The Rover

by Joseph Conrad

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Pomona Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Nautical, Literature, Novels

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and, although he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he became a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. He wrote novels and stories, many in nautical settings, that depict crises of human individuality in the midst of what he saw as an indifferent, inscrutable, and amoral world.
Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.
Writing near the peak of the British Empire, Conrad drew on the national experiences of his native Poland—during nearly all his life, parceled out among three occupying empires—and on his own experiences in the French and British merchant navies, to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a European-dominated world—including imperialism and colonialism—and that profoundly explore the human psyche.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there have been better Joseph Conrad novels, The Rover was a fitting and touching end to the long writing career of one of the greatest writers of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century. Indeed it is hard not to see something of Conrad himself in Peyrol, the sailor who gives up the sea, and returns to land, yet who always has his heart still with the sea.

Of course The Rover was not intended to be Conrad’s last work, and he was still working on other books at the time of his death. However, this was to be his final completed novel.

The story concerns Peyrol, a sailor and adventurer with a colourful past who decides to settle down in post-Revolutionary France to retire with a small fortune that he has stolen. Peyrol returns to the home of his childhood, and sets about rigging up a small boat for pleasure.

However, hopes of an idyllic retirement are to be cut short. Soon Peyrol is caught up in intrigues involving a British ship patrolling the French coast (Britain was still at war with France then), a plan by a duty-bound Lieutenant to dupe the British with forged papers, and a bloodthirsty former Revolutionary called Scevola who is murderously jealous of the Lieutenant’s growing attachment to Arlette, the half-crazed orphan of a Royalist family whom Scevola had put to death.

Finally Peyrol heroically sets off to take on the British himself, deliberately throwing away his life so that the forged papers will fall in British hands, and thereby dupe them. For good measure, he takes the captive Scevola with him and leaves Lieutenant Real behind, thereby doubly saving the life of Lieutenant Real, and allowing a chance for Real and Arlette to become a couple.

This is one of the happiest endings in a Conrad novel, though characteristically it has to come at the expense of the life of his hero. Peyrol is not motivated by any political interest, but only by love of his country and a concept of duty and heroism. As a seaman he is outside the Royalist and Revolutionary concerns of his time, and loftily contemptuous of them.

His contempt is Conrad’s own contempt. Like Conrad, he is a former seaman who finds that the political ideals that he formed at sea do not seem to work as well among land folk, and he shares Conrad’s subtle resentment towards the behaviour of people who live on land. Authoritarian ideals that worked at sea no longer have a place here.

However, Conrad saves his greatest contempt for the ideals of the French Revolution. Hence the greatest villain here is Scevola, a contemptible man called a ‘blood-drinker’ due to his role in having royalists put to death during the Revolution. Scevola has spared the life of Arlette after having her parents murdered, but his motives are obscure. He does not seem to love her, so his interest is either sexual or merely the wish to exercise power over her.

Scevola’s presence adds a darker fatalistic thread to the story, as we see his growing hatred for Lieutenant Real, and we fear that Arlette will once again be unable to escape the revolutionary bloodshed that cost her parents lives. Both Real and Arlette are the orphans of Royalists, and are therefore suspect in Scevola’s eyes. Only the hasty action by Peyrol in removing Scevola ensures that this threat is finally lifted, and Real and Arlette are able to marry and be happy together.

On the whole, Conrad is milder towards the Royalists, and we are encouraged to see Real, Arlette and Arlette’s parents as more sympathetic characters. However, there is only a partial association with them, and Conrad does not really take sides. Like Scevola, Real is defined by his clothes. Scevola is a sans-culotte, and Real is an epaulette-wearer. Whatever his private contempt for the Revolution, Real is governed by rigid standards of duty imposed by his uniform, and therefore cannot be completely trusted by the free-spirited Peyrol.

Peyrol has his own version of liberty, equality and fraternity. For him, liberty is about having the liberty to live a free life at sea. Equality is the notion of all men being equal under a strong ruler, i.e. not really equality at all. Notably Peyrol approves of Napoleon’s strong control.

Our hero has his own notions of fraternity too, but his are concerned with the Brotherhood of the Sea, a kind of freemasonry among seafaring adventurers. Hence for all his loyalty to his country, Peyrol is happy to allow an English naval man whom he captured to escape, because Peyrol recognises Symons as a fellow member of the Brotherhood.

Notably this notion of liberty, fraternity and equality is diametrically opposite to that of the Revolution. In the end, Peyrol may lay down his life for the post-Revolutionary government, but really it is more for the sake of his country than out of any loyalty to the values of the state at that time.

Peyrol represents an ideal hero for the book. He is a man with a rascally past perhaps, but he has his own values. He is ruthless, but not cruel. There is enough of the patriot in him to feel indignation about the presence of the British ship and to engage in amusing negative fantasies about the captain of that ship, but he has genuine values of solidarity that allow him to feel a paternal concern in allowing an Englishman to escape from his control. He is also capable of great tenderness in his relations with Arlette and her aunt Catherine.

Indeed, Peyrol’s presence helps to strongly bind the book together. While The Rover cannot be regarded as a return to the form of Conrad’s greatest books, it is an excellent, well-written story that maintains the interest, and offers a few insights into Conrad’s world view. It is a satisfying finale to Conrad’s work.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last novel Conrad completed does not suffer from the "Last Book - Worst Book" syndrome that can occasionally plague authors as they unfortunately run out of new ideas and go through the motions. Not that Conrad does not revisit his favorite themes in this one - it is very Conradian: Empire, the sea (duh!), sacrifice and redemption, guilt and self-forgiveness, espionage, and the complications of love to the seaman.

Peyrol may be Conrad's most human protagonist - and I think he might be my favorite Conrad hero. A pirate and gunner who was rooted up and transplanted to the sea from his South France village, he comes back an old man and rents a room from a very strange trio - an unreconstructed French Revolution Patriot who very likely killed the parents of Arlette and scooped her up as bounty, and the owner of the farmhouse, Catherine, Arlette's aunt.

All is well until a stranger comes to town and girl (Arlette) meets boy (French Lieutenant Real). Real also has a mission all they way from Napoleon that may turn the tide of the French-English war. The French Lieutenant's woman (sorry...) makes this mission hard to carry out unless someone with nothing to lose sees what is happening.

Peyrol is a master of the sea and even more of a master at psychology. He intuits the motivations of all who he sees - including the Commander of an English corvette blockading Toulon. This mastery allows him to be always one step ahead of everyone and makes him the only one who can really complete the mission.

The ending of the book was sublime. When we realize that the mulberry tree was used by Jesus in a parable ("And the Lord said: 'If you have faith like to a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this mulberry tree, "Be thou rooted up, and be thou transplanted to the sea"'") and the tree is also a well-known symbol of the cross as well as the devil because of its red leaves, then the last paragraph sings out:

The blue level of the Mediterranean, the charmer and the deceiver of audacious men, kept the secret of its fascination - hugged to its calm breast the victims of all the wars, calamities and tempests of its history, under the marvellous purity of the sunset sky. A few rosy clouds floated high up over the Esterel range. The breath of the evening breeze came to cool the heated rocks of Escampobar; and the mulberry tree, the only big tree on the head of the peninsula, standing like a sentinel at the gate of the yard, sighed faintly in a shudder of all its leaves, as if regretting the Brother of the Coast, the man of dark deeds, but of large heart, who often at noonday would lie down to sleep under its shade.

I don't think I have read or will read prose as excellent as this until the day comes when I fail to awake from under my own mulberry tree. Rest in Peace, Citoyen Peyrol and Mr. Conrad.

[1.1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was absorbed into this one, possibly because I hadn't read Conrad in a while, but it hit the spot. It slacks a bit here and there, but simply by merit of being Conrad's last book I found it worthwhile and even astounding in a sort of piecemeal way. It was not maddeningly or achingly good, but as a solid tale it stands quite well. You might say, even in the choppy prevailing conditions, it had sea legs.

It wouldn't be my recommendation for someone new to Conrad (for them there's always The Secret Agent or Lord Jim), but if you're an avid follower or even anything short of admirer, this book isn't a bad choice. While I could go on – in detail, put down a few spicy quotes, expound on the revolutionary and counterrevolutionary aspects of the book, or its characters, misuse of idiomatic figures of speech in one of the two languages it portrays in honest usage, or its blissful setting – to be long about it: I won't go on any further. There's no point in it: it's a good one but not exceptional. If you've got other choices and you don't feel strongly about Conrad, leave this one for later. The author, after all, left it till later as well.

(Note: the Pan Classics version has a delightful critical supplement)

[Lisa of Troy]

Unannotated Book in F. Scott Fitzgerald's College of One

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is much more accessible than many of Conrad's novels. The reader is engaged from the outset and there is no wondering who the characters are, and no confusing unreliable narrator stuff. It is a simple story told by a master of psychology, a wizard with language and a man with profound sympathy for the human condition. Simply, Conrad is one of our greatest writers.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Rover" is a rather mediocre novel by a great writer. The work is set in the early days of Napoléon's reign. The radical egalitarianism of the "Terror" is over. The French no longer address themselves as "Citoyen" and "Citoyenne" but as "Monsieur" and "Madame". France having ceased to be a "Republic" has become an "Empire". Aristocrats are emerging from hiding to reveal their social origins. Into this transitional era, Conrad inserts an adventure story in which Peyrol a retired French pirate decides to assist the French military deceive Lord Nelson while at the same time coming to the rescue of a pair of lovers of noble birth.
The major problem is that the protagonist Peyrol is a totally improbable character. Despite his lower class origins and life of criminality , Peyrol instinctively sides with the aristocrats against the "sans-culottes" or "Terrorists". Despite admiring the British he sacrifices his life to help France in its war against them. I am also uncomfortable with Conrad's portrayal of the wild series of changes in political and social values that occurred in France during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. He was of course correct to believe that France was better off and people were happier after the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. I simply don't believe that events unfolded in the manner described by Conrad.

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joseph Conrad's Peyrol is an offshoot of my most unforgettable Conrad character, Lord Jim. But he also reminds me of the ambivalent anti-hero immortalized by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns: The man with no name in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More. Peyrol is an ageing French sailor with a shock of white hair who, as a young stowaway, lived his best (and worst) years at sea, with no kinship for the land of his birth. The French Revolution is over, but strains of PTSD afflicts every French citizen old enough to comprehend the terrors of the immediate past. But like Eastwood's nameless cowboy, he has no loyalties--shifting nor fanatical, except perhaps to the Brotherhood of the Coast, and even that is questionable; cynical and jaded, he is in business for himself, having officially retired as a gunner for the French fleet. Curiously enough, of all the gin joints in all the world, booty-lush Peyrol chooses to retire half a day's journey from his hick hometown near Toulon. And so now the unsentimental but endearing Peyrol has to navigate the tides of extreme fanaticism and somnambulist apathy.

This was Conrad's last novel. And seeing early on how he's patterned his protagonist after Lord "Tuan" Jim, I never doubted the revealing--it would be wrong to call it a revelation, which is anchored on surprise--of Peyrol's true sentiments, insensible as it may seem to us lesser mortals.

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[Frederick · Rating 4 out of 5]

For sheer entertainment, Joseph Conrad's last finished novel, the ROVER, published in 1923, may be his most sustained. Conrad is clear-sighted and maintains a tone somewhere betwern Robert Louis Stevenson and Hans Christian Andersen. My comparison may strike you as odd. We know he thought Stevenson's novels were not true to life. And, of course, Conrad was not a writer of fairy tales. But throughout, THE ROVER reminds me of the sort of book N.C. Wyeth illustrated. It is a grown-up story, but told in a sitting-down-by-the-fire manner. It is, absolutely, Conrad with a pipe in his mouth, an Irish Setter at his feet, with everybody within earshot gathering gradually to listen to the tale.
Briefly, it's late in the Napoleonic era, and an old sea dog has returned to the little spot in France where he was born. He realizes, as he settled in, that he has entirely missed the terror his fellow Frenchmen have been experiencing since the revolution, and the contrast between the world he faintly remembers and the one he now sees makes him a kind of Rip Van Winkle. But Conrad doesn't achieve his effect by highlighting that aspect. Rather, the tone of wistful self-review, through the mind of the rover, as this character is called, makes this book a stylistic wonder. His name is Peyrol, which, I'm guessing, is the pun it sounds like, but that's as far as Conrad goes with a deliberately funny name here. There are genuinely heavy topics in this book. A ship's cabin filled with butchered bodies figures in it, after all. But I would say that, while. THE ROVER refers to the atrocities so much of Conrad's fiction deals with, it differs from most of his work in that very little of it involves tortured logic. Most if Conrad's heroes experience self-doubt to the point that the reader is wondering what he or she should thin of those heroes. In Peyrol, Conrad leaves the self-doubt to a couple of the lesser characters. If the book has flaws (and it has fewer than almost any of his books) it involves stilted dialog between tortured lovers, and a little touch of English nationalism, a trait not even Shakespeare ("...This scepter'd isle..." comes to mind) was free of.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

A straightforward adventure story, which, beneath the surface, explores the motivations and fears for having lived a life with meaning. Its elegiac and melancholy tone would have made it a fitting work with which Conrad might have concluded his writing career. As it was, The Rover was his last completed work before his death, with the unfinished Suspense: A Napoleonic Novel published posthumously. In form, it appears initially as a linear tale, but it is one that washes back in forth like a series of waves, gliding into transitions, taking up different perspectives, and only then returning to the origins of those points of view. It's quite a subtle effect, and one that illuminates both characters and the trails of the plot in a multi-layered fashion.

Like many of Conrad's protagonists, Peyrol, the Rover of the title, is a liminal character. His life away from the sea, albeit stretching over years and years, long enough for his hair to turn white, is but a temporary lull. He awaits his final return to the sea, a place of no fixed boundaries, no sense of permanence, no true identity, just as Peyrol's life was at Escampobar, the farmhouse where he has sought refuge after his time as a corsair in the Indian Ocean.

This is not a story of redemption. Rather, it is about the impossibility of certain men ever belonging to anything other than the tempests that drag them into adventure, literal or imaginary. Peyrol seems to mimic Conrad himself in this regard. Fitting, then, that the ultimate chapter is drawn from Conrad's own experience in narrowly escaping a coastal interceptor early in his life, as described towards the end of his autobiographical work, The Mirror of the Sea.

[Fred Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joseph Conrad's knowledge of the sea and international events in the 18th and 19th century are used to great effect in his last novel. Peyrol is a French master gunner seeking retirement and solitude in the coastal hills of a farmhouse/Inn in the south of France. The French Revolution has citizens spying on citizens and although old Peyrol tries to distance himself from political events he eventually finds no option but to carry out one last heroic act of patriotism for his country. Another classic from Joseph Conrad.

[Jonás Cuba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fue el primer libro que leí de Joseph Conrad, quizá por eso me atrapó su narrativa. Pese a lo que se diga de este libro, se trata de una obra crepuscular, de como poder dar sentido a nuestra vida incluso al final de la misma, aunque jamás hayamos tenido un nombre con el que presentarnos.

[Clarence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ostatnia ukończona powieść docenianego angielskiego pisarza, Josepha Conrada. Utwór raczej chłodno przyjęty – zarówno przez samego autora, jak i przez krytyków. Na moje szczęście z tymi opiniami zapoznałem się dopiero po lekturze; w przeciwnym razie mogłyby mnie one zniechęcić do przeczytania tej pięknej powieści.
Zastanawiając się, skąd wzięła się ta zła sława, doszedłem do wniosku, że to książka, którą należy czytać sercem – a nie, jak zrobili to krytycy, rozumem. Bez empatii i zrozumienia dla bohaterów łatwo w tym przypadku dojść do błędnych wniosków lub całkowicie ich nie zrozumieć.
To wspaniała, wzruszająca opowieść o przyjaźni, miłości, poświęceniu, starzeniu się, sensie życia – i o wielu innych sprawach, napisana w sposób nieprzesadnie podniosły, lecz życiowy, niepozbawiony odrobiny humoru.

[Ibinu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end of it is really gripping and beautiful, but the first 75% are long and a little boring. Conrad really knows how to write about the sea and seamen, but gets a little lost at land I think. Still some beautiful sentences about old age creeping up on Peyrol, the main character. How he suddenly, once pr twice, realizes for aminute that he got old. How far away he is from all the distant memories of his adventurous youth tha form his constant entourage. There are beautiful things in this book, without a doubt, it is a bit of a shame that it´s not a little more condensed, that´s all.

[Jim Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rover was Conrad's last book and probably one of his more accessible stories. A little background on the French Revolution comes in handy to know what a 'sans cullotte' and a 'ci-devant' are since the terms appear regularly throughout the story. Otherwise, a great novel with some plot twists, romance, mystery and a satisfying ending (depending how you look at it, I suppose).

[Kaja Kulinicz-Szymankiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Przedziwna książka. Czytając, cały czas czułam niepokój, zaszyty gdzieś głęboko pod pozornie zwykłymi opisami, scenami, dialogami. Do ostatnich stron wcale nie byłam pewna jak dane wątki zostaną rozwiązane - określiłabym tę książkę słowami "stary thriller" - treść jest powolna, spójna i dokładna, zakończenie niejasne.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of a privateer who returns with great wealth to his native France, where he has no friends or relatives, where he has missed the Revolution, and where he finds no particular peace.

It's the first Conrad novel, of the 5 or 6 I've gotten to, that I didn't particularly enjoy.

Good narrator.

[Jay Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Conrad's writing style, along with the nautical theme of the book. A bit ponderous at times, but it kept me coming back to see what would happen next. A very interesting ending as well!

[Cailin Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few top tier, nautical, and formidable characters. No eye-patches. No one writes a sentence quite like Conrad. Stories about the French that are written by the non-French are always better than those written by the French.

[Ali Miremadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Inspiring story of an old man written at the end of Conrad's life. Very different prose style to his major works.

[Steve Goble · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is sort of a psychological thriller mashup of Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexandre Dumas and yes, Joseph Conrad.

[Juan José · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wise book. A powerful book. Swift as the wind. Deep as the sea. Conrad at it's best.

[Tessa Nadir · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Corsarul" a aparut in 1923 si este ultimul roman al lui Joseph Conrad, fiind de asemenea si cel mai putin cunoscut dintre operele sale. Cartea are un aer nostalgic si este despre un batran lup de mare si ultima sa mare aventura cu vasul sau mult iubit, aruncand o ultima privire catre tarmuri si rememorand vremurile din tinerete moare cu zambetul pe buze. Este genul de erou care va patrunde in suflet, va impresioneaza prin curaj si caracter si pe care nu o sa-l mai uitati niciodata. Putem sa-l admiram, sa tinem la el dar din pacate nu-l putem salva. Ma intreb daca autorul a stiut ca va fi ultimul sau roman si asemeni batranului marinar care are o ultima aventura pe mare pentru o cauza buna si el are o ultima incursiune pe taramul imaginatiei.
Romanul debuteaza cu intrarea in portul Toulon a unui vas condus de tunarul-sef Peyrol. Dupa ce acesta coboara de pe ambarcatiune, in mijlocul unor gura-casca, se duce la Capitania Portului sa raporteze despre prada capturata in timpul expeditiei. Apoi porneste la drum intr-o caruta si incearca sa regaseasca locurile unde a crescut. Fiind copil sarac si orfan de tata locuise cu mama sa la o ferma unde aceasta muncea. Intr-o noapte gasindu-si mama moarta fuge speriat si se ascunde pe puntea unui vas care pleca spre Marsilia. Cand marinarii l-au gasit nu stia sa-si spuna nici numele astfel ca acestia l-au botezat dupa fermierul la care crescuse: Peyrol.
Dupa 50 de ani petrecuti pe mare Peyrol se intoarce asadar sa-si gaseasca locurile natale. Acum insa nu e sarac deloc, din contra umbla la el cu un veston cusut cu monezi pe care le-a gasit in taina la bordul navei. Ramane sa stea la o ferma unde va locui alaturi de frumoasa Arlette, barbatul care o tine captiva si care i-a ucis parintii si matusa ei, Catherine. Arlette este chinuita si pare cateodata cu mintea ratacita: "... e nepoata mea si stii ca in pliurile fustei ei se ascunde moartea, iar picioarele i se scalda in sange. Niciun barbat nu-i poate fi destinat."
Ce se va alege de viata acestui batran lup de mare, cum va participa la un plan cu scopul de a-l pacali pe insusi amiralul Nelson si cum isi gaseste sfarsitul eroic ramane sa aflati citind romanul.
Recomand aceasta carte pentru iubitorii de aventuri, de eroi, viata de marinar, corabii dar si pentru descrierile minunate ale marii, ale tinuturilor de pe coasta Frantei si ale portului. Putem sa invatam o gramada de denumiri ale unor barci si nave precum: bric, gig, corveta, goeleta, jonca, schooner, fregata, sau tartana.
Indubitabil insa punctul forte al romanului este reprezentat de eroul cartii si de caracterul sau puternic care se pune mereu in pielea celuilalt si se gandeste "daca as fi fost si eu ca ei", "daca n-as fi plecat de aici eram ca el", fiind caracterizat de catre capitanul Real: "Dar unicul lucru ce se poate afirma despre el este ca n-a fost un francez rau". Iar 'ologul', unul dintre personajele episodice spunea: "Ah, despre el se poate povesti la nesfarsit, spuse ologul. Odata mi-a spus ca daca-as fi fost intreg - presupun ca prin asta intelegea cu picioare zdravene, ca toata lumea - i-as fi putut fi un tovaras de incredere, acolo, departe, pe marile departate. Avea inima mare."
Trebuie sa marturisesc ca am prins drag de batranul lup de mare, mi-a parut rau la final si anticipand ce o sa i se intample nici macar n-am mai vrut sa citesc ultimul capitol. Este genul de personaj care poate inspira si starni admiratia unui adolescent de exemplu; imi imaginez ca dupa ce citeste acest roman de aventuri doreste sa se repeada la cel mai apropiat port, sa se imbarce pe o nava oarecare si sa-si implineasca visele. Ori asta face o carte buna - te misca in suflet si gandire deschizand drumul spre Marea Aventura a vietii tale. Caci toti avem o 'corabie' in port care ne asteapta.
In incheiere am selectat cateva citate care dezvaluie mai mult din caracterul eroului nostru:
"Dar Peyrol stia sa astepte, cu rabdarea aceea care e, deseori, o forma a curajului. Ii fusese de mare folos in situatii periculoase."
"Orice om curajos putea foarte bine sa dea inapoi, deoarece exista riscuri (nu moartea) de care un om darz se poate feri, fara sa-i fie rusine."
"Peyrol nu dispretuia femeile. Le vazuse iubind, suferind, indurand, revoltandu-se, ba chiar luptand pentru interesele lor cu aceeasi indarjire ca barbatii. In general, era bine sa fii in garda cand aveai de-a face atat cu barbatii, cat si cu femeile, dar intr-un fel puteai sa te increzi mai mult in femei."
"Libertate - sa-ti tii capul sus in lume, daca esti in stare. Egalitate - da! Dar nici un grup de oameni n-a reusit vreodata sa realizeze ceva fara un sef."

[Andrew Wardle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joseph Conrad's last completed novel. It has flashes of brilliance but generally is not worthy of such a great writer.
An orphan in rural France in the 19th century accidentally stows away on a ship, seeking only a dry bed for the night. Discovered by the crew, he is christened "Peyrol" because that was the name of the farmer who sheltered him and his dying mother when they were destitute. He becomes a "Brother of the Coast" - a freebooter/privateer/pirate, loosely in French service, on the Eastern Seas, and rises to the rank of master gunner. After 40 years of quasi-official robbery on the high seas, he returns to the only place on land he has ever called home, a peninsula near the French port of Toulon. Toulon, betrayed to the British in 1793 by French Royalists in revolt against the Revolutionary government, has recently been recaptured by a certain N.Bonaparte, and there has been a massacre of the "traitors". Peyrol and his prize crew bring in a captured ship, and he attempts to disappear into obscurity, carrying away a retirement fund of booty cunningly sewn into his clothing. He reaches an inn run by the beautiful Arlette and her aunt Catherine, helped by an ex-revolutionary with a sanguinary past called Scevola. Years pass. But the French Revolutionary Wars continue, and Peyrol's longed-for anonymity is threatened by the arrival of Eugene Real, a French naval lieutenant who not only desires the lovely Arlette, but has a commission to deceive the blockading British Navy into thinking the French fleet at Toulon is planning to escape to Egypt, rather than join the Spanish fleet for an attempt to invade England. A love triangle (or possibly square) develops, with Arlette loved in different ways by Scevola, Lt. Real, and Peyrol. There is much double-dealing and treachery, and Peyrol finds himself unable to avoid being drawn into another deadly struggle.......
It's a great idea, but poorly-executed by Conrad's standards. Apparently by the time he was working on this he was no longer able to write because of gout in his finger joints, so he dictated most of the novel to an amanuensis. This may explain why the action seems to go around in small circles, with much to-ing and fro-ing to no great purpose and an excessive number of mysterious allusive conversations between the protagonists as they sound out one another's intentions. The nautical conclusion is stirring, but it was no great surprise to read that Conrad had originally conceived the book as a short story. Which is how it reads - an overextended short story, a bit like those modern TV drama series which could tell the story in 4 episodes but somehow manage to fit it into 8 instead. Clearly there is nothing new under the sun !
Peyrol, the central character, is superbly crafted, and Arlette and her Aunt Catherine feel real too. But Lt. Real (ironically !) and Citizen Scevola are empty caricatures with no real substance beyond their representation of polar opposites in French Revolutionary politics, so their tragic jealous feud over the affections of Arlette never feels convincing.
One for Conrad completists I fear.

[Pi · Rating 4 out of 5]

To, co wyszło spod pióra Josepha Conrada zawsze jest tekstem wybitnym, właściwie nie podlegającym ocenie. Po tym, jak „Smuga cienia” rzuciła mnie na kolana i nadal pozostaję pod jej urokiem, niezwykle silnym wpływem – z rozpędu sięgnęłam po „Korsarza” i jak nie trudno się domyślić i on mnie zachwycił, choć w nieco innej skali i z nieco innych pobudek.
„Korsarz”, to opowieść osadzona w rewolucyjnej i porewolucyjnej Francji, a nasz główny bohater Peyrol, stary marynarz, korsarz, Brat z Wybrzeża, czyli rzec można w skrócie – pirat – schodzi na ląd, by zaznać spokoju. Taszczy on ze sobą drogocenne skarby, które udało mu się podczas tej morskiej tułaczki uzbierać. Wraca w strony swego niezbyt długiego i niezbyt szczęśliwego dzieciństwa, gdzie osiada na pewnej farmie, którą prowadzi tzw. patriota, który w imię Wolności, Równości i Braterstwa mordował – i tak też wymordował rodziców Arletty, którą posiadł i do której ów farma prawowicie należy.
To historia wielowątkowa i wielowarstwowa. Posiada, jak to u Conrada, gęstą warstwę psychologiczną, lecz jest też obrazem nieszczęsnej rewolucji, która morduje pod pięknymi hasłami, a na końcu, jak to każda rewolucja – zjada własne dzieci. Ogromnie cenię za to tę powieść i tyleż bardzo ją wam polecam. Myślę, że każdy powinien ją przeczytać, bo może w głowach, zwłaszcza tych pełnych frazesów i karykaturalnej „miłości” – coś by się zmieniło… choć nie mam złudzeń – oni nawet nie przejrzą na oczy, gdy ich własne hasła zwrócą się przeciw nim i zaczną ich zjadać.
Niezwykła jest postać głównego bohatera, człowieka z pozoru pozbawionego zasad, lecz w środku najbardziej prawego ze wszystkich przedstawionych. Jest tym, który walczył, lecz nigdy nie był tym, który w szale mordował. Jego historia głęboko wzrusza i pozostawia w sercu niezatarty ślad, bo jest to historia poświęcenia, czyli tej jedynej, prawdziwej miłości – bo nie ma innej, jest tylko jedna i ona nie wrzeszczy, nie pluje, nie klnie, nie obraża – ona czerpie siłę z siebie, bo sama jest siłą.
Ta książka jest jak róża, zachwyca, pachnie, onieśmiela – ale i kuje, rani, broni się kolcami, wbija się do krwi i choć z czasem zwiędnie, to pozostawia bliznę. Życzmy sobie więcej takich czytelniczych blizn. Lecz ostrzegam! To nie jest książka łatwa, nie czyta się ją jak durnego kryminału, czy thrillera. Jej należy się czas i wiedza… intelekt. Do głupich… nie trafi. Pamiętajmy też, że mamy tu do czynienia z historią, więc warto coś niecoś wiedzieć.
9/10

[Pádraic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while to get a grasp on this, mostly due to my poor understanding of this particular sequence of French history, but despite that this is Conrad in a more direct mode--no framing device from Marlow here, though we regularly jump back and forth through the years to better understand our central characters.

And what a great cast it is: Peyrol, the rover himself, old sailor drawn back for one last con; Arlette, with her bloodsoaked childhood, and the Lieutenant Réal, an outsider to his own life, who bring each other back into contact with reality. Even the supporting cast are so brilliantly strange and vividly drawn, with Conrad's usual skill at introspection, always set against the harshness/beauty of the landscape, the ocean, the elements.

The nautical climax, much built to, is incredible, tense and exhilarating, and the slowness and confusion of the beginning is long-forgotten. All the pieces fit together, and everyone reaches their end. It doesn't feel as mythically large like Heart of Darkness or Victory, and it lacks the intricacies of Under Western Eyes etc, but for a straight down the line literary thriller this is pretty masterfully done. The list of other works at the back made me realise that I'm very close to running out of Conrad, which is a sad state of affairs.

[Hannes Blank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nun, nicht das beste Buch von Joseph Conrad, dennoch habe ich "The Rover" in der deutschen Fassung ("Der Freibeuter") in der Übersetzung von G. Danehl gerne gelesen. Mein Exemplar (S. Fischer Verlag), so kann man in der Titelei lesen, gehörte einst der Stadtbücherei Heidelberg. Vor ein paar Wochen brachte es mir jemand aus einem öffentlichen Bücherregal in dieser Gegend mit.
Vielleicht war es nicht die beste Idee Conrads, das Geschehen in "Der Freibeuter" in eine Zeit zu setzen, in der er nicht (mehr) Zeitzeuge war. Auf eine unterschwellige Weise leidet die Glaubwürdigkeit der Charaktere, finde ich ...
Eine Inhaltsangabe will ich hier nicht liefern, dazu habe ich einfach keine Lust. Ich empfehle aber einen französischen Bordeaux oder einen britischen Single Malt zur Lektüre. Das würde passen. Tee nicht.

[Peter Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not his greatest work but it’s Conrad so it’s still a great read.

Peyrol, the main protagonist, is far more convincing a character than the range of more one dimensional folk set around him. Perhaps, as it was Conrad’s last completed novel, he had more than a bit of empathy for an old retired sailor taking on one last sea adventure after a life of such adventures.

As it’s mainly set on a peninsula it was an ideal book to take with me to read on the Llŷn Peninsula (although the bit I was in had not quite got the same views of sea on three sides, but it was Portmeirion which made book’s title even more appropriate as Prisoner fans might appreciate).

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conrads sista fullbordade roman, tillhör inte de stora, utan är nog mest skriven för att roa, sig själv och andra. Med franska revolutionen och napoleonkrigen som bakgrund, är största delen dock en samling 'vanliga' karaktärer, oroade av den blodiga tid de lever i. Kapten själv, 'piraten', som levat hela livet till sjöss, drar sig slutligen tillbaka till sin barndoms trakter utanför Toulon, och hamnar därmed i blickpunkten för sjökriget mellan England och Frankrike, för en slutlig dramatisk sorti till sjöss. Lord Nelson dyker upp i sista kapitlet, jag förstår att det var frestande för en gammal sjöbuss.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little hard to follow at times. I needed an atlas to figure out where things were happening, & sometimes it was stories about things that happened in the past. The other book needed (or website) was translation from French to English, since this story took place in France it has a lot of phrases I didn't know. It starts out not long after the French Revolution, deals with the after effects. It reminds me of what I've heard about the revolution in Russia.

[Ömer Oral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contrary to the popular belief, absolutely not one of the "later weak novels of the master". It is in no way a weak novel. Melancholic, full of nostalgia and loneliness; full of cruelty of life, and at the very end, according to me, it is a swan song. Simply beautiful, beautifully simple.

Think about this analogy: What "The Straight Story" is to David Lynch, then in the same manner is "The Rover" to Conrad.