Yes, I wonder how many writers would agree with him? I have yet to read anything he (Conrad) has written, at least I don't think I've read anything apart from one or two essays or articles. He does seem quite obsessed with the sea and life on a boat, which I imagine might be extremely boring. I've never been on a long sea cruise, twenty four hours on a plane is too much for me.Sue Anderson wrote: ↑August 6th, 2021, 4:58 am
Hi Peter, Thanks for your contribution! Your reading is PL OK!
Conrad's preface to his autobiography is certainly complex! In a few dense paragraphs, he speaks to the art of novel writing, cautions authors to maintain their personal integrity, offers a rebuttal to critics of his style, and offers up some nuggets of wisdom for the well-lived life. Well-worth reading!
"No artist can be reproached for shrinking from a risk which only fools run to meet and only genius dare confront with impunity. In a task which mainly consists in laying one's soul more or less bare to the world, a regard for decency, even at the cost of success, is but the regard for one's own dignity which is inseparably united with the dignity of one's work." (Joseph Conrad).
Regarding the Cecil Chesterton piece I recorded (I wonder if he was any relation to G K Chesterton?) - it is amazing how close his depiction of the British Labour Party in the first decade or two of the twentieth century is compared to the current Labour Party in 2019 and to this present day. Since 2018 the Labour Party has ignored the working class and has been for decades controlled by middle class factions and intellectuals. It has become a very authoritarian party and if you have any disagreement with them however slight then you are thrown out. So in essence, the working class vote Tory, and that's why the Tories have a big majority, as old Labour people are now changing their allegiance and not voting Labour.
About a year and a half ago I got an offer to subscribe to the London Review of Books at a ridiculously low price and on a whim decided to try it sight unseen. I've come to really enjoy the LRB, one of the reasons being that the political articles are foreign to me and therefore I can read them without getting upset.
