Under Western Eyes

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'Whenever two Russians come together, the shadow of autocracy is with them...haunting the secret of their silences.'First published in 1911, Under Western Eyes traces the experiences of Razumov, a young Russian student of philosophy who is uninvolved in politics or protest. Against his will he finds himself caught up in the aftermath of a terrorist bombing directed against the Tsarist authorities. He is pulled in different directions - by his conscience and his ambitions, by powerful opposed political forces, but most of all by personal emotions he is unable to suppress. Set in St Petersburg and Geneva, the novel is in part a critical response to Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment but it is also a startlingly modern book. Viewed through the 'Western eyes' of Conrad's English narrator, Razumov's story forces the reader to confront the same moral issues: the defensibility of terrorist resistance to tyranny, the loss of individual privacy in a surveillance society, and the demands thrown up by the interplay of power and knowledge.This new edition is based on the first English edition text, and has a new chronology and bibliography. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Joseph Conrad (3 December 1857 - 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. Though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he was a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature Conrad wrote stories and novels, many with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit in the midst of what he saw as an impassive, inscrutable universe Conrad is considered an early modernist, though his works contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced numerous authors, and many films have been adapted from, or inspired by, his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that Conrad's fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events. Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew, among other things, on his native Poland's national experiences and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world-including imperialism and colonialism-and that profoundly explore the human psyche.

Joseph Conrad's last overtly political novel, Under Western Eyes is considered to be one of his greatest works. Set in pre-Revolutionary Russia, the novel tells the story of a young student involuntarily involved in an assassination and explores themes of terrorism, surveillance, and the suffering of ordinary people caught up in political strife. The critical introduction and appendices to this Broadview Edition provide context for Conrad's political views, as well as Eastern European anarchism and terrorism. Appendices include Conrad's letters on the novel's composition, reviews of the novel, and contemporary accounts of a political assassination.

General editors' preface; Chronology; Abbreviations and note on editions; Introduction; Under Western Eyes; The texts: an essay; Apparatus; Textual notes; Appendices; Explanatory notes; Map.

'There are punctilious descriptions of parts of the narrative, especially the unique provenance of single sheets (including descriptions of the handwritings on several separate sheets). This extraordinary exhaustiveness, while not unusual in the Conrad industry, distinguishes this Edition of Under Western Eyes and assures us that extreme care has been being devoted to details of this challenging artifact … this Edition of Under Western Eyes is a triumph of the textual editor's heart.' Dale Kramer, Joseph Conrad Today