The Dawn Watch

Joseph Conrad in a Global World

De: Maya Jasanoff

Narrado por: Laurel Lefkow

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

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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)