Books by John Peters

This Norton Critical Edition includes four stories―two set on stormy seas, two on calm seas, all four based on the same incident―that speak to each other in interesting ways.

The stories in this Norton Critical Edition maintain the connection and sequencing that Joseph Conrad saw among them. In his “Author’s Note” to ‘Twixt Land and Sea, Conrad writes of his two “Calm-pieces” (“The Secret Sharer” and The Shadow-Line) and his two “Storm-pieces” (The Nigger of the “Narcissus” and “Typhoon”). This edition is based on the first English book edition for the stories and the first American edition for the “Author’s Note” for The Shadow-Line, “Typhoon,” and “The Secret Sharer.” The stories are accompanied by explanatory annotations, a note on the texts (including a list of textual emendations), and a preface.

“Backgrounds and Contexts” brings together relevant correspondence and contemporary reviews from both British and American sources. Also included are documents related to Conrad’s sources for the stories, among them Charles Arthur Sankey’s “Ordeal of the Cutty Sark: A True Story of Mutiny, Murder on the High Seas.” To help readers navigate, the editor includes a glossary of nautical terms as well as diagrams of the kinds of ships that appear in the stories.

“Criticism” includes fifteen essays representing both new and established voices. The essays are arranged by story, with the focus on Conrad’s major themes―colonialism, narrative, gender, and race. Albert J. Guerard, Lillian Nayder, Mark D. Larabee, Fredric Jameson, F. R. Leavis, and John G. Peters are among the contributors.

A chronology of Conrad’s life and work and a selected bibliography are also included.
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Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Joseph Conrad's novels and short stories have consistently figured into - and helped to define - the dominant trends in literary criticism. This book is the first to provide a thorough yet accessible overview of Conrad scholarship and criticism spanning the entire history of Conrad studies, from the 1895 publication of his first book, Almayer's Folly, to the present. While tracing the general evolution of the commentary surrounding Conrad's work, John G. Peters's careful analysis also evaluates Conrad's impact on critical trends such as the belles lettres tradition, the New Criticism, psychoanalysis, structuralist and post-structuralist criticism, narratology, postcolonial studies, gender and women's studies, and ecocriticism. The breadth and scope of Peters's study make this text an essential resource for Conrad scholars and students of English literature and literary criticism.

Born to Polish parents in what is now known as the Ukraine, Joseph Conrad would become one of the greatest writers in the English language. With works like Lord Jim, The Nigger of the "Narcissus," and Heart of Darkness, he not only solidified his place in the panethon of great novelists, but also established himself as a keen-eyed chronicler of the social and political themes that animated the contemporary world around him. The original essays assembled here by John G. Peters showcase the abundance of historical material Conrad drew upon to create his varied literary corpus. Essays show how the author mined his early life as a sailor to pen gripping, realistic tales of nautical life while issuing scathing indictments of colonialism and capitalist cupidity in works like Almayer's Folly and Heart of Darkness. His unique sense of himself as an outsider is explored in relation to his pointed political novels that critiqued corruption and terrorism, most notably in Nostromo and The Secret Agent. In addition to his major works, essays consider Conrad's contributions as an innovative modernist and his unique role in the nineteenth-century literary marketplace. Complete with an up-to-date bibliography and illustrated chronology, A Historical Guide to Joseph Conrad provides an invaluable resource to the life and work of the major novelist.

This is a collection of difficult-to-find and typically early commentary on Conrad's life and works. The selections contained shed light on Conrad's life and works, as well as the way in which his works were promoted to the public. Selections include those by the American novelist Christopher Morley and the Irish novelist Liam O'Flaherty. Also included is a previously unpublished essay by Conrad's friend Richard Curle. Of particular interest are the promotional materials, which are collected together for the first time and reveal how Conrad was perceived by the general reading public and how he was marketed by his publishers.

John Peters investigates the impact of Impressionism on Conrad and links this to his literary techniques as well as his philosophical and political views. Impressionism, Peters argues, enabled Conrad to encompass both surface and depth not only in visually perceived phenomena but also in his narratives and objects of consciousness, be they physical objects, human subjects, events or ideas. Conrad and Impressionism investigates the sources and implications of Conrad's impressionism in order to argue for a consistent link among his literary technique, philosophical presuppositions and socio-political views.

Joseph Conrad is one of the most intriguing and important modernist novelists. His writing continues to preoccupy twenty-first-century readers. This introduction by a leading scholar is aimed at students coming to Conrad's work for the first time. The rise of postcolonial studies has inspired interest in Conrad's themes of travel, exploration, and racial and ethnic conflict. John Peters explains how these themes are explored in his major works, Nostromo, Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness, as well as his short stories. He provides an essential overview of Conrad's fascinating life and career and his approach to writing and literature. A guide to further reading is included which points to some of the most useful secondary criticism on Conrad. This is a most comprehensive and concise introduction to studying Conrad, and will be essential reading for students of the twentieth-century novel and of modernism.