This study focuses on texts exploring human proclivity to violent behaviour. Building on the anthropological insights of René Girard, and on the premise that literature is a reflection of a cultural moment, Curyłło-Klag shows how early modernism registers symptoms of crisis which even the outbreak of World War I failed to resolve. Arranged in chronological order, the works of Conrad, Lewis and Lawrence reveal an unfolding pattern and form a triptych, indicative of the growing intensity of the epoch in which they were produced.

Izabela Curyłło-Klag teaches in the Institute of English Studies at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków. Her research interests include: the modern British novel, dystopian writing and roman noir, and the intersections between literature, history and culture. She has published articles on modernist fiction and co-edited an anthology of immigrant memoirs, The British Migrant Experience, 1700-2000.