Reviews for Amy Foster

The average rating for Amy Foster based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-03-26 00:00:00 Kevin Little Amy Foster, a short story by Joseph Conrad, reveals the great range and depth of the master's ability. Though a short story, or novella, the language is tight and the imagery is thick with multiple meanings and the story reads slow and pregnant with interpretations. The most ready to mind is that this is strongly inspired by his own experience as a central European living in England and feeling socially and culturally isolated from those around him. While this departs from his usual stories centered on a life at sea, this story demonstrates Conrad's depth of talent and reveals what close students of his work already know, that his ability to convey a complex emotional situation is rare. Amy Foster, a simple, gentle girl, could also be seen as a double for his own English wife Jessie, about whom there was some criticism amongst the literary and intelligentsia group. Close friends, though, remarked upon what a perfect mate she was to the cerebral and esoteric Conrad and how her unassuming manner was complementary and necessary for his frenetic curiosity. A sad, but beautifully crafted story told by a genius at telling such tales.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-02-02 00:00:00 Julie A. Kaifesh My thanks to my GR Friend Ilse for putting me onto this short story, via the review below: In some ways it's odd that Conrad gave the title "Amy Foster" to the story. Although she is one of the characters, it's more the tale of Yanko, an east European peasant and sole survivor of an emigrant ship that sinks in the North Sea whilst heading to America. Yanko, (the narrator describes him as "a Carpathian mountaineer") is washed ashore near a coastal village in England. He speaks no English and has no idea where he is. The inward-looking villagers treat him with hostility and suspicion. It's moving tale of what it is to be cast adrift, and to be isolated and marooned amongst people who are not your own. Conrad himself was of course an ethnic Pole from what is now Ukraine, who emigrated to Britain and anglicised his name because British people couldn't pronounce his Polish one. Is there perhaps something of Conrad's own life in Yanko's tale?