Tales of Unrest

Resumen del libro

These five stories were collected and published as Tales of Unrest in 1898, shortly before Heart of Darkness, the first of Conrad's major novels. Ranging from the faraway and unfamiliar, where the acquisitiveness of colonial adventure is damningly exposed, to an ostensibly ordinary London household, these disparate tales display Conrad's ability to explore and lay bare human nature. Set in Central Africa, An Outpost of Progress' is suffused with irony and represents a ruthlessly mocking view of European imperialism.

Karain' and The Lagoon' are exotic tales of the Malay Archipelago, with the former telling of disharmony and discord between Western traders and the indigenous inhabitants. The Return' recounts the story of, in the author's own words, "a desirable middle-class town residence which somehow manages to produce a sinister effect". The collection also includes The Idiots', the first of Conrad's short stories to be serialized in an English magazine.

Biografía del autor

Nacido como Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski (Berdyczów, entonces Imperio ruso, actual Ucrania, 1857-Bishopsbourne, Inglaterra, 1924), fue un novelista polaco que adoptó el inglés como lengua literaria. Su obra explora la vulnerabilidad y la inestabilidad moral del ser humano cuando es sometido a una situación límite. Considerado como uno de los más grandes novelistas de la literatura inglesa, entre sus títulos destacan 'El corazón de las tienieblas' (1899), 'Lord Jim' (1900), 'El agente secreto' (1907) y 'Bajo la mirada de Occidente' (1911).