Joseph Conrad
1857-1924
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924
Conrad was born Josef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924
Conrad was born Josef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski
Orphaned at 12 years old, educated at Cracow and in Switzerland
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924
Conrad was born Josef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski
Orphaned at 12 years old, educated at Cracow and in Switzerland
Ran away to join the French Merchant Navy at 17
Joined the British Merchant Navy just before his 21st birthday
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924
Conrad was born Josef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski
Orphaned at 12 years old, educated at Cracow and in Switzerland
Ran away to join the French Merchant Navy at 17
Joined the British Merchant Navy just before his 21st birthday
Conrad held a number of assignments as a seaman, and eventually a
Captain, during an 18-year career in the British Merchant Navy
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924
Conrad was born Josef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski
Orphaned at 12 years old, educated at Cracow and in Switzerland
Ran away to join the French Merchant Navy at 17
Joined the British Merchant Navy just before his 21st birthday
Conrad held a number of assignments as a seaman, and eventually a
Captain, during an 18-year career in the British Merchant Navy
Conrad adopted British citizenship in 1886
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924
Conrad was born Josef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski
Orphaned at 12 years old, educated at Cracow and in Switzerland
Ran away to join the French Merchant Navy at 17
Joined the British Merchant Navy just before his 21st birthday
Conrad held a number of assignments as a seaman, and eventually a
Captain, during an 18-year career in the British Merchant Navy
Conrad adopted British citizenship in 1886
In 1894 he decided to become a writer, and to write in English, rather than
French or Polish
Joseph Conrad
1857-1924
Conrad was born Josef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski
Orphaned at 12 years old, educated at Cracow and in Switzerland
Ran away to join the French Merchant Navy at 17
Joined the British Merchant Navy just before his 21st birthday
Conrad held a number of assignments as a seaman, and eventually a
Captain, during an 18-year career in the British Merchant Navy
Conrad adopted British citizenship in 1886
In 1894 he decided to become a writer, and to write in English, rather than
French or Polish
Conrad is seen as a quintessentially “modern” writer
Conrad and Modernity
Conrad’s themes include critiques of the moral bankruptcy of modernity
as revealed in the excesses of capitalist greed and colonial exploitation
Conrad and Modernity
Conrad’s themes include critiques of the moral bankruptcy of modernity
as revealed in the excesses of capitalist greed and colonial exploitation
Conrad is not exactly a champion of the exploited, however; his theme is
more typically the degrading effect of greed and colonialism upon
Europeans
Conrad and Modernity
Conrad’s themes include critiques of the moral bankruptcy of modernity
as revealed in the excesses of capitalist greed and colonial exploitation
Conrad is not exactly a champion of the exploited, however; his theme is
more typically the degrading effect of greed and colonialism upon
Europeans
Conrad’s novels, including Heart of Darkness, are structured around
mythical cores, especially the hero’s quest
Conrad and Modernity
Conrad’s themes include critiques of the moral bankruptcy of modernity
as revealed in the excesses of capitalist greed and colonial exploitation
Conrad is not exactly a champion of the exploited, however; his theme is
more typically the degrading effect of greed and colonialism upon
Europeans
Conrad’s novels, including Heart of Darkness, are structured around
mythical cores, especially the hero’s quest
In this, they can be compared to Beowulf, Paradise Lost, and even,
perhaps, to Gulliver’s Travels
Conrad and Modernity
Conrad’s themes include critiques of the moral bankruptcy of modernity
as revealed in the excesses of capitalist greed and colonial exploitation
Conrad is not exactly a champion of the exploited, however; his theme is
more typically the degrading effect of greed and colonialism upon
Europeans
Conrad’s novels, including Heart of Darkness, are structured around
mythical cores, especially the hero’s quest
In this, they can be compared to Beowulf, Paradise Lost, and even,
perhaps, to Gulliver’s Travels
In Heart of Darkness, Conrad’s hero, Marlow, is radically alienated from
his contemporary European society, but he doesn’t act to change it; this
sense of alienation and helplessness in the face of the moral decline is
also a characteristic feature of late modern fiction
Conrad and Modernity
Although Conrad’s narratives clearly stem from his personal experiences,
they are not exactly “realist” or autobiographical
Conrad and Modernity
Although Conrad’s narratives clearly stem from his personal experiences,
they are not exactly “realist” or autobiographical
Conrad’s style is richly and complexly symbolic
Conrad and Modernity
Although Conrad’s narratives clearly stem from his personal experiences,
they are not exactly “realist” or autobiographical
Conrad’s style is richly and complexly symbolic
He makes his realistic narrative illuminate the moral and ethical
contradictions of modernity that are just coming into historical focus
during his lifetime
Conrad and Modernity
Citing the critic Ian Watt, Kevin Dettmar and Jenifer WIcke, editors of
Volume 2c of the Longman Anthology of British Literature, write:
[Conrad’s experimentation in works like Heart of Darkness] result
from [his] own personal experience, a personal experience of travel,
exile, and solitude that was a radical premonition of the conditions of
modernity.
(Longman Anthology, p. 2136)
Conrad and Modernity
According to Dettmar and Wicke, Conrad’s style is distinctively “visual”
in the way in which he represents shades of meaning through the visual
effects of his descriptions:
[In Heart of Darkness] events cast a visual glow and haze where
meaning can be found only in the most subtle shades and ambiguous
highlights of language. The reader must participate in the gradual,
and partial, process of accumulating meaning.
(Longman Anthology, p. 2137)
Conrad and Modernity
Dettmar and Wicke cite the following passage, explaining the story-telling
technique of Marlow, from Heart of Darkness:
The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of
which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not
typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the
meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside,
enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a
haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that are sometimes
made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.
(Longman Anthology, p. 2137; p. 2142)
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a “framed” narrative—like Canterbury Tales, Utopia,
and Gulliver’s Travels
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a “framed” narrative—like Canterbury Tales, Utopia,
and Gulliver’s Travels
Heart of Darkness also invokes some of the conventions of travel writing,
like Utopia and Gulliver’s Travels
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a “framed” narrative—like Canterbury Tales, Utopia,
and Gulliver’s Travels
Heart of Darkness also invokes some of the conventions of travel writing,
like Utopia and Gulliver’s Travels
Heart of Darkness begins with a small group of friends—business
associates, the narrator of the introduction, a director of a company, an
accountant, a lawyer, and Marlow, the seaman—sitting on the deck of a
yacht, in the Thames, as the sun sets and fog thickens
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a “framed” narrative—like Canterbury Tales, Utopia,
and Gulliver’s Travels
Heart of Darkness also invokes some of the conventions of travel writing,
like Utopia and Gulliver’s Travels
Heart of Darkness begins with a small group of friends—business
associates, the narrator of the introduction, a director of a company, an
accountant, a lawyer, and Marlow, the seaman—sitting on the deck of a
yacht, in the Thames, as the sun sets and fog thickens
But the director seems to instill confidence; the narrator says “he
resembled a pilot” (p. 2141)
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a “framed” narrative—like Canterbury Tales, Utopia,
and Gulliver’s Travels
Heart of Darkness also invokes some of the conventions of travel writing,
like Utopia and Gulliver’s Travels
Heart of Darkness begins with a small group of friends—business
associates, the narrator of the introduction, a director of a company, an
accountant, a lawyer, and Marlow, the seaman—sitting on the deck of a
yacht, in the Thames, as the sun sets and fog thickens
But the director seems to instill confidence; the narrator says “he
resembled a pilot” (p. 2141)
Marlow is the only one of the group who “still follows the sea”; he is the
only one who is in touch with the places where the company makes its
money (p. 2142)
Heart of Darkness
The narrator thinks about all of the men and ships that have sailed out from
the Thames into the ocean—”the great knights-errant of the sea”
(Longman Anthology, 2141)
Heart of Darkness
The narrator thinks about all of the men and ships that have sailed out from
the Thames into the ocean—”the great knights-errant of the sea”
He mentions Sir Francis Drake, Captain of the Golden Hind, heroic
“privateer” (or pirate) who attached Spanish ships returning from the
Americas, stealing their gold and delivering a portion to Queen Elizabeth
(Longman Anthology, 2141)
Heart of Darkness
The narrator thinks about all of the men and ships that have sailed out from
the Thames into the ocean—”the great knights-errant of the sea”
He mentions Sir Francis Drake, Captain of the Golden Hind, heroic
“privateer” (or pirate) who attached Spanish ships returning from the
Americas, stealing their gold and delivering a portion to Queen Elizabeth
He mentions Sir John Franklin, captain of an expedition in search of the
Northwest Passage in 1845—this was a failed mission, Franklin and his
crew never returned
(Longman Anthology, 2141)
Heart of Darkness
The narrator thinks about all of the men and ships that have sailed out from
the Thames into the ocean—”the great knights-errant of the sea”
He mentions Sir Francis Drake, Captain of the Golden Hind, heroic
“privateer” (or pirate) who attached Spanish ships returning from the
Americas, stealing their gold and delivering a portion to Queen Elizabeth
He mentions Sir John Franklin, captain of an expedition in search of the
Northwest Passage in 1845—this was a failed mission, Franklin and his
crew never returned
Note the ambivalent character of these two examples—Drake is a hero, but
also a thief; Franklin embarked upon a heroic mission, but the mission was
a failure
(Longman Anthology, 2141)
Heart of Darkness
The narrator thinks about all of the men and ships that have sailed out from
the Thames into the ocean—”the great knights-errant of the sea”
He mentions Sir Francis Drake, Captain of the Golden Hind, heroic
“privateer” (or pirate) who attached Spanish ships returning from the
Americas, stealing their gold and delivering a portion to Queen Elizabeth
He mentions Sir John Franklin, captain of an expedition in search of the
Northwest Passage in 1845—this was a failed mission, Franklin and his
crew never returned
Note the ambivalent character of these two examples—Drake is a hero, but
also a thief; Franklin embarked upon a heroic mission, but the mission was
a failure
Conrad’s narrator seems to be setting a tone of regret and repentance
about the driving force of adventure and conquest
(Longman Anthology, 2141)
Heart of Darkness
As the narrator finishes setting the scene, Marlow suddenly speaks:
And this also,” said Marlow suddenly, “has been one of the dark places
of the earth.”
(Longman Anthology, 2141)
Marlow is referring to the experience of the Roman invaders, sent in A.D. 43
to take control of Britain, sailing up the Thames into what must have
seemed like a wild, uncivilized place—cold, gray, dark—the opposite of the
sun-drenched Mediterranean
Heart of Darkness
“Imagine the feelings of a commander of a fine . . . trireme in the
Mediterranean, ordered suddenly to the north; run overland across the
Gauls in a hurry . . . . Imagine him here—the very end of the world, a sea the
colour of lead, a sky the colour of smoke, a kind of ship about as rigid as a
concertina—and going up this river with stores, or orders, or what yo like.
Sandbanks, marshes, forests, savages—precious little to eat fit for a
civilized man, nothing by Thames water to drink. . . . Here and there a
military camp lost in a wilderness, like a needle in a bundle of hay—cold,
fog, tempests, disease, exile, and death,--deth skuli\king in the air, in the
water, in the bush. . . .
Land in a swamp, march through the woods, and in some inland post feel
the savagery, the utter savagery, had closed round him,--all that mysterious
life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of
wild men. There’s no initiation either into such mysteries. He has to live in
the midst of the incomprehensible, which is also detestable. And it has a
fascination, too, that goes to work upon him. The fascination of the
aboniation—you know. Imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape,
the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate.”
(Longman Anthology, 2141)