Said went on to laud the book, asserting that "It is correct, I think, to say that what we get in it is the first, almost rigidly antinomian portrait we have had of him, with the discrepancies and contradictions of fact, character and esthetic laid out starkly, the impossibilities of situation left unadorned, the inexplicable vagaries of career and temperament encouraged to speak for themselves more powerfully than ever before." The book became, according to Richard Hand in THE, "instantly a key work in Conrad studies", while Najder himself earned renown as a pre-eminent Conrad scholar.
Said went on to praise the book, stating that "It is correct, I think, to say that what we get in it is the first, almost rigidly antinomian portrait we have had of him, with the discrepancies and contradictions of fact, character and esthetic laid out starkly, the impossibilities of situation left unadorned, the inexplicable vagaries of career and temperament encouraged to speak for themselves more powerfully than ever before." The book became, according to Richard Hand in THE, "instantly a key work in Conrad studies", while Najder himself earned recognition as a leading Conrad scholar.