Chance
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'It is a mighty force that of mere chance, absolutely irresistible yet manifesting itself often in delicate forms such for instance as the charm, true or illusory, of a human being' In Flora de Barral, the slender, dreamy, morbidly charming daughter of a parvenu financier, Conrad creates his most complex heroine and one of his most unrelenting, but not unhopeful, novels of emotional isolation. Neglected by her bankrupt father and rejected by her governess, drifting into abstraction and despair, Flora takes refuge at sea on Captain Anthony's ship, where tragedy and her transformation begin. When published in 1913, Chance was an immediate success. Arnold Bennett wrote that 'this is a discouraging book for a writer because he damn well knows he can't write as well as this'; while an anonymous reviewer in Punch declared that 'the whole thing is much nearer wizardry than workmanship'.
About the Author
Joseph Conrad (originally Józef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski) was born in the Ukraine in 1857 and grew up under Tsarist autocracy. His parents, ardent Polish patriots, died when he was a child, following their exile for anti-Russian activities, and he came under the protection of his tradition-conscious uncle, Thaddeus Bobrowski, who watched over him for the next twenty-five years. In 1874 Bobrowski conceded to his nephew's passionate desire to go to sea, and Conrad travelled to Marseilles, where he served in French merchant vessels before joining a British ship in 1878 as an apprentice. In 1886 he obtained British nationality and his Master's certificate in the British Merchant Service. Eight years later he left the sea to devote himself to writing, publishing his first novel, Almayer's Folly, in 1895. The following year he married Jessie George and eventually settled in Kent, where he produced within fifteen years such modern classics as Youth, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes. He continued to write until his death in 1924.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When it first came out this novel was a huge success. It combines sadness with adventure in Conrad's inimitable narrative style. Marlow, who also appears in the classic 'Heart of Darkness' is the narrator telling the story like a seafaring tale over drinks and cigars. He shows how Chance can unfairly rule peoples lives and drive them to extremes. The hero is Captain Anthony and the heroine the tragic Flora de Baral. Although a fascinating study of human nature and its whims and excesses feminists will tear their hair when they read the dated views on women of a seafaring man from the beginning of the twentieth century. Although essentially a sad story the book ends on a happy note when the narrator catches up with both Mr. Powell and the heroine. It is after all a Conrad classic.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although in many ways this is a complex narrative, the story in essence is quite straight forward. I will give this in outline without giving too much away.
Flora de Barral is the only child of a rising star in the world of London finance, the founder of a new investment bank that soon crashes after as string of bad investments, taking the savings of the great and the good along with it. Sound familiar? Except this book was published in 1910 and the great de Barral is subsequently arrested, tried and locked up in prison. Flora, whose Mother is deceased, is left effectively orphaned by this catastrophe and left at the mercy of an unforgiving world.
Enter the Fynes who are neighbours of Flora and witness her practically instantaneous ruin. One minute she is the heiress of an apparent vast fortune, the next completely pauperized. Ultimately Flora is taken under Mrs. Fynes wing, who is apparently sympathetic to her plight but in whom she also finds in her, and other lost young female souls, a useful sponge to expound her early feminist thought. It is while Flora is staying with the Fynes in the countryside that she is introduced to Mrs. Fynes emotionally repressed brother Anthony, a lonely thirty-something Captain in the merchant marine. Through Flora Anthony's repressed sexual and emotional fervour find full force, however the motives behind Flora's acceptance and marriage to Anthony are from the first questioned.
Whilst the basic plot is simple, the novel's complexity arises from Conrad's exploration of the psychological motives behind the actions of the various characters. The story also provides a vehicle for Conrad, through his narrator Marlow, to muse on various philosophical points concerning human nature and the motives of men. The prose style is rich, complex and subtle; it is a book that most readers will need to read with great care (as I did) as it is quite easy to get lost in the complexity of the narrative. It is however worth the effort as Conrad slowly draws you into this strange intrigue and also transports the reader into the lonely scenes of Conrad's late Victorian/ Edwardian England; the bleak Thames estuary, lonely dockyards, grey East End Street's and its underclass in the shadows.
The climax of the plot (which I won't divulge for obvious reasons) was no doubt a concession to commerciality and sits a little strangely with the rest of the books tone. However the book is hugely rewarding and won't disappoint fans of Conrad. For those new to Conrad `The secret Agent' might be a better place to start.
Flora de Barral is the only child of a rising star in the world of London finance, the founder of a new investment bank that soon crashes after as string of bad investments, taking the savings of the great and the good along with it. Sound familiar? Except this book was published in 1910 and the great de Barral is subsequently arrested, tried and locked up in prison. Flora, whose Mother is deceased, is left effectively orphaned by this catastrophe and left at the mercy of an unforgiving world.
Enter the Fynes who are neighbours of Flora and witness her practically instantaneous ruin. One minute she is the heiress of an apparent vast fortune, the next completely pauperized. Ultimately Flora is taken under Mrs. Fynes wing, who is apparently sympathetic to her plight but in whom she also finds in her, and other lost young female souls, a useful sponge to expound her early feminist thought. It is while Flora is staying with the Fynes in the countryside that she is introduced to Mrs. Fynes emotionally repressed brother Anthony, a lonely thirty-something Captain in the merchant marine. Through Flora Anthony's repressed sexual and emotional fervour find full force, however the motives behind Flora's acceptance and marriage to Anthony are from the first questioned.
Whilst the basic plot is simple, the novel's complexity arises from Conrad's exploration of the psychological motives behind the actions of the various characters. The story also provides a vehicle for Conrad, through his narrator Marlow, to muse on various philosophical points concerning human nature and the motives of men. The prose style is rich, complex and subtle; it is a book that most readers will need to read with great care (as I did) as it is quite easy to get lost in the complexity of the narrative. It is however worth the effort as Conrad slowly draws you into this strange intrigue and also transports the reader into the lonely scenes of Conrad's late Victorian/ Edwardian England; the bleak Thames estuary, lonely dockyards, grey East End Street's and its underclass in the shadows.
The climax of the plot (which I won't divulge for obvious reasons) was no doubt a concession to commerciality and sits a little strangely with the rest of the books tone. However the book is hugely rewarding and won't disappoint fans of Conrad. For those new to Conrad `The secret Agent' might be a better place to start.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'Chance' was the first Joseph Conrad novel to enjoy major success and led to a new interest in earlier works such as 'Lord Jim' and 'An Outcast of the Islands' which had gone unnoticed when they first appeared. As well as being a technically ambitious work with a comples narative structure, 'Chance' also features Conrad's best female character, Flora de Barral, a young woman left to fend for herself after her father is imprisoned. But Flora is not the only interesting female character here. Her 'friend' Mrs Fyne is equaly fascinating through her radical feminism and her failure to properly help Flora, despite her interest in women's issues.
The novel really gets into its stride in the second part which sees Flora, her recently released father and her new husband, Captain Anthony take to the high seas on board Anthony's ship, the Ferndale. Conrad is the best in his field when it comes to describing life on board a ship, but here, he proves himself equally adept at portraying relationships under strain in the confines of the Ferndale.
The only negative aspect of the book is that the style of narrative can seem a bit contrived and it is not always clear which of the narrators (Marlow, Powell or the framing narrator) is speaking. But as a writer, Conrad thrives on uncertainty and if the narrative can seem unstable, this can be seen as a metaphor for Flora's own unstable position. Other than that, Conrad does not put a foot wrong and he stirs the novel into an unexpected, but highly satisfying concluson. Maybe not his best known novel, but well worth reading.
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