But is it a reason for writing more of an
author already more discussed than any English stylist of our
time? For myself, I answer, yes, because I have found no adequate
definition of the difference between Conrad and us to whom English
thinking is native, nor a definition of his place, historically
considered, in the modern scheme; no definition, that is, which
explains my own impressions of Conrad. And therefore I shall
proceed, as all readers should, to make my own.
If you ask readers why they like Conrad, two out of three will
answer, because he is a great stylist, or because he writes of the
sea. I doubt the worth of such answers. Many buy books because
they are written by great stylists, but few read for just that
reason. They read because there is something in an author's work
which attracts them to his style, and that something may be study
of character, skill in narrative, or profundity in truth, of which
style is the perfect expression, but not the thing itself. Only
connoisseurs, and few of them, read for style. And, furthermore, I
very much doubt whether readers go to Conrad to learn about the
sea. They might learn as much from Cooper or Melville, but they
have not gone there much of late.
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