Book excerpt: This timely study offers a radical re-reading of Conrad's work in the light of contemporary theories of masculinity. Drawing on gay studies, feminism, film theory and literary theory, Roberts shows how Conrad's fiction, even as it reflects certain assumptions of its day about the role of men in society, offers striking insights into the instability of the 'masculine'. The book explores the relationship of masculinity with colonialism, modernity, the visual and the body in a wide range of Conrad's major and lesser-known fiction.