Typhoon Book

The first thing that comes to mind after reading Typhoon, while reading actually, is Conrad's absolute mastery of the language.

He is an artist of the English language and the fact that it is not his first langauge makes his virtuosity all the more astounding. Typhoon is more about a storm of humanity amidst a chaotic event than about the storm itself.

MacWirr is a simple, brutally honest and innocent, almost naive, seaman. No doubt Conrad had seen his like many times before. As he liked to say that not all there is can be found in books, Conrad uses this character to deliver just such a lesson (ironic though it is) and provides a simple portrait of leadership and elegant determinism.

I can see where Conrad could be attacked for racism in his depiction of the Chinese, more of an amorphous mass than a group of men, but he does show glimpses of a more universalist concern toward the end. He was a man of his times.

Excellent book.