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An Outpost of Progress
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The story deals with two European men, named Kayerts and Carlier, who are assigned to a trading post in a remote part of the African Jungle. There they take part in ivory trading, hoping to financially benefit the company as well as themselves. With no specific tasks or important things to be done, they both become increasingly isolated and demoralized as the time goes by.
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Paperback, 35 pages
Published
December 31st 1999
by Travelman Publishing
(first published 1896)
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Τρίτη επαφή με το έργο του Τζόζεφ Κόνραντ, μετά το εξαιρετικό μυθιστόρημα "Η καρδιά του σκότους" που διάβασα το 2011 (θέλω κάποια στιγμή να το ξαναδιαβάσω αυτό) και την πολύ καλή νουβέλα "Ο κρυφός συνταξιδιώτης" που διάβασα φέτος τον Ιανουάριο, και δηλώνω ξανά ικανοποιημένος, τόσο από την ιστορία αυτή καθαυτή, όσο κυρίως από τη γραφή, τα κοινωνικοπολιτικά μηνύματα και τα αλληγορικά στοιχεία. Είναι ένα διήγημα που γράφτηκε λίγα χρόνια πριν το (κατά τη γνώμη μου) αριστουργηματικό "Η καρδιά του σκό
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Apr 08, 2017
Tristram Shandy
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
classic-english-literature,
short-story
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Como el año pasado con El corazón de las tinieblas, disfruté mucho la escritura de Conrad, la elegancia del tono narrativo y la manera sucinta de generar un ambiente opresor en el que los personajes están imbuidos sin siquiera darse cuenta. (No a tiempo, al menos, encerrados como están en su idea de civilización, como una estructura que los acompaña y protege perpetuamente). Y, sin embargo, como en la novela, me quedé con la impresión de que tengo que releer para terminar de entender capas de si
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Relato interesante y muy bien llevado, enmarcado dentro del mundo de "El corazón de las tinieblas" Al ser una historia breve (no más de cincuenta páginas) no hay mucho por contar sobre la trama que no revele parte del contenido fundamental de la misma. Lo que si puedo decirles es que aquí se encuentra el mismo sentimiento de opresión, de desolación e injusticia que me abordaron a leer la obra maestra de Conrad.
En pocas palabras se describe la degradación del hombre, la desintegración del ser "c ...more
En pocas palabras se describe la degradación del hombre, la desintegración del ser "c ...more

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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"He reveled in his new wisdom while he sat by the man he had killed." Phenomenal writing.
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Conrad considered it his best tale, and I can see why. This short story of two white men posted in a remote trading station in Congo perfectly illustrates what - after his confrontation with the brutalities of colonialism - kept Conrad preoccupied for the rest of his life: the horror of how people who are left to their own devices lose their innocence and integrity, and slowly become agents of corruption, cruelty and madness.

This book introduces to an Outpost in the colonial period of Africa and people who live there. Slowly paced the book feels light at start. But don't be judgemental. If you patiently wait till the end there is something you wouldn't have expected. Since this book is small I would recommend it to anyone who I want to give the knock off reality.
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This is a powerful piece, containing lots to think about. It is rich with insight into the human condition, darkly brooding, and it has such black humour that the tragic ending made me laugh out loud! It often comes packaged with ‘Heart of Darkness,’ to which it is in some ways similar, in other ways different.

Feb 10, 2016
Jess
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classics,
short-collections
Makola might be the most crafty string pulling bastard in literary history. The story he's in may be slightly repetitive and basically Heart of Darkness, but it's a ridiculously clever, richly themed, nasty little story of survival instinct and spiraling human madness. Read it it's great.
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Κάποιοι δεν ωριμάζουν ποτέ, οτιδήποτε δύσκολο κι αν συναντήσουν, όσο υπάγεται στα της κοινωνίας αποδεκτά, τα συνηθισμένα χαρτογραφημένα φωτισμένα προβλήματα, δεν είναι ικανό να τους τραντάξει. Ζουν, διαιωνίζουν, πεθαίνουν και δε μαθαίνουν ποτέ πως ζω δε σημαίνει μόνο ακολουθώ. Σημαίνει σκέφτομαι, δοκιμάζω, ανακαλύπτω, παίρνω τη γνώση και τη χρωματίζω στην εμπειρία.
Και συμβαίνει κι αυτό, οι ίδιες σου οι λέξεις που λέγονται γιατί πρέπει, μα δε γίνονται τροφή ούτε μες στην ίδια σου τη σκέψη, παρά μ ...more
Και συμβαίνει κι αυτό, οι ίδιες σου οι λέξεις που λέγονται γιατί πρέπει, μα δε γίνονται τροφή ούτε μες στην ίδια σου τη σκέψη, παρά μ ...more

An Outpost of Progress is a beautifully crafted short story with a misleading title. The twenty odd pages by Joseph Conrad look closely at two Englishmen employed to work at a remote trading station in Africa, along with ten Africans from a distant region and one local. In the six months between the steamer bringing the new Englishmen and its return, almost everything goes wrong that can to the twelve men dropped in a strange land with no guidance or proper resources.
The title implies a grand th ...more
The title implies a grand th ...more

Aug 06, 2016
Ron
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
short-stories,
classics
Even though it is much shorter than Heart of Darkness Conrad manages to convey the horror and insanity of colonialism and imperial ambition as vividly as in his famous novel. The shorter text is more easily read, since the challenging topic and demanding language in which both are written are frankly exhausting.
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Aug 23, 2015
Sandra Vega
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
literatura,
papel
Debe ser el cuento que más me impresionó hasta ahora, de todos los que leí. En mi vida. Es un cuento de una acidez exquisita. Algo así como un "esto somos" imposible de ácido pero con humor. Y dramático y humano a la vez. Hay que bancarse sostener esa mirada siendo escritor, occidental, etc. Burlarse con esa furia de la propia sociedad, sin pretender estar por encima o por fuera de esa burla.
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Short story. My first brush with Conrad and it was a good first impression. Some of it seems a bit rushed but it's a solid story and worth reading.
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Very well written, I enjoyed this short story although I didn't like the two white characters.
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Conrad's usual sublime brilliance, subtlety and exuberant language. Some weaker bits too.
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Spregiudicata operazione della Adelphi che, per fare cassa, esattamente cinque anni addietro (ottobre 2014 per la precisione) riunisce i due primi racconti di Conrad (La laguna è il primo, L'avamposto del progresso è il secondo, entrambi 1897), li integra con la vita tumultuosa che ebbero (diffusi in Scandinavia a puntate, confusi tra notizie di marina mercantile e schermaglie anglo-boere) narrata da Matteo Codignola in una sorta di post-fazione, e li infioretta con un bel pensierino di Naipaul
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MARAVILLA😍
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Joseph Conrad viajó al Congo en 1889, contratado como oficial en un vapor fluvial. Casi un año después abandona el trabajo y regresa de África, enfermo y desilusionado por lo que realmente encontró una vez que llegó allí.
•
Con este libro me inicio en la literatura de Joseph Conrad, y me ha encantado. "Un puesto avanzado del progreso" es un relato corto que nos habla de las verdaderas víctimas de la civilización y el progreso. Va acompañado de las estupendas ilustraciones de Federico Vi ...more
•
Joseph Conrad viajó al Congo en 1889, contratado como oficial en un vapor fluvial. Casi un año después abandona el trabajo y regresa de África, enfermo y desilusionado por lo que realmente encontró una vez que llegó allí.
•
Con este libro me inicio en la literatura de Joseph Conrad, y me ha encantado. "Un puesto avanzado del progreso" es un relato corto que nos habla de las verdaderas víctimas de la civilización y el progreso. Va acompañado de las estupendas ilustraciones de Federico Vi ...more

Sus peores pesadillas nunca antes imaginadas, sus cuerpos y mentes libres de la civilización, sus instituciones, sus leyes, sus normas y todo el aparato civilizador de aquellos dos blancos que se vieron perdidos en medio de la selva africana, tras de un futuro prometedor comerciando colmillos de elefante. El demonio emerge de a poco, entre los hipopótamos, las serpientes y demás bestias salvajes. Y el negro Makola observa desde su propia tierra como ella se traga enteros a esos dos blancos que v
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Un ami m'avait dit que cette nouvelle de quinze pages était l'oeuvre totale de Joseph Conrad. Je comprends maintenant pourquoi. Avec une histoire simple, Conrad explique comment l'occident a laissé son âme se corrompre durant la colonisation. Le tout en enrobant cela de l'idée réconfortante de la mission civilisatrice. Apanage de l'occident, le progrès a fini par détruire à la fois les indigènes et pervertir la haute morale des colonisateurs. Le style incisif et élégant de Joseph Conrad en fait
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Novell på samma tema som Heart of Darkness. Conrad ironiserar över de inkompetenta vita männen, de som inte tänker själva, bara följer som fårskocken, som marionetter, för egen vinning tror att de är bättre än andra folk. Men mot djungeln har de ingen kunskap att ta till. De faller offer för sin egen dumhet. De hör inte dit.

Menos conocido que "El Corazón de las Tinieblas", este es un disección magistral, y terrible, de la colonización del Congo, pero, sobre todo, del lado más oscuro del alma humana. Los dos protagonistas son unos ciudadanos corrientes de un país civilizado, gente sin nada especial, convertidos, gracias al poder sin control, en dos monstruos. Te obliga a mirar en tu propio interior.
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The satire is very much on display in this story, which some may not like, but I found this to be very accessible and gripping. The story moves well and gets the point across, and it's a very quick read. I much preferred this to Heart of Darkness.
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Short read. I didn't exactly know what to expect. I liked the description of characters and the sense of boring disturbances that permeate the whole tale. Not particularly engaged with the story.
...more
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Joseph Conrad (born
Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski
) was a Polish-born English novelist who today is most famous for Heart of Darkness, his fictionalized account of Colonial Africa.
Conrad left his native Poland in his middle teens to avoid conscription into the Russian Army. He joined the French Merchant Marine and briefly employed himself as a wartime gunrunner. He then began to work aboard ...more
Conrad left his native Poland in his middle teens to avoid conscription into the Russian Army. He joined the French Merchant Marine and briefly employed himself as a wartime gunrunner. He then began to work aboard ...more
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“They were two perfectly insignificant and incapable individuals, whose existence is only rendered possible through the high organization of civilized crowds. Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities, and their audacities are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings. The courage, the composure, the confidence, the emotion and principle, every great and every insignificant thought, belongs not to the individual, but to the crowd: to the crowd that believes blindly in the irresistible force of its institutions and of its morals, in the power of its police and of its opinion. But the contact with pure unmitigated savagery, with primitive nature and primitive man brings sudden and profound trouble to the heart. To the sentiment of one's loneliness, to the loneliness of one's thoughts and one's sensations. To the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous. A suggestion of things vague uncontrollable and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.”
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“Society was calling to its accomplished child to come, to be taken care of, to be instructed, to be judged, to be condemned; it called him to return to that rubbish heap from which he had wandered away, so that justice could be done.”
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