Robert Hampson – författare

A haunting Modernist masterpiece and the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning film Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness explores the limits of human experience and the nightmarish realities of imperialism. Conrad's narrator Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey in search of the infamous ivory trader Kurtz: dying, insane, and guilty of unspeakable atrocities. Travelling upriver to the heart of the African continent, he gradually becomes obsessed by this enigmatic, wraith-like figure. Marlow's discovery of how Kurtz has gained his position of power over the local people involves him in a radical questioning, not only of his own nature and values, but also those of western civilisation. Part of a major series of new editions of Conrad's most famous works in Penguin Classics, this volume contains Conrad's Congo Diary, a chronology, further reading, notes, a map of the Congo, a glossary and an introduction discussing the author's experiences in Africa, the narrative and symbolic complexities of Heart of Darkness and critical responses to the novel.Edited with an introduction by Owen Knowles'Seems to reach into the heart of Conrad himself' Peter Ackroyd

Three men trek to the remote African interior in search of a lost friend - and reach, at the end of a perilous journey, an unknown land cut off from the world, where terrible dangers threaten anyone who ventures near the spectacular diamond mines of King Solomon...

Axel Heyst, a dreamer and a restless drifter, believes he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from others. Then he becomes involved in the operation of a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago, and when it fails he turns his back on humanity once more. But his life alters when he rescues a young English girl, Lena, from Zangiacomo's Ladies' Orchestra and the evil innkeeper Schomberg, taking her to his island retreat. The affair between Heyst and Lena begins with her release, but the relationship shifts as Lena struggles to save Heyst from detachment and isolation. Featuring arguably the most interesting hero created by Conrad, Victory is both a compelling tale of adventure and a perceptive study of the power of love.

Through attention to incidents of betrayal and self-betrayal in his fiction, this book traces the development of Conrad's conception of identity through the three phases of his career: the self in isolation, the self in society and the sexualised self.

While drawing distinctions between cosmopolitanism, internationalism and transnationalism as the appropriate conceptual framings for Conrad’s works, this book traces Conrad’s own engagement with nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and transnational activism in relation to the political events of his time.

Through attention to incidents of betrayal and self-betrayal in his fiction, this book traces the development of Conrad's conception of identity through the three phases of his career: the self in isolation, the self in society and the sexualised self.

While drawing distinctions between cosmopolitanism, internationalism and transnationalism as the appropriate conceptual framings for Conrad’s works, this book traces Conrad’s own engagement with nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and transnational activism in relation to the political events of his time.

Born and brought up in Poland bilingually in French and Polish but living for most of his professional life in England and writing in English, Joseph Conrad was, from the start, as much a European writer as he was a British one and his work – from his earliest fictions through Heart of Darkness, Nostromo and The Secret Agent to his later novels– has repeatedly been the focal point of discussions about key issues of the modern age.With chapters written by leading international scholars, this book provides a wide-ranging survey of the reception, translation and publication history of Conrad’s works across Europe. Covering reviews and critical discussion, and with some attention to adaptations in other media, these chapters situate Conrad's works in their social and political context. The book also includes bibliographies of key translations in each of the European countries covered and a timeline of Conrad’s reception throughout the continent.

In 2024 the literary community commemorates the 100th anniversary of the death of Joseph Conrad. This volume of collected essays takes the opportunity to reflect on Conrad’s enduring influence on literature and culture in the 21st century.Offering reflections on Conrad’s legacy by leading critics and scholars in the field of Conrad studies as well as by significant figures in the arts and cultural sector, it represents a unique contribution to Conrad studies and provides an overview of how the author continues to inspire and shape contemporary literature and culture in the 21st century.Covering a broad range of topics, from discussions of how Conrad has inspired contemporary films and operas through to the pertinence of his works to current conflicts and key contemporary issues, Joseph Conrad’s Cultural Legacy offers unique, original insights into the enduring relevance of one of the leading literary figures of the 20th century.

In 2024 the literary community commemorates the 100th anniversary of the death of Joseph Conrad. This volume of collected essays takes the opportunity to reflect on Conrad’s enduring influence on literature and culture in the 21st century.Offering reflections on Conrad’s legacy by leading critics and scholars in the field of Conrad studies as well as by significant figures in the arts and cultural sector, it represents a unique contribution to Conrad studies and provides an overview of how the author continues to inspire and shape contemporary literature and culture in the 21st century.Covering a broad range of topics, from discussions of how Conrad has inspired contemporary films and operas through to the pertinence of his works to current conflicts and key contemporary issues, Joseph Conrad’s Cultural Legacy offers unique, original insights into the enduring relevance of one of the leading literary figures of the 20th century.

This volume is the product of new research on Conrad’s engagement with the arts during his lifetime. Beginning with nineteenth-century Polish landscape painting and Polish theatre, the essays move through music and the performing arts during Conrad’s time in Marseilles; the opera Conrad encountered in Australia; and Conrad’s later-life knowledge of recent and contemporary classical music. Subsequent essays demonstrate his familiarity with contemporary visual art (particularly through his friendships with various artists in London); his interest in dance; and his active involvement in contemporary theatre and screen-writing. The volume concludes with a discussion of Conrad’s art as a novelist and playwright, his ‘theatrical imagination’, in relation to developments in theatre theory of the time.

Born and brought up in Poland bilingually in French and Polish but living for most of his professional life in England and writing in English, Joseph Conrad was, from the start, as much a European writer as he was a British one and his work – from his earliest fictions through Heart of Darkness, Nostromo and The Secret Agent to his later novels– has repeatedly been the focal point of discussions about key issues of the modern age.With chapters written by leading international scholars, this book provides a wide-ranging survey of the reception, translation and publication history of Conrad’s works across Europe. Covering reviews and critical discussion, and with some attention to adaptations in other media, these chapters situate Conrad's works in their social and political context. The book also includes bibliographies of key translations in each of the European countries covered and a timeline of Conrad’s reception throughout the continent.

Opens up the rich topic of Joseph Conrad’s complex relationship with languageJoseph Conrad was, famously, trilingual in Polish, French and English, and was also familiar with German, Russian, Dutch and Malay. He was also a consummate stylist, using words with the precision of a poet in his fiction.The essays in this collection examine his engagement with specific lexical sets and terminology – maritime language, the language of terror, and abstract language; issues of linguistic communication – speech, hearing, and writing; and his relationship to specific languages – his deployment of foreign languages, his decision to write in English, and his reception through translation. The collection closes with an Afterword by renowned Conrad scholar, Laurence Davies.Key FeaturesThe first academic and critical study wholly devoted to the topic of Conrad and language, and the first to address that topic from a diversity of critical approachesSpeaks to a range of current trends in literary criticism including transnationalism, lateness, translation studies, terrorism and disabilities studiesComprises newly commissioned essays by leading and emerging Conrad scholars from around the world, employing a variety of approaches including philosophy, psychoanalytical theory, biographical theory, as well as textually driven readings

The essays in this collection examine Conrad's engagement with specific lexical sets and terminology maritime language, the language of terror, and abstract language; issues of linguistic communication speech, hearing, and writing; and his relationship to specific languages.

Joseph Conrad is widely recognized as one of the greatest writers of the early twentieth century. Robert Hampson traces Conrad’s life from his childhood in a Russian penal colony, through his early manhood in Marseille and his years in the British Merchant Navy, to his career as a novelist. It describes how these experiences inspired Conrad’s work, from his early Malay novels to his best-known work, Heart of Darkness. Robert Hampson also discusses Conrad’s important relations with other writers, in particular Ford Madox Ford, as well as his late-life political engagements and his relationships with women. Featuring new interpretations of all of Conrad’s major works, this is an original interpretation of Conrad’s life of writing.

'Seaport' deals with many aspects of the history and development of Liverpool, drawing on a wide range of documentary sources, and culminating with a vivid account of what the national press called the 'Toxteth Riots' of 1981. This event is seen in the context of the repressive policing methods of the day, especially as directed at black youths ...[and] ...in the historical context of Liverpool's notorious role in the slave trade, and of subsequent patterns of racial discrimination ...(Peter Barry)

CLASP is an exercise in collective remembering - with, as Lawrence Upton's essay suggests, a consciousness of memory work as also a process of selecting, forgetting and inventing. The original plan had been to focus on the 1970s, the decade during which [Ken Edwards and I] had co-edited Alembic with Peter Barry. Some of those we approached felt they could not usefully remember enough of their poetry activities in this period; some were reluctant to return to the past. Also, as the project developed, it became clear that the original plan wouldn't work: the history did not fit neatly into the limits of the decade. We would have to start earlier to understand the roots of 1970s London poetry, and we would have to stray into the 1980s to see how some of the debates and actions of the 1970s played out. -Robert Hampson, from his Introduction to this volume

The essays included here cover the range of Fisher's career. Redell Olsen and cris cheek discuss Fisher's relations to Fluxus and the documentary. Will Rowe approaches Place in terms of the large-scale poem as a heuristic device, a 'practice of knowledge'. Pierre Joris addresses the important topic of health in Fisher's work. Will Montgomery considers Brixton as a 'sounded space' in the work of Allen Fisher and Linton Kwesi Johnson, while Steven Hitchins tackles one aspect of Fisher's significant engagement with science: fractals as a way of negotiating the discontinuity and noise of everyday life. Robert Sheppard discusses The Apocalyptic Sonnets as the link between Fisher's two large-scale projects, Place and Gravity as a consequence of shape; Scott Thurston offers a close-reading of 'Mummer's Shout' (from Gravity) in terms of its compositional procedures; Clive Bush engages with 'Philly Dog' and the political limitations of Deleuze and Guattari; and Calum Hazell explores Sputtor in terms of collage, quotation and poetic knowledge. The volume closes with two collaborative pieces: an interview between Fisher, Paige Mitchell and Shamoon Zamir, and a selection of documents relating to PhillyTalks #19 with Karen Mac Cormack (17 October 2001).