Reception of Joseph Conrad in Europe

Born and brought up in Poland bilingually in French and Polish but living for most of his professional life in England and writing in English, Joseph Conrad was, from the start, as much a European writer as he was a British one and his work – from his earliest fictions through Heart of Darkness, Nostromo and The Secret Agent to his later novels– has repeatedly been the focal point of discussions about key issues of the modern age.

With chapters written by leading international scholars, this book provides a wide-ranging survey of the reception, translation and publication history of Conrad’s works across Europe. Covering reviews and critical discussion, and with some attention to adaptations in other media, these chapters situate Conrad's works in their social and political context. The book also includes bibliographies of key translations in each of the European countries covered and a timeline of Conrad’s reception throughout the continent.

Robert Hampson was for many years Professor of Modern Literature at Royal Holloway University of London, UK. He is currently Professor Emeritus at Royal Holloway and Research Fellow at the University of London Institute for English Studies. Chair of the Joseph Conrad Society (UK) and currently co-editor of the journal The Conradian, he has edited numerous works by Conrad, Kipling and Rider Haggard for the Penguin Classics series. His previous publications on Conrad includes Conrad's Secrets (2012) and Joseph Conrad: A Critical Life (2020).

Véronique Pauly is Senior Lecturer at the University of Versailles-St-Quentin-en-Yvelines/University of Paris-Saclay, France a former Director of the Institut d’études culturelles et internationelles, and a researcher at the Centre d’Histoire Culturelle des Sociétés Contemporaines. She is President of the French Conradian Society and has published on Joseph Conrad and contemporary British writers.