Evening star., 1924-12-30
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
JOSEPH CONRAD. Ford MADDOX Ford

Since the past Midsummer a new
zeal of interest has centered upon
Joseph Conrad. That's WY Death
has-paying his devoirs with a ges-
ture; in intent, compensatory, maybe;
in effect, a gesture that certainly does
serve to emphasize for a moment the
person and achievements of the out
going traveller. So. while the sudden
passing of Joseph Conrad last Mid
summer has had nothing at all to do
with his enduring fame. nor can have,
It has, nevertheless, stirred a deeper
and more general interest in the man
and his work. A conclusive gesture
the one Death makes-rounding full
period to the uses Of final estimates
and appraisals.
Just now many are reading Conrad
who never read him before. And old
readers are completing ownership of
his romances in order not to miss
anything Of the full flavor. of his
work, in order to have at hand means
for a full accounting of his genius.
And not only are the stories of Con
rad's own creating commanding an
unusual general attention, but books
about the man are in demand. Per-
sonal recollections, critical appraisals,
literary summaries, memoirs-these
contribute to the fu1f1llment of the
feet of blended personality and
achievement and setting and atmos-
phere, by way of which genius proves
itself, by way of which genius sus-
tains itself alive, and Immediately
beyond the range of purely persona al
contacts, beyond the limits of physi-
cal existence.
Among tho uritare contributing to
the Conrad legend. Ford MADDOX Ford
has the clear advantage OF standing
closest to Conrad himself through
many years of partnership in literary
work. Indeed, the title page of this
Personal Remembrance" gives out
the following announcement: Ford
MADDOX Ford, joint author with Joseph
Conrad of Romance The Inheri-
tors The Nature of a Crime. ."
News, clearly, this will be to many a
Conrad reader; news. however. that
Is bound to give an extra edge of con-
cern in whatever MADDOX Ford may
have to say. And the first thing he
does say is calculated to justify this
whetted interest 1t appears that
something like 10 years ago Ford
thought he was going to die-may be
right soon. So, as men in this strait
are prone to do, he promptly made a
will, designating Conrad his literary
executor. Incident to this proceeding
there was much talk, then and there
after. as to the proper character of a
literary biography. They agreed that
certainly this should not employ the
common geographic formula, since the
writer. Of all men, leads a life pecu-
liarly free from events as such. Great
things go on, to be sure, with a crea-
tive writer, but these are all inside
things that have nothing to do with a
chronological record of the external
life of the person. The outcome of
the discussion was perfect agreement
between the two that a biography
should be a novel, just as a novel
should be and always is--the biog-
raphy Of man or of an affair. This
book by MADDOX Ford is, therefore, in
purpose, the novel of Joseph Conrad.
1T Is conducted exactly along the
lines laid down by US, both for the
novel which is biography and for the
biography which is novel 1t is
the rendering of an affair intended
first of all to make you see the sub
ject in his scenery 1t is a
portrait, not a narration; for what 1t
shall prove to be worth, a work of
art, not a compilation. AS
to the truth of the impression as a
whole. the writer believes that no
man would care-or dare-to impugn
IT. II was that that Joseph Conrad
asked for. The task has been accom-
plished with the most pious scrupu-
losity."
The novel gets its start out of
Joseph Conrsd's need for help in the
use of English--its words and idioms
and general structure-since it was
Conrad's passion to write in English
rather than in the French that he
might have used, or in his native
tongue. And the novel proceeds
along its way by virtue of the inti-
mate, day-in- and -day-out intercourse
Of these two, as they agree and dis
agree, as they fight and bleed and
die over the turn of a phrase, over
the fidelity OF word to fact, over the
rhythm of a sequence.
The setting of this novel is Pent
Farm, beneath the South Downs.
Is an extraordinary old mare with
such long ears that you took her for
a mule. This was Nancy, behind
whom they traversed the downs, up
and down and across, talking, forever
talking, about how to project one
Aaron Smith, the last man tried for
piracy in the Old Bailey. Smith was
booked as hero for their romance-in-
the making. Flicking Nancys back,
Ford would give his version of some
part of the projection. And pretty
soon Conrad was sure to chime In, 20,
o, o, God. my dear Hueffer! o, my
dear faller, how is 1t possible?" Ger
tainly an exciting partnership, this;
certainly new mode OF creating ro-
mantle adventure. Out of a hundred
scenes, not unlike this one, not only
did invention grow, but out of these
does a very vivid picture of Joseph
Conrad emerge. Not a large man, but
broad in the shoulder and long in
the arm" Dark, with black hair and
clipped black beard. The gestures of a
Frenchman."
X X X
So often did Ford MADDOX Ford step
out from these intimate ardors of
collaboration for a bit of a summing
UP of Joseph Conrad. He was a
gentleman adventurer who had sailed
with Drake. Elizabethan-it was
that that he was. He has been called
Slav; he has been called Oriental; he
has been called a Romantic. He was
none of these except on the surface
to his grocer. A man has to have a
surface to present to his grocer or to
afternoon callers. He himself was
just Man, attuned to the late six
teenth century. In all the world he
would have loved nothing better than
to singe the King of Spain's beard IL
1t had not been to write a good book.
Well, he outwitted the Dutch navy in
Malaysia and wrote the greatest
books in the world" You will have
q keen personal pleasure to find out
in passing that "for years and years
Conrad read Marryatt and Fenimore
Cooper. And it was one of the little
pleasures of Conrad to remember that
In Paris after Waterloo more crowds
followed Sir Walter Scott and Fenf-