Academic literature on the topic 'Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924 Criticism and interpretation'

Heart of Darkness, Chance, and Lord Jim can be described as philosophical works if considered in light of "ordinary language" philosophy. Conrad wrestled with skepticism much as Wittgenstein later would, but his struggle with the "bewitchment" of skeptical thinking took a narratival form. His champion was Marlow, raconteur of the three novels, who recurrently loses and recovers his words and his capacity to tell (to judge, to narrate). In these works the Marlovian investigation of human convention, linguistic and otherwise, is shown to be a necessary but perilous task. The possibility that we may be dissatisfied with the ordinary or transcendental conditions of living is dramatized in all three novels, often (but not only) by threats to marriage. Heart of Darkness demonstrates the loss of linguistic attunement that may follow upon taking human relation to be a problem of knowledge, and links this to Kurtz's world-devouring repudiation of the ordinary. Chance explores in melodramatic form the "germ of destruction at the source of our strength", and unmasks men's denial of women as one face of skepticism. Lord Jim presents skepticism, Romanticism, and fantasy as different versions of ontological dissatisfaction, and shows how a return to the ordinary requires a practice of reading and remembering (our words).

This thesis focuses on Conrad's representation of space and atmosphere in the "impressionistic" works published between 1897 and 1904, notably The Nigger of the "Narcissus" (1897), "Heart of Darkness" (1899), Lord Jim (1900), and Nostromo (1904). The many conflicting statements regarding the nature of Conrad's impressionism lead one to ask two fundamental questions: What constitutes this strange and elusive phenomenon, and how does it bear upon interpretation? This thesis works towards defining the elusive quality of Conrad's writing by investigating and assessing the contribution of impressionist techniques in the creation of a pervasive space and atmosphere; secondly, it considers how the various constituent elements interact with, and complement one another to form a dominant mode of fictional space in each work; and, thirdly, it indicates the possible impact that these particular Conradian configurations of space and atmosphere might have upon the interpretation of his impressionist works. The thesis argues that the existential condition of isolatio~experienced by Conrad's heroes and narrators is a consequence of epistemological frustration and fragmentation, which, in turn, is a function of impressionist ontology. There is a definite and complementary relationship between each of these notions in Conrad's fiction. The mysterious atmosphere in his works results from the interplay between various configurations of theme, narration and description, and these novelistic elements correspond roughly with the notions of existential isolation (the dominant theme), epistemology (narrating, telling and (re)telling as a method of knowing and understanding the space in which the characters find themselves) and, lastly, the ontological dimensions of the various modes of fictional space (as realized in description). The evocation and invocation of cosmic space in The Nigger of the "Narcissus," the mapping of a dorriinant symbolic space in "Heart of Darkness," the (re)constructions of Jim's psychological space in Lord Jim, and, finally, the "transcription" and "inscription" of a mythical space in Nostromo, indicate a definite development from epistemological to ontological issues. Phrased in more theoretical terms, this development is a movement from asking predominantly epistemological questions like "How can I interpret this world of which I am a part?" "What is there to be known?" "Who knows it ... and with what degree of certainty?", to asking predominantly ontological questions, such as "Which world is this?" "What kinds of worlds are there ... and how are they constituted?". Such questions, categorized by McHale as the dominant characteristics of Modernist and Postmodernist fiction respectively, are already present in Conrad's texts, thus undermining any clear-cut division between these broad categories. Indeed, this thesis suggests that these categories are at best tenuous, and that they should perhaps be used heuristically, rather than definitively

This thesis explores the archetypal theme of initiation in selected texts by Joseph Conrad. The Introduction first surveys critical attention to initiatory motifs in Conrad with the objective of demonstrating the need for an approach to the topic informed by a more formal and theorized understanding of initiation. It then offers a prima facie case for the centrality of the idea of initiation in Conrad's oeuvre, based on references culled from a range of the author's writings. Chapter One seeks to contextualise initiation by providing a history of anthropological research into and theorisations of the rite, proceeding to a description of its typical structure and functions. A detailed account is given of the most widely accepted model of initiation, Arnold van Gennep's tripartite schema. Moving on to Conrad's writing, Chapter Two draws on both his fiction and more personal writings in order to provide a provisional account of the writer's own understanding of initiation and its importance, and to offer some explanation of why Conrad should have been prompted to accord the motif such prominence in his work. Conrad's presentation and (impliedly) his understanding of initiation was never entirely consistent and underwent some change in the course of his writing career. The critical assessment of "Typhoon" in Chapter Three depicts Conrad's more optimistic conception of initiation as a rite benefitting both society, by promoting solidarity, and the individual, by advancing self-knowledge. Chapter Four introduces, via analyses of the novellas "Youth" and "The Shadow Line", that variation on the motif of initiation which is more typical of its manifestation in Conrad: the failure of individuals to complete their cycles of initiation. Chapter Five identifies those characteristics of initiation which appear to be determinative in the representations of incomplete initiation in Conrad's work. Initiation seems to play out approximately seven paradoxes; the impact of some of these is examined through analysis of the initiatory ordeals of the main protagonists in The Secret Agent. Integral to this discussion is an attempt to demonstrate the vital role which initiation plays in the healthy maintenance not only of social order but also of faith and life itself. The Conclusion summarises the more important findings of the study and indicates some directions for further, related research.

The works of Joseph Conrad and Jules Verne share a fascination with geography: concern with geographical issues made explicit in their non-fictional works is also implicit in their fiction. Unfortunately, limited knowledge of or interest in geographic theory on the part of the literary critic has made the relation between literature and geography a relatively unpopular focus; to redress the balance, it is necessary to outline briefly some of the ways in which geographical theory may usefully inform the practice of literary criticism. Areas to be introduced include geography and literature as spatial distribution, as spatial perception, as inscription on and description of the environment, as text, as cultural matrix. The above areas serve as a focus for the comparative analysis of a series of novels by Joseph Conrad and Jules Verne in which three issues are foregrounded: first, the interrelations between concentrated place and surrounding space in the sea-tales The Nigger of the Narcissus and Vingt mille lieues sous les mers; second, the reading and writing of cultural landscape in Heart of Darkness and Voyage au centre de la terre; third, the geopolitics of territory, boundary and landclaim in Lord Jim and L'lle mystérieuse. In each case, relevant geographical theory is drawn upon: in the first instance, the phenomenological notions of Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph; in the second, the landscape evaluations of Carl Sauer and Courtice Rose; in the third, the geopolitical and politico-geographical definitions of Glassner, De Blij and Cohen. The first section (on The Nigger of the Narcissus and Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) explores the spatial notions of topophilia, placelessness and geometricity inherent in the relation between ship and sea. The second section (on Heart of Darkness and Voyage au centre de la terre) discusses the various connotations of landscape: cultural imprint (rewriting), false perspective (mis-reading), textual sign-system (encoding/decoding), which suggest that landscape can be interpreted as a controlling mechanism of and means of access to the text. The third section (on Lord Jim and L' Ile mystérieuse) outlines the geographical motifs of the two novels (division, (dis)possession, ascent and descent, etc.) and infers possible motives behind these motifs, relating topographical issues to personal and political ones and paying particular attention to the implications of island environments and communities and to the connections between imperialism, colonialism and narrative strategy. Finally, the 'literary geography' of Conrad's and Verne's novels is situated in its historical context and related particularly to the late nineteenth-century debate on the relative merits of positivism and phenomenology. In Verne's work, the doctrine of positivism, which has been constituted in terms of an ideology of science, is only celebrated in so far as its limitations are recognized. In Conrad's work, man's struggle to conquer Nature through a physical and verbal mastery of his environment is reinterpreted as an attempt to overcome his own duality. Conrad's predominantly phenomenological geography of the mind serves as a critique of positivist doctrine, but its fractured topography also suggests that the attempt to substitute 'more traditional views of the social and moral order' (Watt, 163) is, perhaps, little more than a saving illusion.
Arts, Faculty of
English, Department of
Graduate

This thesis attempts a comparative study of Conrad and Dostoevsky. In doing so, it proposes a significant relationship between the ideological, political and literary worlds of both authors. The work is undertaken in eight chapters. Chapter One explores Conrad and Dostoevsky's respective national and cultural identities. It reflects on Conrad's recorded reactions to Dostoevsky and his work, and speculates on the latter's likely response to Conrad. Chapter Two challenges established critical formulae that suggest Dostoevsky is a purely 'Dionysian' writer. The view that Conrad is a consummate 'Apollonian' artist is similarly brought into question. Chapter Three considers Conrad and Dostoevsky as major literary innovators. To support my argument, Bakhtin's critical concepts of 'polyphony' and 'monology' are introduced, and applied in a Dostoevskyan and Conradian context. Especially highlighted is my debate on Conrad's 'polyphonic' narrative technique in Lord Jim (1900). The notable fusion of disparate literary genres in Conrad and Dostoevsky's novels is explored in Chapter Four. Elements of 'adventure', 'thriller', 'romance', and 'detective' fiction are identified in each novelist's world. My argument, however, restricts itself to an extensive analysis of the surprising importance of the 'Gothic' elements in both writers' worlds. Chapters Five and Six, concentrate on Conrad and Dostoevsky's profound insights into the fundamental character of the human personality. Chapter Five considers their parallel interpretations of mankind's quintessentially materialist nature. Chapter Six looks at their strikingly similar visions of man's violent and carnal identity, and his primary urge to dominate other weaker individuals. Chapters Seven and Eight consider two central themes in Conrad and Dostoevsky's fiction, that of anarchist politics and nihilism respectively. Their political and ideological responses to these issues are investigated in some detail, and significant interpretive parallels established. Finally, the conclusion undertakes to once again assure the reader of the surprising and unsuspected bonds that exist between these two seemingly alien writers.

This thesis argues that Robert Louis Stevenson's South Seas writings locate him alongside Joseph Conrad on the 'strategic fault line' described by the Marxist critic Fredric Jameson that delineates the interstitial area between nineteenth-century adventure fiction and early Modernism. Stevenson, like Conrad, mounts an attack on the assumptions of the grand narrative of imperialism and, in texts such as 'The Beach of Falesa' and The Ebb Tide, offers late-Victorian readers a critical view of the workings of Empire. The present study seeks to analyse the common interests of two important writers as they adopt innovative literary methodologies within, and in response to, the context of changing perceptions of the effects of European influence upon the colonial subject.

Le roman d’aventures anglais du dix-neuvième siècle, héritier d’une tradition issue des écrits de Defoe, de Scott, et de Dumas, trouvera ses chefs-d’œuvre dans L’île au trésor et Enlevé! de Robert Louis Stevenson. Ces textes représentent à la fois l’apogée du genre, et sa réécriture, sa subversion. Joseph Conrad, dans ses fictions aventureuses, répond à cette remise en question des conventions génériques. Les deux auteurs doivent se situer par rapport aux débats littéraires de leur époque, et à la prédominance du réalisme qui touchait à sa fin. En France, au tournant du vingtième siècle, les critiques littéraires cherchent une alternative dans la fiction étrangère au roman moribond qu’ils voient autour d’eux. Face à cette « crise du roman », Marcel Schwob trouvera, en Robert Louis Stevenson, l’auteur qui lui semble donner forme, dans ses œuvres, à un roman d’aventures qui dépasse les oppositions stériles qui alimentent le débat sur l’avenir du roman en France. Cette rencontre littéraire est le point de départ d’une réflexion qui se poursuit dans les années 1900 dans les revues littéraires, où les critiques menés par André Gide commencent à élaborer une théorie du roman d’aventures. Ce concept de l’aventure permet d’étudier la réception de l’œuvre de Stevenson, et de celle de Conrad, dans la culture littéraire spécifique de la France au début du vingtième siècle. Dans la correspondance, les revues telles que La Revue des Deux Mondes, Le Mercure de France, La Nouvelle Revue Française, les traductions, et les éditions françaises des deux écrivains, un phénomène littéraire se dessine, un transfert culturel entre les grands écrivains cosmopolites de la période
The English adventure novel of the nineteenth century, descending from a tradition shaped by the writings of Defoe, Scott, and Dumas, was to find its masterpieces in Tresaure Island and Kidnapped! by Robert Louis Stevenson. These texts represent both the high-point of the genre, and its rewriting and subversion. Joseph Conrad, in his adventurous fiction, responds to this problematizing of the conventions of the genre. Both authors had to situate themselves in relation to the literary debates of their era, and the soon-to-end dominance of realism. In France, at the turn of the twentieth century, literary critics were seeking an alternative in foreign fiction to the moribund novel that they had inherited. In the face of the this “crisis of the novel”, Marcel Schwob was to find, in Robert Louis Stevenson, the author who seemed to give form, in his fiction, to a novel of adventure which transcended the stale oppositions which had fed the debate on the future of the novel in France. This literary encounter is the starting point for a discussion which continued into the 1900s in the literary reviews, where critics led by André Gide begin to develop a theory of the roman d’aventures. This concept of adventure permits us to examine the reception of the works of Stevenson, and those of Conrad, in the literary culture specific to France at the beginning of the twentieth century. In writers’ correspondence, in literary reviews such as the Revue des Deux Mondes, the Mercure de France, or the Nouvelle Revue Française, in translations and French editions of the two authors, a literary phenomenon takes shape, a cultural transfer between the great cosmopolitan writers of the period