This important addition to Conrad studies, as well as to the study of narrative, is the first book-length attempt to apply recent developments in critical theory and practice to the whole canon of Conrad's works.

Using a broadly structuralist approach, Dr Lothe analyses Conrad's sophisticated narrative method, focusing on his use of devices, functions, variations, and thematic effects or implications. More widely, he explores the relationship between Conrad's narrative method and the complex thematics engendered and shaped by this method. Discussing the notions of major post-structuralist critics such as Edward W. Said and J. Hillis Miller, he develops and applies a critical methodology which is flexible enough to respond to the varying interpretative problems presented by Conrad's fiction.