Publisher's Synopsis
Under Western Eyes (1911) is a novel by Joseph Conrad. The novel takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Geneva, Switzerland, and is viewed as Conrad's response to the themes explored in Crime and Punishment; Conrad was reputed to have detested Dostoevsky. It is also, some say, Conrad's response to his own early life; his father was a famous revolutionary imprisoned by the Russians, but, instead of following in his father's footsteps, at the age of sixteen Conrad left his native land forever. Indeed, while writing Under Western Eyes, Conrad suffered a weeks-long breakdown during which he conversed with the novel's characters in Polish.Plot summaryPart FirstThe narrator, an English teacher of languages living in Geneva, is narrating the personal record of Kyrilo Sidorovitch Razumov. Razumov is a student in the University of St. Petersburg in the early 1910s. Razumov never knew his parents and has no family ties. He is trusted by his fellow students, many of whom hold revolutionary views, but Razumov takes no clear position on any of the great questions of his time because he considers all of Russia his family. (A better view, perhaps, would be to say that Razumov has no family to fall back on, feels isolated from his contemporaries, takes no interest in the "great issues" of the day, and merely seeks a middle-class secure position within the Czarist system - thus, very ironically, he sees "all Russia" as his "family.")Mr. de P-, the brutal Minister of State, is assassinated by a team of two, but the bombs used also claim the lives of his footman, the first assassin and a number of bystanders.Razumov enters his rooms to find Victor Haldin, a fellow student. Haldin tells Razumov that he was the one who murdered Mr. de P-, but that he and his accomplice did not make a proper escape plan. He requests Razumov's help because he trusts him, even though he realises that they do not quite belong in the same camp. Razumov agrees to help, if only to get Haldin out of his flat. Haldin tasks him with finding Ziemianitch, who was supposed to help Haldin escape....Part SecondThe narrative shifts to Haldin's sister, Natalia, and their mother, Mrs Haldin, who live in Switzerland after Haldin persuaded them to sell their house in Russia and move. Having lived in Zurich for a while, they then settle in Geneva, which has a vibrant Russian community. There, they wait for Haldin. Natalia has been friendly with the narrator for some time from whom she receives English lessons. Part SecondThe narrative shifts to Haldin's sister, Natalia, and their mother, Mrs Haldin, who live in Switzerland after Haldin persuaded them to sell their house in Russia and move. Having lived in Zurich for a while, they then settle in Geneva, which has a vibrant Russian community. There, they wait for Haldin. Natalia has been friendly with the narrator for some time from whom she receives English lessons...........Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski; 3 December 1857 - 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. Though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he was a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature.Conrad wrote stories and novels, many with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit in the midst of what he saw as an impassive, inscrutable universe.Conrad is considered an early modernist, though his works contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced numerous authors, and many films have been adapted from, or inspired by, his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that Conrad's fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.
