The Brute

By Joseph Conrad

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This audiobook is also duplicated in print as an ebook. Same title, same words. Perhaps a different experience but with Amazon’s whispersync you can pick up and put down on any device. Start on audio, continue in print and any which way after that. This, and these are, Miniature Masterpieces. Join us for the journey.

Joseph Conrad – An Introduction

Born in 1857 in Poland, Joseph Conrad became a British citizen just before he turned 30. In the intervening years he lost both parents; as an orphan aged 11 he was therefore raised by an uncle, who at 16 let the boy go to Marseille to work on merchant ships where the colourful life of the sea was further enhanced by stints gun running and, intriguingly, political conspiracy. At age 36 his life turned from one of ships to one of literary pursuit. In doing so Conrad brought to English Literature a further layer of style and a deeper examination of the human psyche in a wealth of work.

He wrote many novels, rightly regarded today, as some of the finest in English literature. Among their canon are Lord Jim, Nostromo, The Shadow Line and, of course, Heart Of Darkness. For this volume we dwell among his numerous short stories. In these condensed, narrative structures much is said in beautiful language.

His characters may be brave, comic, serious, trapped by their own constraints, or as in the Brute, the ship itself, but are always fully formed and true to his word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Miniature Masterpieces
• Release date: Feb 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781787377899

Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad was born to Polish parents in the Ukraine on 3rd December 1857. He grew up surrounded by upheaval. His father was exiled to northern Russia for political activities and although they eventually returned to Poland, Conrad was orphaned by the age of 11. Subsequently he was taught by his uncle, a great influence and mentor. Leaving for Marseilles in 1874, Conrad began his training as a seaman. After an attempt at suicide, Conrad joined the British merchant navy and became a British subject in 1886. After his first novel, Almayer's Folly was published in 1895 he left the sea behind and settled down to a life of writing. Indeed, as his wife wrote in 1927, he would move only "from his table to his bed, for days and days on end". Troubled financially for many years, he faced uncomplimentary critics and an indifferent public. He finally became a popular success with Chance (1913). By the end of his life on 3rd August 1924 his status as one of the great writers of his time was assured.

Book preview

This comes to you courtesy of Miniature Masterpieces who have an excellent range of quality short stories from the masters of the craft.  Do search for Miniature Masterpieces at any digital store for further information. 

This audiobook is also duplicated in print as an ebook. Same title, same words. Perhaps a different experience but with Amazon’s whispersync you can pick up and put down on any device. Start on audio, continue in print and any which way after that.  This, and these are, Miniature Masterpieces.  Join us for the journey.

Joseph Conrad – An Introduction

Born in 1857 in Poland, Joseph Conrad became a British citizen just before he turned 30.  In the intervening years he lost both parents; as an orphan aged 11 he was therefore raised by an uncle, who at 16 let the boy go to Marseille to work on merchant ships where the colourful life of the sea was further enhanced by stints gun running and, intriguingly, political conspiracy.  At age 36 his life turned from one of ships to one of literary pursuit.  In doing so Conrad brought to English Literature a further layer of style and a deeper examination of the human psyche in a wealth of work.

He wrote many novels, rightly regarded today, as some of the finest in English literature.  Among their canon are Lord Jim, Nostromo, The Shadow Line and, of course, Heart Of Darkness.  For this volume we dwell among his numerous short stories. In these condensed, narrative structures much is said in beautiful language.

His characters may be brave, comic, serious, trapped by their own constraints, or as in the Brute, the ship itself, but are always fully formed and true to his word.

The Brute by Joseph Conrad

Dodging in from the rain-swept street, I exchanged a smile and a glance with Miss Blank in the bar of the Three Crows. This exchange was effected with extreme propriety. It is a shock to think that, if still alive, Miss Blank must be something over sixty now. How time passes!

Noticing my gaze directed inquiringly at the partition of glass and varnished wood, Miss Blank was good enough to say, encouragingly:

Only Mr. Jermyn and Mr. Stonor in the parlour with another gentleman I've never seen before.

I moved towards the parlour door. A voice discoursing on the other side (it was but a matchboard partition), rose so loudly that the concluding words became quite plain in all their atrocity.

That fellow Wilmot fairly dashed her brains out, and a good job, too!

This inhuman sentiment, since there was nothing profane or improper in it, failed to do as much as to check the slight yawn Miss Blank was achieving behind her