Romance

by Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, Ford Madox Hueffer

Book Overview

Romance by Joseph Conrad & Ford Madox Hueffer This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: B000NKNYY6
• ISBN13: 9781135409470
• Release Date: January 1923
• Publisher: Doubleday, Page & Co
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Conrad & Ford's concept of Romance

About this collaborative novel published in 1903, Conrad said, "There's easy style, plenty of action, a romantic atmosphere, and a happy ending after no end of real hair's breadth escapes." It was both his and Ford's idea of what Romance was, and they made a serious attempt to capture it in this story. There's a hero, of course (John Kemp), and a heroine (Seraphina), and after suffering all kinds of adventures (mainly in Jamaica and Cuba) involving smuggling, piracy, sea chases, shootings, men sworn to loyalty, and lots of near mishaps, they are united and at peace. Much of the intrigue that takes place on Jamaica was based on fact, and Conrad did a lot of research on politics on the island (and Cuba) during the 1820s, when the book is set. But the book suffered the same fate as some of Fenimore Cooper's novels in that it was relegated to the "boys' adventure literature" category rather than taken as a serious work of art. (The critics are probably right.) The dialogue is especially weak. The cultural differences, though, encountered in the book are handled deftly by the authors, especially the Spanish ways of Seraphina as contrasted with Kemp's English background. Not considered to be one of Conrad's major achievements.