Linda + Leo:
Interesting...
Spain on Jan 08, 2021
Chakravarthi Bharati:
Absolutely a great buy....
India on Oct 05, 2020
Brandon Whisenhunt:
I loved this book. It's a great contextual biography. I must admit that I've read little of Conrad's work (only Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer) but find him interesting, in that way that you sometimes find yourself drawn to historical persons. By that I mean, I am pulled in by his intellect and spirit, while at the same time repulsed by what would be called racism and antisemitism today. It's one of those things one must wrestle with when exploring our shared history- how to see the good in spite of the bad, in an individual (or country.) I suppose it's different for everyone. In today's climate, it's easy to reject the past without actually confronting it, which I believe is wrongheaded and stunts or growth as people and as a society. I suppose it's trite to say, but there are no easy answers.
United States on Sep 18, 2020
andrew btm:
The “Dawn Watch” is the story of Joseph Conrad, exile, mariner and novelist. The text is clear, keeps moving forward and does not worry the reader with academic obfuscation. It covers a lot of ground, from Conrad’s childhood in Poland and Ukraine, the son of a political activist trying to resist the Russian empire; his early days at sea, including a possible suicide attempt, Conrad’s experiences as a steam boat captain in Africa, the cruelty of the Belgian occupiers of the Congo, and, of course, Conrad’s life as a writer. His short novels “Secret Agent” and “The Heart of Darkness” are among the very few books I have read several times over, and each time they are as compelling as at the first reading. This book illuminates Conrad’s eventful life, and the world that formed him, and hint at how they both underpin his remarkable work.
Canada on Jul 21, 2020
heartofbalance:
'The Dawn Watch Joseph Conrad in a Globalised World' Maya Jasanoff. William Collins 2017
A beautiful biographical and cultural and literary celebration of the great Polish writer Konrad Korzeniowski. A lovingly written summation of Joseph C as a visionary who anticipated neo-liberal globalisation, industrial colonialism and global terrorism. Three books are the cornerstone of this thesis 'Lord Jim', 'Heart of Darkness', and 'The Secret Agent', all of which are essential texts for an educated human.
Conrad was famously called ‘a bloody racist’ by the great Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe.
CEDRIC WATTS from University of Sussex in an article dated 1977 has it thus:
“In the lecture entitled 'An Image of Africa' (Massachusetts Review (Winter, I977), 782-94), the distinguished novelist Chinua Achebe declared: 'Conrad was a bloody racist'.
Heart of Darkness, he claimed, is 'an offensive and totally deplorable book' in which Conrad has adopted 'the role of purveyor of comforting myths'.
The lecture was variously cool, mocking, sarcastic, and angry; and disconcerting enough.
Like many other readers, I have long...
United Kingdom on Apr 20, 2019
H. Schneider:
Als der Pole Konrad Korzeniowski 1857 geboren wurde, existierte das Land seiner Eltern nicht als selbstständiger Staat. Sein Geburtsort lag im russischen Reich, heute in der Ukraine. Der Junge wanderte früh aus, nach Frankreich, dann England, und wurde Seemann. Er bereiste die Welt, fing an zu schreiben, wurde englischer Schriftsteller als Joseph Conrad. Für mich ein ganz Großer.
Die Autorin dieser unkonventionellen biographischen Studie ist amerikanische Geschichtsprofessorin, Spezialgebiet Britisches Empire, in Harvard.
Aus dem Vorwort kann man entnehmen, dass sie keine reine Schreibtischtäterin und Archivwühlerin ist. Offenbar ist sie ausgiebig in Vorbereitung gereist.
Das Buch ist keine hagiographische Übung. Es startet mit der Geschichte der Eltern. Ich finde dieses erste Kapitel unnötig lang, obgleich ein Verständnis des persönlichen Hintergrunds Conrads natürlich nötig ist.
Mit dem zweiten Kapitel in Frankreich wird es interessanter: wir sehen Conrad als fortdauernd unzuverlässige Quelle. Was er uns über sich selbst sagt, ist oft unbestätigt, wenn nicht widerlegt. Andererseits sind viele Elemente seiner Geschichten...
Germany on Jan 22, 2019
Brian Lewis:
This book is offers a biography of Joseph Conrad, as well as a portrait of the colonial age in which he lived. The author, Maya Jasanoff, shows how Conrad's life anticipated the modern age, on issues such as immigration, globalization, terrorism and human rights.
Much of the book, as much of the recent criticism of Conrad, focuses on his short novel, Heart of Darkness. Jasanoff points out how Belgium was able to use its neutral position in Europe to promote advancing civilization as a means of imperialism.
The issue, to Conrad, was not that savages were inhuman. It was that any human could become savage. The book in some ways is a corrective to the PC charge of racism that have been leveled at Conrad since the 70s by Chinua Achebe and others.
The book is recommended to anyone with an interest in Conrad. I disagree with some reviewers on this site who say the ideal reader is a someone with little or no familiarity with Conrad. I enjoyed re acquainting myself with Conrad's works. And I may take another stab at Nostromo, which has previously eluded me.
This is another of Jasanoff's books, like Liberty's Exiles, which features...
United States on Nov 06, 2018
Kitty Bryant:
I re-read Conrad's Nostromo after finishing The Dawn Watch, then I compared my reading of Nostromo with Nasanoff's and found two discrepancies. In her telling of the complicated plot, Nostromo and Decoud set off with the intention of burying the silver shipment on the Great Isabel island, but this is incorrect: their boat carrying the silver collides with a larger vessel and ends up on the Great Isabel as a consequence of this accident. Even more problematic is her assertion that Nostromo ends up dead because he was deceiving the lightkeeper Giorgio about his romantic intentions, as a ruse to access the buried silver. Nostromos is not putting on a sham about his love, it's the object of his love - the younger rather than the older daughter - that is the secret being kept from Giorgio. He's not killed in the act of retrieving the silver; he's killed out of a passionate desire to see the woman he discovers he's madly in love with.
I really enjoyed this book, but the misreading of Nostromo is a cause for wonderment. Thus I give it a provisional 4 stars.
United States on Dec 26, 2017
George Cotkin:
This book takes readers on a wonderful journey through the jagged life of Joseph Conrad. He lived in and captured exciting, troubled times – and Jasanoff depicts him with complexity and depth. Jasanoff is on his trail, placing him within the context of national rivalries, trade routes, colonialism, and literary tastes. As this suggests, her range is wide and her knowledge is deep. She also nicely contextualizes and summarizes Conrad’s book, with special panache. There are no boring moments in this tale of a most unusual writer. Anyone who has ever read Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness” will gain greater insight into the work. There is an air of the tragic that infuses this book, and it was actually refreshing. The background on Conrad’s family (his wildly nationalistic father and his stoutly pragmatic uncle) helps the readers to understand Conrad’s background and the push and pull aspects of his life. But what I want to emphasize is the excitement of this book – how it makes history and biography glow through its sprightly writing style, without for a moment jettisoning excellent scholarship. Here are a couple of particularly lovely sentences:...
United States on Nov 12, 2017
| Exploring the Global Impact of Joseph Conrad's 'The Dawn Watch': An Analysis | Uncovering the Real-Life Inspiration Behind Ernest Hemingway's Classic Novel: The Sun Also Rises | Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain" with Illustrations by William Morrison | |
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| B2B Rating |
93
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96
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90
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| Sale off | $2 OFF | $3 OFF | |
| Total Reviews | 9 reviews | 32 reviews | 41 reviews |
| Publisher | Penguin Books; Reprint edition | Mariner Books; Reprint edition | Vintage; RARE LEATHER AND GOLD BOUND FRANKLIN EDITION |
| Paperback | 400 pages | 368 pages | 720 pages |
| Item Weight | 11 ounces | 10.5 ounces | 1.15 pounds |
| Traveler & Explorer Biographies | Traveler & Explorer Biographies | ||
| ISBN-10 | 0143111043 | 0544944437 | 9780679772873 |
| Language | English | English | English |
| Dimensions | 5.49 x 0.85 x 8.22 inches | 5.31 x 0.9 x 8 inches | 5.5 x 1.5 x 8.25 inches |
| Emigrants & Immigrants Biographies | Emigrants & Immigrants Biographies | ||
| ISBN-13 | 978-0143111047 | 978-0544944435 | 978-0679772873 |
| Author Biographies | Author Biographies | Author Biographies | |
| Best Sellers Rank | #406 in Emigrants & Immigrants Biographies #3,005 in Traveler & Explorer Biographies #3,427 in Author Biographies | #435 in Artist & Architect Biographies #990 in Individual Artists #1,380 in Author Biographies | #6 in German Literature #992 in Classic Literature & Fiction #2,480 in Literary Fiction |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 265 ratings var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when.execute { if { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative { if { ue.count || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when.execute { A.declarative{ if { ue.count || 0) + 1); } }); }); | 4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,266 ratings var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when.execute { if { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative { if { ue.count || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when.execute { A.declarative{ if { ue.count || 0) + 1); } }); }); | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 514 ratings var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when.execute { if { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative { if { ue.count || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when.execute { A.declarative{ if { ue.count || 0) + 1); } }); }); |
Jasanoff also provides a tactful, judicious--but also much needed--balance to the all-too-popular dismissals of Conrad following Chinua Achebe's notorious crusade against Conrad and his work.
I'm well read in both Conrad and writings about Conrad, and while The Dawn Watch is an introduction, I found it both enjoyable and very well-worth it. Heartily recommended.
United States on Sep 05, 2023