Victory: An Island Tale

Victory: An Island Tale is a novel written by Joseph Conrad in 1915.

Heyst is a man of Swedish origin, cultured, educated and from a good family. Even so, he is somewhat strange and peculiar. After starting a mining business that failed and of which he was director, he decides to isolate himself on a small Indonesian island and cut off contact with society.

The bankruptcy of the company is not the only reason for such a drastic decision. Some childhood problems along with other unfortunate incidents such as the death of his partner pushed him to make the decision and thus seek a meaning to human existence.

His life goes by quietly, in an environment where he has everything under control, until he decides to introduce a new element: a young violinist.

The novel is about the consequences of isolationism and detachment. The protagonist decides to withdraw from the world but the world actually ends up finding him.

"Some considerable time afterwards—we did not meet very often—I asked Davidson how he had managed about the shawl and heard that he had tackled his mission in a direct way, and had found it easy enough. At the very first call he made in Samarang he rolled the shawl as tightly as he could into the smallest possible brown-paper parcel, which he carried ashore with him. His business in the town being transacted, he got into a gharry with the parcel and drove to the hotel."