Rating: 
Summary: Apparently you were not near enough for me.
Review: 'Apparently you were not near enough for me'. Is this the complaint of all men for women? The strange drawing together of the isolated man (so much as I once was) with the resourceful but unexpected woman so shocked the 'world', those who missed out, that evil had to come of it. But this novel is called 'Victory', Conrad saw it as upbeat. And it is in a strange sort of way. I was profoundly disappointed at the end, as indeed I am disappointed by the end of every life that is a part of my own. Considering the nature of this novel - the strength and support of man (ineffective, but well meaning) for woman, and the wisdom and courage of woman (committed, but perhaps foolish) for man, the end is still inevitable. But Conrad manages to craft an ending that is a victory - one in which neither party compromises their view of the world despite the threats it imposes on them.
In Heyst - the 'hero' I saw much of myself. In Lena, the heroine who fails to succeed where success was impossible, I see a particular courageous woman in my own world. Perhaps you too will be able to find one?
There are wonderful characters in this novel, but I do regret the lack of any native Indonesian flavour to the story - place is well portrayed, peripheral people less so. But, perhaps in Conrad's time - colonial times - this is just the way the Europeans were - blind to the people around them, not seeing them as truly human.
Rating: 
Summary: Trust in Life
Review: Axel Heyst, the protagonist in Conrad's novel, Victory, makes a final statement to Davidson, a fellow seaman, just before he dies: "...woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love--and to put its trust in life!" This statement coming from a man whose whole life has been lived in isolation is remarkable. His father taught him that life was a Great Joke, that it was an illusion; that the best way to survive was to drift oneself into oblivion. But he found love in the person of Lena and it changed his perspective on living and was responsible for his change of heart as represented in the above-quoted statement. It's too bad that the novel could not have had a happy ending, but Conrad's view of the world probably would not permit it. I found the novel engrossing, somewhat melodramatic, yet vintage Conrad in its depiction of good and evil battling each other on the island of Samburan.
Rating:
Summary: Trust in Life
Review: Axel Heyst, the protagonist in Conrad's novel, Victory, makes a final statement to Davidson, a fellow seaman, just before he dies: "...woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love--and to put its trust in life!" This statement coming from a man whose whole life has been lived in isolation is remarkable. His father taught him that life was a Great Joke, that it was an illusion; that the best way to survive was to drift oneself into oblivion. But he found love in the person of Lena and it changed his perspective on living and was responsible for his change of heart as represented in the above-quoted statement. It's too bad that the novel could not have had a happy ending, but Conrad's view of the world probably would not permit it. I found the novel engrossing, somewhat melodramatic, yet vintage Conrad in its depiction of good and evil battling each other on the island of Samburan.
Rating:
Summary: One of Mencken's favorite authors...
Review: Conrad is the second of Mencken-recommended authors I have read since reading a Carl Bode biography of H.L. Mencken. In that biography, Mencken said Conrad, as well as Theodore Dreisier and Sinclair Lewis, were the best realists who approached life through their writings as Mencken saw the world. Creative loners whose ambition is challenged by the dreadful humans surrounding them. Heyst, Victory's main character, is similar to the main character in Dreiser's "The Genius."
Rating:
Summary: A Land of Ones Own
Review: Conrad tells Heyst's story in stages, not revealing all at once, and he is the most intriguing part of the book so it is a very clever technique for until the end our picture of him remains incomplete. That dimension of the novel is like a mystery and a good one. Heyst has chosen a life of solitude and it is slowly revealed that he has a very complex reason for doing so. The love story is a little weak though. You kind of have to look the other way when Heyst and his beloved Lena have their moments, other than that there is much to admire about this book and a very exciting finale. Conrad's own complex upbringing involved exile from his parents homeland Russia. He was raised in Poland but his father remained politically active even in exile and was eventually brought to ruin for it. The instability of being raised in such a home had a corrosive effect on the would be authors sense of his own identity. Many of Conrads books have biographical elements in them but this one is even closer to home than the earlier books were. Conrad combined in his person two distinct selves, a man of action(sea captain) and a man of inaction, or an observer(writer). In Victory one sees him trying to balance these two opposing tendencies in his own character. Heyst has chosen inaction but that choice it soon becomes clear is not his alone to make. The world and its other inhabitants also have a say in that. Heyst may not want to be involved in the world but just by existing he is already involved. He may be able to avoid the world for a time but eventually the world finds everyone. For Heyst the world finds him through the character of Lena. That is the Victory of the novel. Though that meeting puts Heyst in touch with the world for the first time it also puts him in contact with some of the worlds more unsavory aspects. This novel is not one of Conrads crowning achievements but it is the best one he wrote in his latter period. It was originally published in 1915 and he feared the title during a time of war may be misleading but he kept it anyway. It does seem appropriate. Be sure to get a copy with the 'authors note' in which Conrad tells of his glimpse of a girl in a cafe who suggested to his imagination the character of Lena.
Rating:
Summary: Language
Review: Conrad's brilliance in my eyes is heightened by the fact that he is writing in his second language, English. In Britain we claim him as British and in Poland he is is claimed as Polish - and why wouldn't we all claim this genius of the descriptive, the fleshing out of characters and the tight and taciturn dialogue. Based on his experiences at sea at the turn of the century all these books - and Victory: An Island Tale is no exception - it is 5 stars. But one word of warning - if you want to get to know Conrad - avoid movies - such as the Sam Neil Willem Dafoe - disasters. Read him. His books cannot be effectively translated to the screen as they depend too much on the imagination of the reader. The screen only serves to diminish his work
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Summary: a suspenseful tale that lingers in your memory
Review: Heyst and Lena are very realistic & interesting characters. Loved the setting - could almost feel the tropical heat on Samburan. I might read this a 3rd time. Highly recommended!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Story!
Review: Joseph Conrad has long been one of my favorite authors. His works can be difficult to understand, with all the shades of meanings and the complicated plots, but Conrad's novels have always been worth the effort. Victory was one of the more readable works; and one of the most spell-binding. A great story by a great author: I'm very glad I read this!
Rating:
Summary: A Conrad reader's favorite
Review: Joseph Conrad is my favorite author, and I'm close to having read everything he's written. This is my favorite novel. I've read the criticism, that it's too sentimental, that its characters aren't as rich as in other Conrad tales...bumpkis. Consider Schomberg, consider Heyst...well, unless you've read the novel of course you can't. I encourage you to. I've read that it was Conrad's favorite, and one can understand why, in Heyst we get a glimpse into the soul of the aloof author, and in the memorable final word of the novel we get an impression of what he saw in the world. No other Conrad novel with the possible exception of Lord Jim has so personally affected me, and if like him, and like Heyst, you have sloughed off sentimentality, abandoned your Romantic side, then maybe this novel has something to teach you. I certainly learned something.
Rating:
Summary: To Look On and Never Make a Sound
Review: Now and then, we must leave the literature of our day and delve deeper--in time and in literary style. Joseph Conrad has survived time as a classic, because his work is of classic quality. I submerged into Victory as into cool, deep water, to emerge refreshed and moved by the literary experience. Woe, yes, to the man whose heart has not learned to hope or love (and is love without hope possible?) or trust in life. Without hope, without love, without trust, life is but a living death. Axel Heyst, Conrad's hero of Victory, is a complex man we are deeply drawn to--for he has the heart and he has the high ideals, if not the hope or trust. In his vulnerable youth, Heyst's father stripped him of these tools without which living a meaningful life is a barren if not futile prospect. Yet a man's heart is a stubborn thing in its will to beat with red blood. Even in his willful isolation, a woman's love finds the hermit. Conrad indulges in a little formula damsel-in-distress rescue, and Heyst brings Lena to his solitary island of Samburan, where they slowly develop a kind of haven. Life has a way of being messy and intrusive, Conrad knows, and so he brings the conflict of the story to the island, undeservedly bad reputation following Heyst there in the often comic and villanous figures of Ricardo and Jones. This showcases the figures of Heyst and Lena. If Heyst's heart does indeed love, and passionately so, then Lena's heart has within it the unconditional devotion perhaps only a woman can fully express. And so woman gives life. The tragedy of Heyst is that he so rarely knows how to express his love. Perhaps the story ends, then, in the only way it can, in sacrifice. The true victory of this novel is the gift of Conrad's writing. Characters have depth and motion; plot is not overwhelming, but enough to hold suspense; dialogue is real and revealing. Conrad does plenty of tell, not show, which writers are today admonished not to do, but I loved every moment of the skillful telling. He is a master, taking on themes and characters that have lasting value. I plan to read and reread his other works.
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