Conrad’s the Duel: Sources / Text

Since the publication of Joseph Conrad’s “Author’s Note” (1920) to A Set of Six (1908), readers have been aware that the plot for the Napolonic tale “The Duel” derived from an existing account. What has been unknown till now is the large number of venues in which that account variously appeared. This volume traces the tale’s fascinating genealogy and the immediate contemporary source that inspired Conrad’s 1907 story. A transcription of the story’s typescript-manuscript sheds light on the story’s development.

Conrad’s “The Duel”: Sources/Text will interest several readerships. Scholars engaged in historical and textual research can explore how Conrad drew upon, reworked, and transformed the story’s sources. The relationships between the tale’s initial draft and final form will interest scholars of genetic questions, and teachers of short fiction and of creative writing will find this an invaluable volume for exploring how source materials alter during the creative process.

J. H. Stape, late of St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, was the author of The Several Lives of Joseph Conrad (2007). He edited several of Conrad’s texts for The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad, and edited The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad (1996) and The New Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad (2015). He also published on E. M. Forster, William Golding, Thomas Hardy, Angus Wilson, and Virginia Woolf.

John G. Peters is a University Distinguished Research Professor of English at the University of North Texas. He is author of Conrad and Impressionism, The Cambridge Introduction to Joseph Conrad, Joseph Conrad’s Critical Reception and is editor of several books on Conrad, including Conrad in the Public Eye, A Historical Guide to Joseph Conrad, and volume two of Joseph Conrad: The Contemporary Reviews. He is also the General Editor of Conradiana.