num_pages: 208
description: Almayer’s Folly , Joseph Conrad’s first novel, is a tale of personal tragedy as well as a broader meditation on the evils of colonialism. Set in the lush jungle of Borneo in the late 1800s, it tells of the Dutch merchant Kaspar Almayer, whose dreams of riches for his beloved daughter, Nina, collapse under the weight of his own greed and prejudice. Nadine Gordimer writes in her Introduction, “Conrad’s writing is lifelong questioning . . . What was ‘ Almayer’s Folly ’? The pretentious house never lived in? His obsession with gold? His obsessive love for his daughter, whose progenitors, the Malay race, he despised? All three?” Conrad established in Almayer’s Folly the themes of betrayal, isolation, and colonialism that he would explore throughout the rest of his life and work.
language: English
title: Almayer's Folly
titlecomplete: Almayer's Folly
characters: Kaspar Almayer, Tom Lingard, Nina Almayer, Lakamba, Babalatchi
genres: Literature, Classics, Polish Literature, Literary Fiction, Adventure, Novels, English Literature, 19th Century, Fiction, British Literature
ratings_count: 1595
places: Borneo
series: Lingard Trilogy
publisher: Modern Library