The Dawn Watch

Joseph Conrad in a Global World

By: Maya Jasanoff

Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

A visionary exploration of the life and times of Joseph Conrad, his turbulent age of globalization and our own, from one of the most exciting young historians writing today.

Migration, terrorism, the tensions between global capitalism and nationalism, the promise and peril of a technological and communications revolution: these forces shaped the life and work of Joseph Conrad at the dawn of the 20th century. In this brilliant new interpretation of one of the great voices in modern literature, Maya Jasanoff reveals Conrad as a prophet of globalization as we recognize it today. As an immigrant from Poland to England, and in travels from Malaysia to the Congo to the Caribbean, Conrad navigated an interconnected world, and captured it in a literary oeuvre of extraordinary depth. His life story delivers a history of globalization from the inside out, and reflects powerfully on the aspirations and challenges of the modern world.

Joseph Conrad was born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in 1857, to Polish parents in the Russian Empire. At 16 he left the landlocked heart of Europe to become a sailor, and for the next 20 years travelled the world's oceans before settling permanently in London as an author. He saw the surging, competitive 'new imperialism' that planted a flag in almost every populated part of the globe. He got a close look, too, at the places 'beyond the end of telegraph cables and mail-boat lines,' and the hypocrisy of the west's most cherished ideals.

In a compelling blend of history, biography and travelogue, Maya Jasanoff follows Conrad's routes and the stories of his four greatest works: The Secret Agent, Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness, and Nostromo. Genre-bending, intellectually thrilling and deeply humane, The Dawn Watch embarks on a spellbinding expedition into the dark heart of Conrad's world - and through it to our own.

©2017 Maya Jasanoff (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic Reviews

"A great biography of Conrad for our times could never be just a biography of Conrad. The Dawn Watch is a scholarly trip to the birthplace of the books themselves, and an extraordinary meditation on Conrad's place in our consciousness. Jasanoff is erudite, passionate and wise: she has it all." (Juan Gabriel Vásquez)

"Jasanoff has done her research on sea and land as well as in the archives, and her book is often thrilling to read as it travels the world with Conrad. An admirable and profoundly meditated biography, worthy of its subject." (Claire Tomalin)

"Enthralling - a major achievement, an unforgettable voyage, an historic circumnavigation of Conrad's whole life. Historical narrative, literary analysis and complex post-colonial argument combined in the most thrilling way...an absolute masterpiece." (Richard Holmes)

Amazing book!

Amazing historical and literary scholarship. With regard to the audio, the Polish pronunciation could have been better.

Interesting biography

I liked his books I read many moons ago but knew nothing about the author or his adventures. He lived in very interesting and troubled times.

Superb

I began Conrad with Lord Jim in my 20s, was transfixed by the intimacy he created between myself and Jim- became mesmerised by Victory - re-reading in a fog - amazed at how he could plunge the reader so completely into such mysterious and sinister apprehensions of human savagery - so that at the same moment you are desperate to get back to your own life and yet are drawn onto the ships and into the jungles of his characters - then Nostromo became the ultimate novel - until finally I read Heart of Darkness - already knowing Apocalypse Now and sort of decided I wouldn’t ever need to read any other writer. Of course I have but aged 58 I have just finished Outcast of the Islands - a great Audible - and found so much humour in it that I hadn’t found on the page myself. It’s a wonderful set of characters.
Maya Jasanoff’s study is for me a wonderful insight and gift. There’s nothing academically reductionist in her work. Its the opposite. A review can be so misleading. Her work is expansive and illuminating. She brings us the great works - as he saw them unfold on his desk - and how the world read them - and how the world can read them now. What more can you ask of an author than this fabulous exploration. Had he known that a book like this would one day be written Conrad would have spent his last years a little less anxiously. You get the sense he didn’t enjoy his older years. That he didn’t feel he had given clarity to his ideas. That he suffered too much for his art. Jasanoff manages to capture that too. I finished the book quite pitying him and wanting to visit his grave to whisper some reassurances to him that it was all still here, very much intact.
Thank you MJ.

Smug, bourgeois elitism

This is a tiresome example of fake academe, for the self-serving elites, Conrad deserves better and so do you.

A bit 'specialised' but extremely interesting

I've long been 'aware' of Joseph Conrad, mostly because of my interest in our nautical past. I wasn't aware of the extent of his mission to try to issue some kind of warning about the way the world was shaping up.

This biography is written very much in the context of very recent events such as the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump.

Superb

Memorable in every aspect. More than a biography. Greatly informative on the historical context of his time. Very timely reflections on the flux of European relations; seen from 21 century but not veering into punditry.

Very Good

A very good companion to Conrad. Jasanoff has skill in writing; and is able to carry you with her through the trials and tribulations of Conrads life.