Scan barcode
margot_meanders's review against another edition
4.0
An Outcast of the island was Conrad's second novel and continued some threads from Almayer's Folly. It's the second novel but in the story we go back to the past, the events are unfolding when Nina is still a baby. This is one of Conrad's book I paid little attention to, but I was wrong. Willems is a very interesting character.
What makes a man good or bad? The environment? His desires? The story focuses on Peter Willems, an ambitious trader who, at 17, escaped from a Dutch ship and came under the care of Tom Lingard. He secured him a position with Hudig and Co, a trading company. Willems marries Hudig's daughter but then embezzles money to be one of his partners. He is found out and his wife chases him out of the house. To escape humiliation he looks for Lingard again. Lingard brings him to Sambir but work with Almayer doesn't work out ...but he meets Alissa, the daughter of the blind ex-pirate Omar, friend to the scheming Babalatchi. Together with Lakamba they develop a plan to fight against the current Rajah Patalolo and use Willems against his old friend, Lingard, all for Aissa. There's a lot of scheming in this novel.
Willrms is arrogant, scheming, ambitious and weak. He considers himself an outsider and I feel all roads lead him there through all he does. Lingard, while seems good, aldo has w certain arrogance about him. Lakamba, Babalatchi are scheming. There's nothing purely black or white in Conrad's world He shows human weaknesses as he knew them, doesn't idealise, his characters are flawed. He shows the complexity of human and racial relations. everyone loves and schemes to protect themselves. Almayer, although scheming and full of jealousy, does care for his daughter. We also learn more about Lakamba and Babalatchi. Willems escapes twice, he cannot do it for the third time.
'He was cowed. He was cowed by the immense cataclysm of his disaster. Like most men, he had carried solemnly within his breast the whole universe, and the approaching end of all things in the destruction of his own personality filled him with paralyzing awe. Everything was toppling over. He blinked his eyes quickly, and it seemed to him that the very sunshine of the morning disclosed in its brightness a suggestion of some hidden and sinister meaning. In his unreasoning fear he tried to hide within himself. He drew his feet up, his head sank between his shoulders, his arms hugged his sides. Under the high and enormous tree soaring superbly out of the mist in a vigorous spread of lofty boughs, with a restless and eager flutter of its innumerable leaves in the clear sunshine, he remained motionless, huddled up on his seat: terrified and still.
"When he stepped off the straight and narrow path of his peculiar honesty, it was with an inward assertion of unflinching resolve to fall back again into the monotonous but safe stride of virtue as soon as his little excursion into the wayside quagmires had produced the desired effect.".
Can you choose to fall back to safe stride of virtue? Can you choose to only stop at a "little excursion"? I admit, i find the opening to Outcast downright intriguing and it definitely sets the tone of Willems' struggle.
Conrad's characters definitely feel human. Almayer has moments of tenderness towards his daughter and that's genuine. Willems does not have the same instincts towards his son. He's too focused on himself and his ego. Lingard has a rather big ego too but at least he does try to help people. I still find him unlikeable.
What makes a man good or bad? The environment? His desires? The story focuses on Peter Willems, an ambitious trader who, at 17, escaped from a Dutch ship and came under the care of Tom Lingard. He secured him a position with Hudig and Co, a trading company. Willems marries Hudig's daughter but then embezzles money to be one of his partners. He is found out and his wife chases him out of the house. To escape humiliation he looks for Lingard again. Lingard brings him to Sambir but work with Almayer doesn't work out ...but he meets Alissa, the daughter of the blind ex-pirate Omar, friend to the scheming Babalatchi. Together with Lakamba they develop a plan to fight against the current Rajah Patalolo and use Willems against his old friend, Lingard, all for Aissa. There's a lot of scheming in this novel.
Willrms is arrogant, scheming, ambitious and weak. He considers himself an outsider and I feel all roads lead him there through all he does. Lingard, while seems good, aldo has w certain arrogance about him. Lakamba, Babalatchi are scheming. There's nothing purely black or white in Conrad's world He shows human weaknesses as he knew them, doesn't idealise, his characters are flawed. He shows the complexity of human and racial relations. everyone loves and schemes to protect themselves. Almayer, although scheming and full of jealousy, does care for his daughter. We also learn more about Lakamba and Babalatchi. Willems escapes twice, he cannot do it for the third time.
'He was cowed. He was cowed by the immense cataclysm of his disaster. Like most men, he had carried solemnly within his breast the whole universe, and the approaching end of all things in the destruction of his own personality filled him with paralyzing awe. Everything was toppling over. He blinked his eyes quickly, and it seemed to him that the very sunshine of the morning disclosed in its brightness a suggestion of some hidden and sinister meaning. In his unreasoning fear he tried to hide within himself. He drew his feet up, his head sank between his shoulders, his arms hugged his sides. Under the high and enormous tree soaring superbly out of the mist in a vigorous spread of lofty boughs, with a restless and eager flutter of its innumerable leaves in the clear sunshine, he remained motionless, huddled up on his seat: terrified and still.
"When he stepped off the straight and narrow path of his peculiar honesty, it was with an inward assertion of unflinching resolve to fall back again into the monotonous but safe stride of virtue as soon as his little excursion into the wayside quagmires had produced the desired effect.".
Can you choose to fall back to safe stride of virtue? Can you choose to only stop at a "little excursion"? I admit, i find the opening to Outcast downright intriguing and it definitely sets the tone of Willems' struggle.
Conrad's characters definitely feel human. Almayer has moments of tenderness towards his daughter and that's genuine. Willems does not have the same instincts towards his son. He's too focused on himself and his ego. Lingard has a rather big ego too but at least he does try to help people. I still find him unlikeable.
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
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.
angie_t's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
highlander2006's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
More...