AN OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS

by Joseph Conrad





_Pues el delito mayor Del hombre es haber nacito_ CALDERON



TO EDWARD LANCELOT SANDERSON



AUTHOR'S NOTE

"An Outcast of the Islands" is my second novel in the absolute sense of
the word; second in conception, second in execution, second as it were
in its essence. There was no hesitation, half-formed plan, vague idea,
or the vaguest reverie of anything else between it and "Almayer's
Folly." The only doubt I suffered from, after the publication of
"Almayer's Folly," was whether I should write another line for print.
Those days, now grown so dim, had their poignant moments. Neither in
my mind nor in my heart had I then given up the sea. In truth I was
clinging to it desperately, all the more desperately because, against
my will, I could not help feeling that there was something changed in my
relation to it. "Almayer's Folly," had been finished and done with. The
mood itself was gone. But it had left the memory of an experience that,