|
By Mary Burgoyne, St Mary’s University
College, Strawberry Hill, London
Martin Ray, editor.Joseph
Conrad: Memories and Impressions: An Annotated Bibliography.
Amsterdam/New York, NY: Rodopi, 2007. x + 188 pp. Hardback €40
/ US $58
There
is a happy symmetry, albeit one tinged with sadness, that this annotated
bibliography by the recently deceased Martin Ray should inaugurate
the “Conrad Studies” series, as an earlier version of
the text introduced The Joseph Conrad Society Monograph Series
in 1988.
Whereas the
previous series was envisaged as an occasional supplement to the
Society’s journal, the General Editors of this new venture,
Allan H. Simmons and J. H. Stape with Consulting Editors Laurence
Davies and Owen Knowles, have already timetabled eight further titles
to be initially published bi-annually in cooperation with The Joseph
Conrad Society UK and Rodopi of Amsterdam.
The stated aim of the “Conrad Studies” series is to
make available rare or out-of-print items of Conradiana, whilst
also initiating new projects such as Conrad: The Contemporary
Reviews. The formatting of the series corresponds to that established
in The Conradian, and this and forthcoming volumes should
serve both to enhance and consolidate The Society’s role in
the production and dissemination of Conrad scholarship. (Details
of works-in-progress are posted on the “Publications”
page of this website.)
Martin Ray notes
in his foreword that, although this monograph has its origins in
Joseph Conrad and his Contemporaries, the present volume
has been considerably revised and expanded by the addition of extensive
annotations for effectively all of the entries. That this is not
a mere reprint is further signaled by the new title, Joseph
Conrad: Memories and Impressions.
The aim of the
bibliography, however, remains unchanged: it seeks to identify and
annotate publications which record first-hand reports and recollections
of Joseph Conrad, in particular those “with literary and biographical
interest” (viii). Despite the fact that this book is over
twice the length of its predecessor, it remains concise and compact,
an eminently manageable research tool. This is attributable in no
small measure to the selection, organization and presentation of
the material.
Judiciously,
Ray excludes items that are readily found elsewhere. Hence, letters
to Conrad from friends are not included as the “most pertinent
ones” are to be found in J. H. Stape and Owen Knowles, A
Portrait in Letters: Correspondence to and about Joseph Conrad
(1996). Similarly, while items in Polish are omitted, as they are
accounted for in Zdzislaw Najder’s Conrad Under Familial
Eyes (1983), those in French are included.
Ray uses the
late Theodore G. Ehrsham’s A Bibliography of Joseph Conrad
(1969) as his control text, finding it “more comprehensive”
than the bibliographies of Lohf and Sheehy (1957) or Teets and Gerber
(1971). Duplication of entries in Ehrsham’s bibliography is
therefore avoided.
Accordingly,
dedicated critical studies of Conrad are excluded, as are publications
already listed in Ehrsham by Richard Curle, Ford Madox Ford, G.
Jean-Aubry, and Conrad’s wife and sons. Preference for citation
is instead given to comparatively unfamiliar and inaccessible items,
especially those in newspapers, magazines, and, indeed, journals.
Included, for example, is Jean-Aubry’s article “Joseph
Conrad and Music” published in The Chesterian (1924).
The material is organized alphabetically by author surname; unsigned
newspaper reports are gathered somewhat less satisfactorily under
the heading “Anonymous.” Because of the specific scope
of the bibliography, however, these entries are not an omnium gatherum
and most of the citations in this section relate to Conrad’s
1923 visit to the eastern seaboard of the United States. One of
the undoubted strengths of this book is the inclusion of material
generated by Conrad’s stay in America, and perhaps more could
have been made of this in the index.
That cavil aside,
Memories and Impressions is a testament to Martin Ray’s
meticulous scholarship and one feels in safe hands. As ever, Ray
is alert to the needs of the scholar and cautions that some items
are recalled from casual conversations, dimmed by time and like
tales of hearsay, should be taken “cum grano salis”
(viii). In a similar spirit, he also includes and identifies entries
that are either bogus (41), plagiarized (25) or merely a reprint
of another item (57).
Ray clearly
succeeds in his expressed wish to “make the work useful and
interesting” and he could have added entertaining (ix). For
surely there is general appeal in such items that recollect Conrad’s
favourite pub was the “Fleur-de-Lys” in Canterbury,
where, in his reserved seat by the window, he “drank gin and
voiced robust opinions” (12); or how in return for an annual
box of apples received from a farmer in Virginia, Conrad sent books
inscribed, “Art for apples is not a bad exchange” (170);
and that on his visit to Boston Harbour “Conrad wanted to
throw a pound of tea from the wharf, but his friends dissuaded him”
(6).
The present work clearly benefits from and includes material that
has come to light in recent years, such as Jessie Conrad’s
letter to her sister Dolly Moor, located by Keith Carabine and J.
H. Stape and published in The Conradian (2005). However,
as Ray confirms, the additional annotations have been facilitated
to a large extent by the publication of The Collected Letters
of Joseph Conrad. With the final two volumes now available,
The Collected Letters have essentially become the indispensable
aid to Conrad studies. The consistent references to The Collected
Letters serve to establish a greater sense of context.
Whereas the
extensive biographical and historical annotations informed by both
Ray’s erudition and his keen eye for telling detail, provide
further contextualisation. As a result, this slim volume belies
the sheer density of scholarship that went into its production,
and if ever a book could be described as punching above its weight,
happily this is it.
In complete
accord with the aims of the “Conrad Studies” series,
Martin Ray has produced an invaluable resource for scholars. Indeed,
this work is compelling not only for the supremely absorbing “impressions
and memories” of Conrad that emerge, but also as a fitting
tribute to a much valued Conradian.
“Camerado!
This is no book, who touches this, touches a man." -- Walt
Whitman, “So Long” (1860)
© 2007 Mary Burgoyne
|