Ian Burnet has spent thirty years, living, working and travelling in Indonesia and is fascinated by the diverse history and culture of the archipelago. This is reflected in his books Spice Islands, followed by East Indies, then Archipelago - A Journey Across Indonesia, then Where Australia Collides with Asia, then The Tasman Map and now his latest book Joseph Conrad’s Eastern Voyages.
The life of Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski reads like an adventure story, an adventure story that could be written by somebody like Joseph Conrad. The young Conrad dreamed of a life at sea, he eventually became a British merchant seaman and he spent fifteen years sailing on the classic three-masted, square-rigged sailing ships before they were ultimately replaced by steamships. During this period, he worked his way up from apprentice to third mate, to second mate, to first mate and finally the captain of one of these beautiful ships.
Conrad loved the ‘mysterious East’ and his first books – Almayers Folly, An Outcast of the Islands, Lord Jim and The Rescue were all set in Borneo and based on the people and places he encountered in his own voyages as first mate on a trading vessel based out of Singapore. In this new book, Ian has taken the liberty to place the parts of these first novels into their proper narrative sequence and focus on the back-story of his characters, which will make it easier to discover Conrad’s genius.
Ian will first talk about Conrad's voyages to Australia and then his voyages from Singapore to Borneo and his first books.
The meeting will be held via Zoom from 7:00 a.m. for 7:15 a.m. start. At about 7:30 a.m., Ian will talk for about 30 minutes, followed by questions. We finish promptly at 8:30 a.m.
Here are the Zoom meeting ID details:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 879 6998 1152 Passcode: 317450
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 879 6998 1152 Passcode: 317450
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Ken Preshaw
North Sydney Sunrise Rotary Club
North Sydney Sunrise Rotary Club