Acknowledgments

My thanks to the friends and colleagues who read and responded to draft versions of my introduction: Christopher Benfey, Stephen Clingman, Jefferson Hunter, Suzanne Keen, Margery Sabin, and James Wood. J. H. Stape and Peter Lancelot Mallios provided expert advice on different aspects of Conrad scholarship. Susan C. Bourque and Charles Staelin of the Provost’s Office at Smith College offered crucial material help. Bobbie Kozash and Gladys Pulido in the English Department office at Smith gave invaluable technical support. Linda Bree and Adam Hirschberg at Cambridge University Press facilitated my use of the Conrad letters. Michael Millman commissioned this project for Penguin Books; Elda Rotor, Lauren Fanelli, and Donald Homolka brought it to fruition.