Joseph Conrad

Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad, is a classic adventure story of sea-faring life at the turn of the century; Captain Macwhirr, estranged from his family and his crew, sails the Siamese steam Nan-Shan into the center of a typhoon. Typhoon is possibly based upon Conrad's actual experience of seaman's life, and probably on a real incident aboard of the steamer John P. Best (according to the book by Jerry Allen on the "Sea years of Joseph Conrad", first published in 1965). The author of the mentioned book - an American journalist - did not reveal in her book any further details. Joseph Conrad himself described it as a "recent and much-discussed incident" (Author's note to the novella). The "Typhoon" describes how Captain MacWhirr sails the SS Nan-Shan, a British-built steamer running under the Siamese flag, into a typhoon-a mature tropical cyclone of the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. Other characters include the young Jukes - most probably an alter ego of Conrad from the time he had sailed under captain John McWhirr - and Solomon Rout, the chief engineer. The novella classically evokes the seafaring life at the turn of the century. While Macwhirr, who, according to Conrad, "never walked on this Earth" - is emotionally estranged from his family and crew, and though he refuses to consider an alternative course to skirt the typhoon, his indomitable will in the face of a superior natural force elicits grudging admiration.

This is the original and unabridged text of Lord Jim, a Joseph Conrad classic ranked as one of the best English-language novels of the 20th century. Jim (his surname is never disclosed), a young British seaman, becomes first mate on the Patna, a ship full of pilgrims travelling to Mecca for the hajj. When the ship starts rapidly taking on water and disaster seems imminent, Jim joins his captain and other crew members in abandoning the ship and its passengers. A few days later, they are picked up by a British ship. However, the Patna and its passengers are later also saved, and the reprehensible actions of the crew are exposed. The other participants evade the judicial court of inquiry, leaving Jim to the court alone. The court strips him of his navigation command certificate for his dereliction of duty. Jim is angry with himself, both for his moment of weakness, and for missing an opportunity to be a 'hero'. We follow Jim as he later attempts to come to terms with his past. He tries to remain incognito, but whenever the incident catches up with him, he abandons his place and moves further east. Eventually moving to a remote inland settlement, where Jim's past can remain hidden.

The Secret Agent, set in London in 1886, follows the life of Mr. Verloc and his job as a spy. Verloc is also a businessman who owns a shop which sells pornographic material, contraceptives, and bric-a-brac. Verloc's friends are a group of anarchists. Although largely ineffectual as terrorists, their actions are known to the police. While a member of an anarchist cell, Verloc is also secretly employed as an agent provocateur. His service history shows that he is far from an exemplary model of a secret agent and, to redeem himself, must carry out an operation - the destruction of Greenwich Observatory by a bomb explosion. The novel deals broadly with the notions of anarchism, espionage, and terrorism. It portrays anarchist or revolutionary groups before many of the social uprisings of the twentieth century. Because of its terrorist theme, The Secret Agent was noted as "one of the three works of literature most cited in the American media" around two weeks after 11 September 2001. The Secret Agent was ranked amongst the best novels of the 20th century.