Under Western Eyes

Review by Steve Savage

A 19th-century Russian is said to have described his country’s constitution as ‘absolutism tempered by assassination’, and this 1911 novel by Joseph Conrad explores the twisting struggle between Russian autocracy and those working for its downfall – assassins, extremists, idealists, all sorts. An assassination is carried out in St Petersburg, and the tale of what follows is told by an English onlooker, ‘an old teacher of languages’ living in Geneva.