'he murmured with conviction - speaking aloud to himself in the shock of the penetrating thought: I am a lost man' Peter Willems, a clerk in Macassar, granted a 'second chance' at a remote river trading post, falls ever more hopelessly into traps set by himself and others. The pawn of Babalatchi, the one-eyed schemer of power politics, and of the rich Abdulla, who uses Willems to increase his own wealth, his fate is sealed by his lover, Aissa, and by Almayer, an embittered fellow countryman. An Outcast of the Islands (1896), Conrad's second novel, is a tale of intrigue in which love and death are the major players. It is a parable of human frailty, the story of a man unable to understand others and fated never to possess his own soul. This revised edition uses the English first edition text and has a new chronology and bibliography. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.