ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the ways in which Joseph Conrad's reception of Shakespeare was mediated through his father, Apollo Korzeniowski's, works, and how that mediation invites an interpretative shift of focus from the tragedies to the comedies. Whilst it is true that Shakespearean allusions are infrequent in later romances like The Rescue and The Arrow of Gold, this does not in itself indicate a setting aside of Shakespeare completely. Conrad's own use of the romance genre runs along similar tracks, starting with the expansive narratives of Lord Jim, Nostromo and Romance, where he makes a very art of the romance tropes of digression and episode that would be criticised in non-romance texts. Conrad's relationship to Shakespeare is complex, as we have seen. It is mediated by his own artistic practice and by his reception of Shakespeare, most significantly through his father.
