Details
CONRAD, JOSEPH. Autograph letter signed ("J. Conrad") to [C.F. Tobbutt], addressed as "Dear Sir," Oswalds, Bishopsbourne, Kent, 9 May 1922. 2 pages, 4to, both sides of a sheet of Conrad's stationery with his printed address, slight fold creases, with the original stamped envelope addressed by Conrad.
"THE ARROW OF GOLD"
A fine letter entirely on The Arrow of Gold, a novel with strong autobiographical aspects published in 1919. "In truth I think the story is rather simple than subtle. A thing like that can not go on for ever; and Rita [the heroine] with her greater maturity, greater experience of the world and in her perfect sincerity in the face of the given situation sees it clearly. A connection of that kind would have spelt ruin for a young fellow of 19 [the character George in the novel, based on Conrad himself] without fortune or position. Or any young fellow, for the matter of that.
"Had R[ita] been merely sensual and selfish she could have kept George chained to her by his passion. Rita is whatever she is; but whatever she is, she is honest as the day. By going away beyond his reach she gives him the supreme proof of her love stronger than mere passion, stronger than the fear of her own and of his suffering. That is all there is to it." Apparently unpublished. See Frederick R. Karl, Jospeh Conrad: The Three Lives (New York, 1979), pp. 159-167 (in particular) for a discussion of the autobiographical features of the novel ("Conrad has...placed himself, disguised as Monsieur George, in the center of a great romance...").
"THE ARROW OF GOLD"
A fine letter entirely on The Arrow of Gold, a novel with strong autobiographical aspects published in 1919. "In truth I think the story is rather simple than subtle. A thing like that can not go on for ever; and Rita [the heroine] with her greater maturity, greater experience of the world and in her perfect sincerity in the face of the given situation sees it clearly. A connection of that kind would have spelt ruin for a young fellow of 19 [the character George in the novel, based on Conrad himself] without fortune or position. Or any young fellow, for the matter of that.
"Had R[ita] been merely sensual and selfish she could have kept George chained to her by his passion. Rita is whatever she is; but whatever she is, she is honest as the day. By going away beyond his reach she gives him the supreme proof of her love stronger than mere passion, stronger than the fear of her own and of his suffering. That is all there is to it." Apparently unpublished. See Frederick R. Karl, Jospeh Conrad: The Three Lives (New York, 1979), pp. 159-167 (in particular) for a discussion of the autobiographical features of the novel ("Conrad has...placed himself, disguised as Monsieur George, in the center of a great romance...").