Joseph Conrad

Victory Joseph Conrad

Victory, also published as Victory: An Island Tale, is a psychological novel by Joseph Conrad first published in 1915, through which Conrad achieved -popular success.- The New York Times, however, called it -an uneven book- and -more open to criticism than most of Mr. Conrad's best work.- The novel's -most striking formal characteristic is its shifting narrative and temporal perspective- with the first section from the viewpoint of a sailor, the second from omniscient perspective of Axel Heyst, the third from an interior perspective from Heyst, and the final section. Axel Heyst, a dreamer and a restless drifter, believes he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from others. Then he becomes involved in the operation of a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago, and when it fails he turns his back on humanity once more. But his life alters when he rescues a young English girl, Lena, from Zangiacomo's Ladies' Orchestra and the evil innkeeper Schomberg, taking her to his island retreat. The affair between Heyst and Lena begins with her release, but the relationship shifts as Lena struggles to save Heyst from the detachment and isolation that have inhibited and influenced his life. Marked by a violent and tragic conclusion, Victory is both a tale of rescue and adventure and a perceptive study of a complex relationship and of the power of love.