John Peters is a University Distinguished Research Professor at the University of North Texas, US. He is a past President of the Joseph Conrad Society of America and current Editor of Conradiana. Among his books are Joseph Conrad’s Critical Reception, The Cambridge Introduction to Joseph Conrad, Conrad and Impressionism, and the Norton critical edition of Conrad’s The Secret Sharer and Other Stories. His articles have appeared in such journals as Philosophy and Literature, College Literature, Studies in the Novel, Studies in Short Fiction, Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Victorian Review and English Language Notes. He has also translated into English the Japanese poet Takamura Kōtarō’s book The Chieko Poems (2007).

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: SilencesPart I: Silence and the Unsayable1. Silence and Speech2. Silence and Experience3. Silence and ConsciousnessPart II: Silence and the Unsaid4. Silence and Absence5. Silence and Embodiment6. Silence and Disembodiment7. Faux-Frame Forms8. Unsilent NarrativesConclusion: Silences ReduxCoda: Coercive SilenceWorks CitedIndex

Peters’s book succeeds because his ideas and conclusions serve the actual text. In asserting that Conrad’s techniques require active reader participation—including but not limited to the use of imagination—he gives agency to readers, an act of generosity that elevates and intensifies the experience. Joseph Conrad and the Narration of Silence is a welcome addition to the body of Conrad scholarship, and it will serve as a valuable reference well into the foreseeable future.

John Peters is a University Distinguished Research Professor at the University of North Texas, US. He is a past President of the Joseph Conrad Society of America and current Editor of Conradiana. Among his books are Joseph Conrad’s Critical Reception, The Cambridge Introduction to Joseph Conrad, Conrad and Impressionism, and the Norton critical edition of Conrad’s The Secret Sharer and Other Stories. His articles have appeared in such journals as Philosophy and Literature, College Literature, Studies in the Novel, Studies in Short Fiction, Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Victorian Review and English Language Notes. He has also translated into English the Japanese poet Takamura Kōtarō’s book The Chieko Poems (2007).

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: SilencesPart I: Silence and the Unsayable1. Silence and Speech2. Silence and Experience3. Silence and ConsciousnessPart II: Silence and the Unsaid4. Silence and Absence5. Silence and Embodiment6. Silence and Disembodiment7. Faux-Frame Forms8. Unsilent NarrativesConclusion: Silences ReduxCoda: Coercive SilenceWorks CitedIndex

Peters’s book succeeds because his ideas and conclusions serve the actual text. In asserting that Conrad’s techniques require active reader participation—including but not limited to the use of imagination—he gives agency to readers, an act of generosity that elevates and intensifies the experience. Joseph Conrad and the Narration of Silence is a welcome addition to the body of Conrad scholarship, and it will serve as a valuable reference well into the foreseeable future.

John Peters is a University Distinguished Research Professor at the University of North Texas, US. He is a past President of the Joseph Conrad Society of America and current Editor of Conradiana. Among his books are Joseph Conrad’s Critical Reception, The Cambridge Introduction to Joseph Conrad, Conrad and Impressionism, and the Norton critical edition of Conrad’s The Secret Sharer and Other Stories. His articles have appeared in such journals as Philosophy and Literature, College Literature, Studies in the Novel, Studies in Short Fiction, Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Victorian Review and English Language Notes. He has also translated into English the Japanese poet Takamura Kōtarō’s book The Chieko Poems (2007).

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: SilencesPart I: Silence and the Unsayable1. Silence and Speech2. Silence and Experience3. Silence and ConsciousnessPart II: Silence and the Unsaid4. Silence and Absence5. Silence and Embodiment6. Silence and Disembodiment7. Faux-Frame Forms8. Unsilent NarrativesConclusion: Silences ReduxCoda: Coercive SilenceWorks CitedIndex

Peters’s book succeeds because his ideas and conclusions serve the actual text. In asserting that Conrad’s techniques require active reader participation—including but not limited to the use of imagination—he gives agency to readers, an act of generosity that elevates and intensifies the experience. Joseph Conrad and the Narration of Silence is a welcome addition to the body of Conrad scholarship, and it will serve as a valuable reference well into the foreseeable future.