What Happens When I Read Conrad?

Reflecting back on the moment when he first read Conrad, the beginning of the critic's lifelong engagement with the author's work, J. Hillis Miller here takes up the question of what happens when he reads a Conrad story. Dwelling on the power of Conrad's openings to create imaginary worlds out of words, his reflections circle back to the opening of "Typhoon" and the conditions under which he first picked up that book from amongst his father's books. The essay combines autobiographical reflections (on how "Typhoon" led to a lifelong devotion to small boat sailing) with critical comments on the complex effects on the mind, the body, and the feelings, produced by the opening performative speech acts of Conrad's fiction.