The Rover

Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 480K words
Chapters: 48

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Rover by Joseph ConradAuthor: Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Mar 28, 2019

Editor's review

The Rover is a sea novel from Joseph Conrad's later period, set along the southern coast of France after the French Revolution. Centered on an aging pirate, Lascal, it moves among ships, harbors, and domestic life to portray retreat, companionship, and fateful choices in a time of change. Conrad's prose is steady and symbolic throughout; storms at sea are set against quiet hours ashore, giving the work a meditation on late life beyond its adventure. This electronic edition is offered free by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain text in English literature, and makes one of Conrad's more approachable works. Readers should note the density of its English and the pace of its narration; some familiarity with post-Revolutionary French history will make entry easier.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate to advanced English learners who want to approach Conrad in the original English
Readers interested in nautical fiction and the post-French Revolution era
Readers who enjoy slower-paced fiction focused on psychology and symbolism

Not a good fit for

Beginning English learners who need bilingual notes or a modern Chinese translation
Readers who prefer tightly plotted, action-heavy adventure stories

Reading tips

Read the chapter titles and opening paragraphs first to get used to Conrad's long English sentences, then proceed gradually
Keep a map of the French coast after the French Revolution and note the ports and routes in the story
Take brief notes where key characters appear and track how Lascal's relationships with those around him change

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is the English in this book difficult? Is it suitable for self-study?

The Rover uses early twentieth-century literary English, with long sentences and fairly formal vocabulary. Readers with at least CET-4-level reading ability who are used to English novels can try it; if you stall frequently, read some of Conrad's short stories first to get used to his style, then return to this book.

Do I need to know about the French Revolution before reading?

Some basic background helps you understand the characters' situation, but the novel is not a history textbook. A general sense of post-Revolutionary social upheaval in France and frequent activity at sea is enough; you can fill in the rest as the characters' circumstances unfold, without studying specialized histories beforehand.

What should I know about the Project Gutenberg edition?

This is a public-domain electronic text: the main text can be read and quoted free of charge, but it usually has no modern notes, introduction, or parallel translation. If you need explanatory material, look for Conrad scholarship separately or read alongside an annotated edition.

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About the author

Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924 Author

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) was a novelist best known in English literature for his sea and colonial fiction, with 39 of his works held in this collection. Public information is limited, so his biography is not detailed here. Such representative works as Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Nostromo, Typhoon, The Secret Agent, The Shadow Line and Victory show that he often set his stories against the sea, the jungle and foreign ports, following characters as they face isolation, danger and moral dilemmas. His prose is restrained and measured, his structures often rely on retrospection and multiple points of view, and his psychological portraiture is finely drawn. He raised the adventure story into a serious examination of human nature, loyalty and the pretenses of civilization, and his influence on later English fiction has been profound.