Eastern Voyages Tales of Singapore and an East Borneo River

Joseph Conrad's Eastern Voyages. Tales of Singapore and An East Borneo River

Author Ian Burnet will be in Conversation

with Asia Bookroom's Sally Burdon on Saturday October 8th at 3pm

The life of Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski reads like an adventure story, an adventure story that could be written by somebody like Joseph Conrad. The young Conrad dreamed of a life at sea, he eventually became a British merchant seaman and he spent fifteen years sailing on the classic three-masted, square-rigged sailing clippers before they were ultimately replaced by steamships. During this period he worked his way up from apprentice, to third mate, to second mate, to first mate and finally the captain of one of these beautiful ships.

Joseph Conrad once said that everything about his life can be found in his books. Because the material for his first books are mainly autobiographical then Ian Burnet has been able to use a mixture of his own words, together with those of Conrad, to tell this story of Joseph Conrad's eastern voyages and his tales of Singapore and an East Borneo River.

Conrad loved the 'mysterious East' and his first books - Almayers Folly, An Outcast of the Islands, Lord Jim and The Rescue were all set in Borneo and based on the people and places he encountered in his own voyages as first mate on a trading vessel based out of Singapore.

In the latter part of this book Ian Burnet has taken the liberty to place the parts of these first novels into their proper narrative sequence and focus on the back-story of his characters, which will make it easier for readers to discover or rediscover Conrad's genius.

Ian Burnet is the author of six books related to maritime history and the Indonesian Archipelago. More information about his books - Spice Islands, East Indies, Archipelago, Where Australian Collides with Asia and The Tasman Map can be found on his website.

RSVP essential.

Please be sure to arrive 5 - 10 minutes early to get a seat.

Please note that refreshments will not be served due to ongoing public health concerns.