Romance

By Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, Ford Madox Hueffer

Book Overview

This novel tells the story of a young man's romantic adventures in Europe, including his encounters with various women of different social classes and backgrounds. It explores themes of love, desire, and relationships, and provides a vivid portrait of life in early 20th century Europe.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1020079878
• ISBN13: 9781020079870
• Release Date: July 2023
• Publisher: Legare Street Press
• Length: 458 Pages
• Weight: 1.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.2"

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.