About as fine a first novel as I've ever read.

First published in 1895, Almayer’s Folly was Joseph Conrad’s first novel, written within a year after he stepped onto the dock after his long career at sea.

Set in colonial Borneo, Almayer’s Folly deals with many of the themes that he would return to again and again over his successful and influenti

“No Two Human Beings Understand Each Other. They Can Understand but Their Own Voices.”

(view spoiler)[This bitter truth – optimists might please themselves by regarding it as an assumption merely –, as voiced by the protagonist’s daughter Nina, seems to be the upshot of Joseph Conrad’s first novel, Almayer’s Folly, (hide spoiler)]

Not my favorite Conrad, not even second tier, but it is still amazing to read. This was Conrad's debut novel and you can see flashes of his big themes (not yet mature) swirling in the deep water of his words.

'Almayer's Folly' reminded me of a gloomy, obsessive Melville novella or an alienated E. M.

In un clima di malinconia e insoddisfazione generale, si consuma.la disillusione di Almayer, fulgido esempio della ben nota teoria dell'ostrica che il buon Verga descrisse nella novella Fantasticheria e sviluppò ampiamente ne I Malavoglia.

The Con-Man's first novel, like all first novels, has both good and bad qualities. The good qualities are those that furtively hint at the greatest to come three novels and four years later, with Hearts of Darkness. Folly is also the story of a wayward European trapped/ensconced in a culture not his

Another continent and another dark, dank river story by Conrad. Almayer is an European who has never lived in Europe. He lives on a river in Sabir (Malaysia) at a time where the Dutch and English were still fighting/arguing who ruled but tensions and rebellion were in the air. He is forced to marry

Nun, ich bin zwar ein großer Fan der Werke von Joseph Conrad, aber "Almayers Wahn" (unter diesem Titel las ich die Erzählung in einer Ausgabe gesammelter Werke) hat mir nicht ganz so gut gefallen: Es hat Längen, kommt nicht so recht vorwärts. Ansonsten wieder super: All diese Glücksritter und Desill

I have always wondered how Conrad could learn English from sailors without having a tutor let alone write with such overwhelming vigor and "worderly" style. I mean, he had to be a real prodigy without exaggeration. I can find themes and symbols in Almayer's Folly that resonate with Heart of Darkness