Conrad’s artistic economy is appropriate for the barely verbal and unself-conscious characters of The Rover. Every aspect of the novel-the style, voice and structure-reflects his attempt to reach beyond a limited audience to those who would recognise a kinship with a forceful, competent, shrewd but not intellectual hero. Peyrol, the rover, is an heroic version of the kind of man Conrad sought to reach. In important respects, it is a synopsis of a number of major themes in his previous work. The last novel Conrad completed, The Rover (1923), was written with the idea of reaching that part of the mass of mankind which was literate. In the 1920 Author’s Note to Chance he defines this position: ‘I have never sinned against the basic feelings and elementary convictions which make life possible to the mass of mankind and, by establishing a standard of judgment, set their idealism free to look for plainer ways, for higher feelings, for deeper purposes’ (p. Throughout Conrad’s career, he spoke of the search for solidarity with his kind, and made clear that he did not want to write for a coterie.
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