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Writing > Users > Mr. Raven > 2009

Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction


The following is a piece of writing submitted by Mr. Raven on July 12, 2009
"Reading can be fun when you know what you like and where to find it."

Joseph Conrad and His Stories

You know... I like Joseph Conrad. Recently I've read "Tales of Unres", "Almayer's Folly", "Amy Foster" and now I'm reading "The Arrow of Gold".

At school we were made to read "Lord Jim". I didn't like it too much - it was far too 'intensive' - the book is packed with descriptions that were hard to understand for me back then.

Later I came across "The Heart of Darkness" I believe. What can attract in this sort of books? Not an easy question. Two things that just come to my mind are: the atmosphere and the detail.

By "atmosphere" I mean the whole setting: the story is placed in a distant place, far away from civilization and from ordered life. It's often hot. It's related to the sea. It's about some poor guy that should show some strength but then he often fails pathetically.

By "the detail" I mean places where Mr Conrad creates very nice scenes using very precise choice of words. Let me quote one example from "Tales of Unrest":

"The contact with pure unmitigated savagery, with primitive nature and primitive man, brings sudden and profound trouble into the heart. To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations;to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike."

It wonderfully describes some of the fears that we face when we come across something new, something alien, when we are placed in new surroundings in new situation...

It might be considered hard in reception by some. For me it's music. I mean this guy was very sensitive and he knew how to express details... He somehow knows how to feel, what to feel and how to express it. As "The Arrow of Gold" puts it: "It seems that he had not only a memory but that he also knew how to remember."

It would be nice to know what else can attract to this writer. What is the secret of this magic... But maybe this is exactly why it is so magical - that it's hard to discover the real reasons of the texts' attraction.

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