A Last Memory of a Friend—Notes from, to, and on John Stape

Abstract

A Last Memory of a Friend—Notes from, to, and on John Stape G. W. Stephen Brodsky (bio) In August 2014, a note from John Stape to the present writer shared the profoundly personal and tragic news of his terminal illness. A few of the words in my response told him, "Your note [. . .] is one of simple acceptance and great courage. [. . .] I simply want you to know how much I have admired your life's work. I have come to know [. . .] your passionate dedication to our craft." John replied the following day, "I really am happy at this moment. I know I have more to give, but my time has run now, and I am glad to have managed what I could in the years I have had. We've both had a life passion and what an enriching thing it has been. John." With publication of The New Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad in 2015, and his final crowning achievement, the publication of the Cambridge edition of Victory with his co-editor Alexandre Fachard the following year, John had worked to the last, his time run, as he had written with such brave grace. While I had not thought of it at the time, I believe my note's closing words express the sentiments of all of us who knew John and know his legacy: "Your writings have left, and will continue to leave, a profound impact on me and others—our present friends and colleagues, and those yet to come." [End Page vii] G. W. Stephen Brodsky G.W. STEPHEN BRODSKY, Special Lecturer, Royal Roads Military College (retired), specializes in elements of szlachta tradition encoded in the Conrad oeuvre. He is author of Joseph Conrad's Polish Soul (2016); and his articles and reviews on Conrad have appeared in Conradiana, The Conradian, Conrad: Eastern and Western Perspectives, Zwischen Ost und West: Joseph Conrad im europäischen Gespräch, the Jagiellonian University Conrad Year Book, and Modern Fiction Studies. A historian of military literary culture, he is author of Gentlemen of the Blade: A Social and Literary History of the British Army Since 1660 (1989), and co-author and editor of military memoirs. He has also published minor criticism in Renaissance drama. Copyright © 2015 Texas Tech University Press