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lusiontothefirstlineofJoachimduBellay’ssonnetfromthecycleLesRegrets:
“Heureuxqui,commeUlysse,afaitunbeauvoyage”,“Happywho,likeUlysses,has
madeafinevoyage.”Andonlytheperson–foraFrenchreaderthiswillbeeasy–
whoassociatesConrad’swordswiththetextoftheRenaissancepoet,willunderstand
theironyofthefragment.DuBellayextolsnothisadventures,buthisfinalreturnto
hishomecountrywhich–ashesaysfurtheron–hepreferstothesea.
What,then,isthecase?DidConradwriteinEnglishforFrenchreaders?Orper-
hapsforthePolish,assomePolishscholarsseemtosuggest?Thatmeans,wouldhis
idealreaderbeaFrenchman,equallywellversedintheliteratureofhiscountryasin
theEnglishlanguage?Isuspectedsomethinglikethat,talkingsometimestomylate
friendSylvèreMonod.OrdidhewritefortheEnglishreader,usingaFrenchcode,
recognizedhereandtherebyaculturedBritishreader?Idonotseeafinalanswerto
thesequestions.
Butwhilewelookforit,wemaynotesomethingelse.Often,Conradindicates
quiteclearlythathispointofview,thepositionfromwhichhedescribestheworldof
histales,ispeculiar,notevident,placed“outside”:somewhereabroad(asinThe
SecretAgent),orinthemindofanexceptionallywell-traveledperson(ase.g.in
“AmyFoster”),orapersonaccustomedtocomparedifferentcultures(asinUnder
WesternEyes);orelseintheorbitofother,notBritish,experiencesandproblems
(Suspense).Thismeansthathesignalstheneedtocastawider-than-usualsemiotic
andculturalnet,demandingofthereaderabroaderandcomplexsetofassociations.
Thereisinitchallengeandanopportunity.
IsupposethattheFrench-AmericanscholarAnneLuyathadananalogousintu-
itionwhenshewroteyearsagoaboutlanécessaireétrangeté,theunavoidablefor-
eignness,17ofConrad’sfictionalvoice.Inherently,heoftenseemstoremainanout-
siderwithinthelanguageheusesandtheworldhepopulateswithhisheroes–buthe
triestobreakoutofthisconditionreachingtohisreaders:ashewroteinhisfirstever
lettertoR.B.CunninghameGraham:“foronewritesonlyhalfthebook,theotherhalf
iswiththereader”.18
ForwhomdidConradwrite?Forhispartners:theculturallyagileandenterprising
readers.
17AnneLuyat-Moore.“L’exildansl’espaceetletempsanglais.”Europe,758–759(1992),118–120;
seealsoAnneLuyat.“VoyagetotheEndofStrangenessinTyphoon(1901).”L’EpoqueConradienne,
1991.
18J.ConradtoR.B.CunninghameGraham.5Aug.1897,CL:4,370.
