En marge des marées by Joseph Conrad is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. The volume gathers sea-shadowed tales of moral ambiguity and psychological tension; its opening story follows Geoffrey Renouard, a solitary planter on the island of Malata, drawn into the refined yet urgent quest of Professor Moorsom and his daughter Felicia for a vanished man. Expect atmosphere, restrained passion, and a steady pull between romance
and stark reality. The opening of the collection presents a translator’s note on the French title and an author’s note in which Conrad defends these “tales” as a romance of reality, explaining his methods and responding to critics of The Planter of Malata. The narrative then begins in a colonial city: Renouard, back from Malata, tells a journalist about a dinner at the Dunsters where he met the distinguished Professor Moorsom, his white‑haired sister, and the striking Felicia, who questions him about wanderers and colonial lives; he is quietly overwhelmed by her presence. The editor supplies the backstory: Felicia seeks her former fiancé, Arthur, who fled after a financial scandal, later proved innocent; the family has arrived incognito to find him, relying on the press, police notices, and a letter waiting poste restante that remains unclaimed. As Renouard visits the Dunsters, he falls into a contained, jealous longing, dreams obsessively of Felicia, and maintains a controlled, respectful silence; he aids their councils even as the professor weighs ending the wait to resume commitments, leaving the search—and Renouard’s inward crisis—poised to intensify. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
