Joseph Conrad and Femininity

Echoes and Resonances

Sylwia Janina Wojciechowska, Joanna Skolik, Anna Marta Szczepan-Wojnarska

• Publisher: V&R Unipress
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783847020035
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism for Comparative Literature
• Index: Literature

This volume is unconventional in its critical intent since it counters the established criticism that views Joseph Conrad as a predominantly male writer. The volume gathers exclusively female scholars to elaborate upon the feminine in the legacy of an author heretofore mainly associated with exotic places and male sensitivities. It is expected to attract readers by virtue of the unusual perspective that is directed at the feminine rather than the masculine, as the latter has governed the critical discourse since the work of Conrad appeared on the literary market. The scholars are interested in the echoes of Conrad's extensive reading and his experiences that are discernible in his prose and in their resonance in his works, and also the Conradian resonances in the world of literature.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Body
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part 1: Icons and Ideals: Mapping the Feminine in Conrad’s World
• Kim Salmons (St Mary’s University, London): Chapter 1: Sanctity and Silence: Ewa Korzeniowska and the Marian Imprint on Conrad’s Fiction
• Joanna Skolik (University of Opole): Chapter 2: The Elusiveness of Conrad’s Polishness: The Encoding of His Cultural Heritage on His Female Characters
• Alexia Hannis (Victoria University in the University of Toronto): Chapter 3: How to “Make out Women:” Patriarchy, Materialism, and Subversive Christianity in “Falk: A Reminiscence”
• Part 2. Femininity Unbound: Contestation, Power, and Identity
• Anna Marta Szczepan-Wojnarska (The Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw): Chapter 4: Invisible yet present – A Modernist Transformation of the Polish Romantic Female Protagonist in Joseph Conrad’s Victory
• Ellen Burton Harrington (Department of English, University of South Alabama): Chapter 5: Fatherhood, Fidelity, and Women’s Autonomy in Joseph Conrad’s Chance and Victory
• Pei-Wen Clio Kao (National Ilan University): Chapter 6: Becoming-Woman, Performativity, and Islandness in Joseph Conrad’s “Freya of the Seven Isles”
• Brygida Pudelko (University of Opole): Chapter 7: May Sinclair’s and Joseph Conrad’s Criticism of Militant Feminism
• Part 3. Framing Femininity: Portraits, Pages, and Cultural Imagery
• Sylwia Janina Wojciechowska (Ignatianum University in Cracow): Chapter 8: A Portrait of the Mother: The Classical Canvas in A Personal Record
• Agnieszka Adamowicz-Pośpiech (University of Silesia, Poland): Chapter 9: Women in the Frame: Artistic Visions of Conrad’s Freya
• Tania Zulli (G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara): Chapter 10: Images of Femininity and Cultural Reception: A Semiotic Analysis of the Covers of Joseph Conrad’s Works
• Part 4. Echoes of Influence: Conversations on Femininity
• Susan Jones (St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford) / Debra Romanick Baldwin (University of Dallas): Conrad and Women at 25: A Conversation with Susan Jones
• Notes on Contributors
• Index of Names
• Index of Subjects