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Notes on Life and Letters

Gelesen von Peter Dann

Conrad described the twenty-six essays collected here as a "one-man show" comprising "Conrad literary, Conrad political, Conrad reminiscent, Conrad controversial", but never Conrad "with his boots off". He is particularly passionate when writing on Russian autocracy, on Poland's under-appreciated past and its hopes for the future, and on the self-serving blather of promoters loudly proclaiming that the sinking of the Titanic held no lessons for anyone but that the vessel should have had fewer lifeboats, and that her captain should have aimed to strike any iceberg head on. There are quieter, more tender recollections here too, including Conrad's appreciation of Stephen Crane, whom Conrad knew personally and liked very much, and a moving account of his return to Poland after a long absence at the very moment the Great War was breaking out. (Summary by Peter Dann) (8 hr 13 min)

Chapters

Author's Note

7:22

Read by Peter Dann

Books — 1905

14:30

Read by Peter Dann

Henry James — An Appreciation — 1905

17:14

Read by Peter Dann

Alphonse Daudet — 1905

9:50

Read by Peter Dann

Guy de Maupassant — 1904

14:02

Read by Peter Dann

Anatole France — 1904

25:06

Read by Peter Dann

Turgenev — 1917

6:57

Read by Peter Dann

Stephen Crane — A Note Without Dates — 1919

6:26

Read by Peter Dann

Tales of the Sea — 1898

8:38

Read by Peter Dann

An Observer In Malaya — 1898

5:45

Read by Peter Dann

A Happy Wanderer — 1910

8:15

Read by Peter Dann

The Life Beyond — 1910

8:50

Read by Peter Dann

The Ascending Effort — 1910

8:44

Read by Peter Dann

The Censor of Plays — An Appreciation — 1907

9:57

Read by Peter Dann

Autocracy and War — 1905

1:02:51

Read by Peter Dann

The Crime of Partition — 1919

36:22

Read by Peter Dann

A Note on the Polish Problem — 1916

12:49

Read by Peter Dann

Poland Revisited — 1915

1:03:38

Read by Peter Dann

First News — 1918

9:33

Read by Peter Dann

Well Done — 1918

29:07

Read by Peter Dann

Tradition — 1918

13:59

Read by Peter Dann

Confidence — 1919

13:01

Read by Peter Dann

Flight — 1917

6:51

Read by Peter Dann

Some Reflections on the Loss of the Titanic — 1912

30:33

Read by Peter Dann

Certain Aspects of the Admirable Inquiry into the Loss of the Titanic — 1912

37:18

Read by Peter Dann

Protection of Ocean Liners — 1914

20:09

Read by Peter Dann

A Friendly Place — 1914

5:48

Read by Peter Dann