Conrad s Eastern Vision
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Conrad s Eastern Vision A Vain and Floating Appearance Agnes S.K. Yeow
Agnes S.K. Yeow 2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-36084-0 ISBN 978-0-230-58328-3 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-58328-3 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Yeow, Agnes. Conrad s Eastern vision : a vain and floating appearance / Agnes S. K. Yeow. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Conrad, Joseph, 1857 1924 Knowledge East Asia. 2. Literature and anthropology History 20th century. 3. Literature and history East Asia History 20th century. 4. East Asia In literature. I. Title. PR6005.O4Z955 2009 823.912 dc22 2008030686 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2009
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Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations viii ix Introduction 1 1 The Collision of Indistinct Ideas 30 2 Patusan and the Malays 68 3 The Rest of That Pantai Band 104 4 A Vain and Floating Appearance 147 Coda 188 Map 192 Chronology 193 Glossary 195 Notes 197 Bibliography 208 Index 227 vii
Acknowledgements I am grateful to Paula Kennedy, Christabel Scaife, Steven Hall, and the team at Palgrave Macmillan for providing a first-time author with much-needed guidance and invaluable advice. I would also like to thank Gerald Cubitt for granting me permission to use his evocative photograph for the book jacket. Thanks also to Roshdy Abu Daud for his cartographic rendering of the Malay Archipelago. Finally, to all Conradians, past and present, I owe a deep and lasting debt. viii
Abbreviations Works by Joseph Conrad Unless otherwise stated below, quotations from Conrad s work in the text are from the Dent Collected Edition, London, 1946 55. Almayer s Folly and Tales of Unrest appear in one volume but are not continuously paginated and are therefore accorded separate abbreviations. Likewise, the following three volumes: The Nigger of the Narcissus which appears with Typhoon, Amy Foster, Falk, To-morrow; The Mirror of the Sea which appears with A Personal Record; and Tales of Hearsay which appears with Last Essays. Lastly, not every work listed below is quoted in the book. AF Almayer s Folly APR A Personal Record LE Last Essays LJ Lord Jim N Nostromo NB Notes on My Books (Doubleday, Page & Company, 1920) NLL Notes on Life and Letters OI An Outcast of the Islands T Typhoon, Amy Foster, Falk, To-morrow TH Tales of Hearsay TLS Twixt Land and Sea TMS The Mirror of the Sea TNN The Nigger of the Narcissus TR The Rescue TSA The Secret Agent TSL The Shadow-Line (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1986) TU Tales of Unrest V Victory WTT Within the Tides Y Youth, Heart of Darkness, The End of the Tether Letters, interviews, etc. by Joseph Conrad CL The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad. Frederick R. Karl and Laurence Davies, eds, vols 1 5; Laurence Davies, Frederick Karl, ix
x Abbreviations JCIR and Owen Knowles, eds, vol. 6; Laurence Davies and J.H. Stape, eds, vol. 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983 2005. Ray, Martin, ed. Joseph Conrad: Interviews and Recollections. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1990. Other abbreviations EIC FMS NEI VOC English East India Company Federated Malay States Netherlands East Indies Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or the United East India Company (i.e. the Dutch East India Company)