THE LINGARD TRILOGY. “W-th classics“

lmayer’s Folly was Conrad’s outstanding debut novel: as well as exploring the culture of a part of the world previously unknown to English fiction, it showed immense sophistication in its handling of narrative, time-shifts and point of view. Hailed as ‘a writer of genius’ by contemporary reviewers, Conrad returned to the same riverine settlement in Borneo in his second novel, An Outcast of the Islands. Set some 15 years earlier, this prequel to Almayer’s Folly tells how Lingard lost his monopoly of trade in Sambir, and follows the dangerous rivalry of his protegés Willems and Almayer. In The Rescue, the narrative moves even further back in time and shows the young, idealistic Lingard torn between his loyalties to his Sulawesi allies and his unexpected attraction to Edith Travers, with explosive consequences.

Throughout this sequence of novels, the fascinating figure of Captain Lingard comes steadily into the foreground.

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Polish author Joseph Conrad is considered to be one of the greatest English-language novelists, a remarkable achievement considering English was not his first language. Conrad s literary works often featured a nautical setting, reflecting the influences of his early career in the Merchant Navy, and his depictions of the struggles of the human spirit in a cold, indifferent world are best exemplified in such seminal works as Heart of Darkness, Lord JimM, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, and Typhoon. Regarded as a forerunner of modernist literature, Conrad s writing style and characters have influenced such distinguished writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, and George Orwell, among many others. Many of Conrad s novels have been adapted for film, most notably Heart of Darkness, which served as the inspiration and foundation for Francis Ford Coppola s 1979 film Apocalypse Now.

H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925) is also the author of "Allan Quartermain" and "She".

Giles Foden is the author of "The Last King of Scotland," which won the Whitbread First Novel Award and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 2006.

Robert Hampson is a professor of modern literature at Royal Holloway, University of London.