It was not until the late 1930s - after his death - that Joseph Conrad emerged from literary neglect. Critical works on his significant contribution began to surface, many comparing him in talent to Joyce and Faulkner. Frederick R. Karl provides for readers an independent study on the Nostromo manuscript and defends Victory as one of Conrad's greatest novels.
Along with his biographies, Frederick Karl wrote several volumes of literary criticism, among them American Fictions: 1940-1980. He also was general editor and volume co-editor of the Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, five volumes of which have appeared. He taught at City College of New York, Columbia, and NYU. Karl died in 2004.