j. conrad and h.of.d. - critical notes

7/29/2019 J. Conrad and H.of.D. - Critical Notes

1/4

1851-1921.1

Life and worksJoseph Conrad once called himself"Homoduplex", and indeed duplicity characterizesoth his interesting life and thecontradictions of his work. Conrad neverheld clear, stable positions. Evidence of thiscan be seen in his double nationality, theo professional careers he pursued, hisixed social identity and the extensive useof the theme of the double in his writing.Teodor Jozef Konrad Naleczrzeniowski, as he was christened, was

orn in 1857,in the territory of Polandartitioned and occupied since 1795byssia, Prussia and Austria. Thc tyrannicalle of Russia never extinguished Polishtionalist fervour nor the insurrectionaryovement in which Conrad's father,ollo Korzeniowski, was very active. Hismily was forced into exile in Russia andoon both his parents died. For Conrad,en, the experience of being colonizedrne early; exile and loneliness were alsolmost 'inborn'. Conrad was brought up byn uncle and in 1874 he left for Marseilleso go to sea. For four years he sailed onench merchant ships, training as aariner. In 1878 he joined an English shipo the Far East and Australia. LearninglishwasrequiredforhisMasterriner qualification, which he achievedn 1886, the same year in which he becameBritish subject. His career as a seamanut him in contact with men from afferent social class and background fromis own, but in whom he learned topreciate the values of a simple devotiono a demanding, monotonous, dangerousob, and work is a powerful theme in hisIn 1890Conrad received a commissionich brought him to Africa. This journeys recorded in his CongoDiary, which bearstness to his direct experience of theutalities of colonial exploitation.verish sickness and near mentaleakdown were the results of the horrors

Joseph Conrad

~,'- ?,

of the Congo. A modest inheritance hereceived from his uncle encouraged him toabandon the sea and devote himself towriting. The dating of Conrad's works isnot simple because some were publishedin book form, some were published seriallyand did not appear as books untillater,occasionally with considerable differences;often two or three were being written atthe same time; and there were also manyarticles and short stories. He contributedsome of the best writing of the century.From The Nigger of the Narcissus (1897),Youth(1898),Lord]im (1900)andHeartof IDarkness (1902), by way ofNostromo(1904), The SecretAgent (1907), The SecretSharer (1909) and Under Western Eyes(1911), to Victory (1915), The Shadow Line(1917), The Rescue(1920) and The Rover(1923), Conrad worked on and out of asociety and literary culture which calledfor a radical reassessment. Bythe time ofhis death, which carne suddenly from aheart attack in 1924,Conrad had certainlymet that demand.The writer's taskConrad statedwhat thewriter's taskshouldbe in the prefaceto TheNiggerof

3:oCl.Cl>3OQCl>F83

@Text bank94


2/4

Aiii:hors ana texts

the Narcissus (1897). He did not believe thenovelist should try to amuse his readers orto teach them a lesson; his task was torecord the complex pattern of life as hesaw it. His aim was to explore the meaningof the human situation.Exotic IatitudesConrad was at first labelled a writer ofadventure stories because he set his novelsand short stories at sea or in exoticlatitudes. He wrote about the BelgianCongo or the China Seas because thesewere the places he knew well and becausethey enabled him to isolate his charactersso that their problems and inner conflictsstood out with particular force. Mostextremely, his setting was the ship, whichbecame a sort of microcosm in itsisolation, or an African river and thejungle.


3/4

1902

PlotThe novel, which consists of three parts, isset at the end of the 19th century at anunspecified date. The narrator isMarlow, asailor who, together with the passengers ofthe Nellie, is waiting for the tide which willlet the ship sail from London. He talksabout his first commission for a Belgiancompany involved in the ivory trade in theCongo. His task was to carry raw ivoryfrom the heart of the continent to thecoast where it could be loaded on shipsbound for Europe. Once in Africa, while hewas proceeding down the coast, heencountered a French gun-boat firinginto the jungle though, apparently, therewas no enemy. He then got to theCompany Station near the coast, wherehe was disappointed by the inefficiencyand neglect of the organization and bythe cruelty of the colonial exploitation(@ t149). It was there that he heardKurtz's name for the first time. Kurtz wasa company agent who managed to supplymore ivory than the other agents and hadbecome a sort of idol for the natives. Anexpedition was arranged to reach Kurtzand bring him back to civilization, since hewas seriously ill. During the voyageMarlow met several people who referred toKurtz as "a very remarkable person': "anemissary of pity, and science, andprogress".Marlow found out that Kurtzhad even been required by theInternational Societyfor the SuppressionofSavageCustomstowrite a report whereheput down the noble ideals that had initiallybrought him to Africa, but which he endedwith the postscript: "Exterminate alI thebrutes!': Marlow finally met Kurtz andsucceeded in taking him on board.However, before he could interrogate himabout the "unspeakable rites" he hadtaken part in, Kurtz died whispering theambiguous words: "The horror! Thehorror!" (@ t1S0). When Marlowreturned to Belgium, he called on Kurtz's

Heart of Darkness ,

fiance and, instead of telling her thetruth about what had happened, he toldher that Kurtz had uttered her namewhile dying.The historical context to the novelThe historical context to the novel isthespecific form of colonial imperialism KingLeopold II of Belgium practised in hisCongo Free State which he regarded as apersonal territorial possession. Moreover,Leopold pursued his Congo interests in thename of philanthropy and anti-slavery. Hestated that the agents of the State had toaccomplish the noble mission to continuethe development of civilization inAfricagradually reducing the primitive barbarismand fighting sanguinary customs. Theyalso had to accustom the population togenerallaws, of which the most needfuland salutary was that of work. He set upconcession companies controlled by hispersonal representatives to exploit thewealth of the Congo State fulIy.The indictment of imperialismConrad was writing at a time of growingdoubt about imperialist politics, so hisbook is about imperialism conceived as asystem of political and economicdominance. His indictment of the brutalexercise of law on the natives (@ t149), ofthe missionary zeal, the administrativeefficiency and search for profit isgeneralised to alI forms of imperialismwhen he calls the company Marlow worksfor" Continental Trading Company" orwhen he givesKurtz a German name, ahalf-French father and a half-Englishmother.A complex structureThe novel presents a series of stories, oneembedded within the other. First there isthe frame provided by an anonymousnarrator who, on board the Nellie on theThames, introduces Marlow - an observer-

A Poster ofApocalypse Now (1979),directed by FrancisFordCoppola. The film,whichdrew inspiration fromConrad's novel,belongs tothe genre ofthe "Nam-movies"that dealt with theexperience of the VietnamWar.

-i::T3:oo..3OQF85

@Text bank95


4/4

Aiithors ana texts

narrator and formally closes the narrative.Everything else is contained within thisI frame; minor characters also tell their ownstories, and state their views of Kurtz. Thecomplex structure of the noveI is sustainedby the continuous shifts backwards andforwards in Marlow's narrative, by the way

I

he creates suspense and interest bydelaying the details of his meeting withKurtz. Psychological reaIism is reinforcedby the language which is characterized byidiomatic speech, by irony, and often byMarlow's difficulty to explain hisexperiences, conveyed through vague anddisturbing adjectives: "unspeakable","unimaginable': "inscrutable", "nameIess".

Q)00c'-Q)"o~Q)..cI- SymbolismI The novel is rich in imagery andsymbolism, in parallels - such as those86

~ Joseph Conrad onboard a ship.guided,stud~1. iAnswer these questions

about Heart orDarkness.1. How did Leopold

Iljustifythe kind ofcolonialismhe set up inthe BelgianCongo?2. What was Conrad'sattitude towardsimperialism?3. What isthe structureofthe novel?Whatsustains it?

4. Inwhat sense didConrad reversewestern traditionalsymbols?5. How can the novel beinterpreted?6. How does Marlowdifferfrom Kurtz?

~

between the river Thames and the Congo,between Marlow and Kurtz - as well as inoppositions - black and white, light anddark (@ t149).lt is interesting to pointout that the traditional meaning of lightand dark, given by the frame-narrator, isgradually subverted asMarlow'sretrospective narrative unfolds. For theframe-narrator light is associated withcalm, peace, beauty and good. Darkness orgloom, on the other hand, is seen as aninsidious menace to light, and, ultimately,as evi!.AsMarlow penetrates into thedarkness of Africa, black acquires positiveconnotations: it is the colour of the jungle,of a primitive, noble environment and ofits people. White, instead, is associatedwith the negative aspects of colonialism:violence, exploitation, hypocrisy,indifference.

A quest for the selfHeart oJDarkness can be read asMarlow's mythicaI jOU1;neyn searchof the self, in order to bring back anew truth. Kurtz was a progressive anda liberai, a painter, a writer, a musicianwho was received by the black nativesas if he were a godoHowever, it wasperhaps because he went into thejungle without knowing himself, thathis wrong conduct took him beyondthe limits of his heart; so he paid theprice in madness and death (@ t1S0).On the contrary, Marlow did nottransgress his limits and carne backwithout fully understanding hisexperience, and aIthough the heart ofdarkness tried to exercise its influenceon him, too, he was able to restrainhimself - he recognized its fascinationand its abomination, but resisted hisdesire to join in those unspeakablerites. Marlow was saved because hisaim was self-knowledge, the mysteryof existence, which demands a greathumility.

j. conrad and h.of.d. - critical notes

Documents