Eyes, Conrad's novel of political treachery and oppression, begins with a bomb that kills a hated Russian minister of police, along with innocent bystanders. A young student named Razumov hides the perpetrator, then betrays him and becomes a spy among his exiled comrades. He faces a moral dilemma from which there is no escape. This masterwork, published six years before the Russian Revolution, is a chillingly accurate prophecy of what...

This classic precursor to the modern day spy novel was recently in headlines when it was revealed that the Unabomber drew considerable inspiration from its prophetic portrait of terrorism. Written in 1907 and set in Edwardian London, The Secret Agent resonates just as strongly in today's world, where a handful of fanatics can still play mad politics and victimize the innocent. The brooding atmosphere of conspiracy, powerful characters, and tragic...

Set in Malaya, Almayer's Folly is Joseph Conrad's first novel. In it he charts the decline of a Dutch merchant after a twenty-five-year struggle against overwhelming odds. Unhappily married to a bitter and hateful Malayan wife, Almayer refuses to accept the financial ruin which he has precipitated. Instead, he dreams of fantastic wealth and a return to the civilization of his youth, accompanied by his loving daughter, Nina. Almayer's Folly was published...

When a chance encounter between two cavalry officers results in a duel in a garden, so begins a tale that spans the next 16 years and follows the campaigns of Bonaparte across Austria, Russia and beyond. Crossing swords again and again, these two officers, one a temperate and cool-headed strategist, the other a hot-blooded and intemperate gascon, become the talk of all the army until its final conclusion. A period classic amidst a time of European...

Smith Show Media presents Point of Honor (Special Edition) written by Joseph Conrad and read by Kim Turner.