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Joseph Conrads Life
Born Josef Teodore KonradNalecz Korzeniowski, in Poland
(now in Ukraine), in 1857; anobleman
Conrad's father had studied lawand languages at St PetersburgUniversity and wrote radicalpoems and plays.
His father and mother werepolitical activists. They wereimprisoned 7 months and
eventually deported
(1857-1924)
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His father introduced him to the work of Dickens
and Fenimore Cooper in either Polish or Frenchtranslations.
Her mother died of pneumonia; his father died oftuberculosis
Conrad was raised by his uncle; attended school (he
was disobedient) In 1874, Conrad went to Marseilles France and joined
the Merchant Navy
In short, a political exile and then an expatriate, a homo
duplex: a Pole, became a naturalised Englishman in 1886
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Widely read, spoke French and Polish, then
learnt English
As a writer, used a language which wasnt
his own
His being a foreigner using a foreign
language provided him with a doubleperspective ( inside + outside events)
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He travelled widely in the Far East ,Australia, Africa (1890, Congo)
Conrad retired from sailing and tookup writing full time.
Writing took a physical andemotional toll on him. Theexperience was draining
Everything here is repellent to
me ... Men and things, butabove all men
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Congo in the 1890s
Inner Station
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Kinsagani
Stanleyville
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TheRoi des Belges, the
ship Conrad used to travel
up the Congo
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Speaking I (first narrator)
unnamed; it is through his point of viewthat we learn of Charlie Marlow and his
journey.
Marlow, second narrator
On a yawl on the Thames waiting for the
tide to come in
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We learn about "reality" through other
people's accounts of it, many of which are,themselves, twice-told tales.
= the filter of
memory might bebiasing everything.
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In the first station MARLOW meets the accountant who keeps track of
the funds in Kurtzs company.
The man is interesting to Marlow since hes been on the continent for
three years, yet he keeps himself clean and well dressed. He is the exact
picture of respectability and elegance.
Marlow finds the blacks being poorly treated and ordered to do
meaningless work by the whites.
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Central Station - This is the station where Marlow meets where he
meets the Manager, who for now will oversee his work. The Manager
smiles in a manner that is very discomfiting. The ship that Marlow is
supposed to sail is currently broken. While they await the delivery of
rivets that is needed to fix it, Marlow frequently hears the name"Kurtz"
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It is rumoured that Kurtz is ill. Soon the entire
crew will depart for a trip to Kurtz's station.
The Manager's uncle arrives with his own
expedition. Marlow overhears them sayingthat they would like to see Kurtz and his
assistant hanged so that their station could
be eliminated as ivory competition.
After a day Marlow sets out for Kurtz's
station with the Pilgrims, the cannibal crew,
and the Manager.
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The Inner Station was a Belgian outpost beside a series of cataracts
called Stanley Falls. This natural obstacle marked the last navigable
point on the Congo river.
This is the station where Kurtz works and where Marlow finds him
being worshipped by the savages. Kurtz, having distinguished
himself as a collector of rubber and ivory, loses his mind and ends up
impaling human heads on fence posts around the Inner Station.
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At the end of his journey, Marlow will return to civilization
(London), where he will meet Kurtzs ffiance
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. . . No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey
the life-sensation of any given epoch of onesexistencethat which makes its truth, its
meaningits subtle and penetrating essence. It is
impossible. We live, as we dreamalone. . .
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English was alien to Conrad, and English was alien to thispart of Africa. English therefore reveals him as anoutsider.
Marlow narrates the story in highly educated language(marking him as a member of civilization, rather than the
"savagery" that defined Africa) and high figurative,symbolic language. This last reveals his subconscious andgives the story its tone and deeper meaning
Heart of Darkness -
Language
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Interrelated interpretative levels
1. Purely narrative adventure story
2. Conrads biography
3. Contemporary history
4. Wider historical perspective (explorers/journeys)
5. Moral issues
6. Psychological point of view7. Philosophical mythical or religious
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Survey of various interpretations of Heart of Darkness
1. Realism the real journey the Congo River Brussels description of Stanleyville Marlow (Conrad) return toAutobiography expectation main office condition in the Inner Station close to dying civilisation
colony
2. Anticolonialismjourney do absurd bureaucracy criticism of Europes so-called alienationPolitics alienation colonialism civilising influence inability to
turned upside down communicate
3. Myth quest expectation delegation of task learning process culmination cleansing return, mission(Arthurian) departure temptation, trial purification accomplished
4. Mythology quest Styx, Lethe ? Nornes, Fates Hades, Hel dnouement danger of the for- homecomingClassical, Norse journey descent into Hades the underworld climax bidden, nemesis
5. Christian A Pilgrims Pro- Snake, tomb, descent lost souls inner Sanctum punishment forgivenessMythology gress, Everyman temptation memento mori limbo of Hell, Inferno purgatory salvation
6. Psychology analysis, method first scary learning process final step into the crisis curePsychiatry introspection revelations desperation Id
7. War movie mission circuit cable staff office, absurdity of the civilisation and Willard alive on mission accom-plugged into Kurtzbureaucracy war, arsehole of morality dissolved Kurtz terms plished, return
the world
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Level 2 Conrads biography
Letters from the Congo
the experience very nearly robbed him of all taste forlife and human kind
Everything here is repellent to me ... Men and things,but above all men
the reader has not got the right to equate Conrad, thewriter, and Marlow, the protagonist and narrator.
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Level 3 Contemporary history
Stanley'sIn Dark Africa was published the
same year as Conrad went to the Congo
To Conrad's contemporaries, European
expansion was seen as a biological
necessity.
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Level 4Wider Historical Perspective
great explorers = brave dedicated men, who hadset their minds to find truth, no matter the cost
conquering a bit of truth here and a bit of truth
there and they were sometimes swallowed up bythe mystery their hearts were so persistently seton unveiling
very few names are mentioned; Conradaims at universality
L l 5 M l i
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Level 5Moral issues
culture and primitive/brutal instincts
Conrad is pessimistic: temptations, evil, hate and
disgust cannor be faught by means of what we callculture and civilization.
Possibility of salvation, for the individual and for
society: restraint. "What saves us is efficiency
Marlow chooses to concentrate on the bearable and
the superficial in order not to see and hear, not to
become involved in something that would affect hispersonality in an extremely unpleasant and thoroughmanner.
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Level 6 Psychological point of view
a journey towards self-knowledge and insight
Jungian individuation process
Jungian terminology: Kurtz =
Marlow's "shadow", the dark side of his
personality, his second self, the side that
Marlow has to acknowledge in order to
become a whole individual.
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Level 7 Philosophical Mythical Religious
Buddhism, ancient myths +archetypal patterns, thenotion of illumination, allusions to classical epic
journeys into the realm of death, to Hades and theunderworld.
allegory of a journey through the various circles ofhell to meet Lucifer at the Inner Station. (Lucifer, theLight bringer)
Virgil'sAeneid, particularly the Sixth Song dealingwith Aeneas' descent into the realms of death.
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Faustus legend: Christopher Marloweinspired thename of the narrator + Faustus and Kurtz = kindredsouls, heroes challenging the unknown, seeking their
own benefit and satisfaction, thereby bringingdisaster to themselves and others
Mythical heroes of the Grail legend looking for
something symbolizing truth and the deepest insight ahuman being can achieve, illuminatio.
The Grail legend speaks of a wounded King on thebanks of a river who has to be saved by the knight insearch of truth.
Marlow reminding us of Buddha,preparedto reachcontact with his subconscious, apart from the others
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Modernism
Heart of Darkness was published in the LateVictorian-Early Modern Era but exhibits mostlymodern traits:
1. an interest in an exploration of the psychological
2. a belief in art as a separate and somewhatprivileged kind of human experience
3. a desire for transcendence mingled with a feelingthat transcendence cannot be achieved
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4. an awareness of primitiveness and savageryas the condition upon which civilization isbuilt, and therefore an interest in theexperience and expressions of non-Europeanpeoples
5. skepticism that emerges from the notionthat human ideas about the world seldom fitthe complexity of the world itself.Consequently, a sense that multiplicity,ambiguity, and irony -in life and in art- are
the necessary responses of the intelligentmind to the human condition.
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EUROPEAN vs AFRICANCIVILIZATION SAVAGERY
Use of deceitful violenceExchanging roles: civilized
whites can be more savage
than primitives
loss of innocence as
members of a civilization
Land of wilderness
savagery and
abomination