Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Sintesi del corso di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! JOSEPH CONRAD (1857 – 1924) Joseph Conrad was born in Poland in 1857. He was a Polish-British and one of the greatest novelist in English language. He had an adventurous and varied life. He made career as mariner and officer and joined the British merchant marine in 1878. He was granted British nationality in 1886. Though he didn’t speak English fluently until his twenties, he was a master prose stylist. Conrad wrote STORIES and NOVELS, many with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit in the midst of an impassive and inscrutable universe. Although he lived in the late-19th century, he’s considered an early modernist, but his works contains elements of 19th century realism. Joseph Conrad was born in Berdychly, which is now Ukraine, and at the time belonged to the Russian Empire but had once been part of the kingdom of Poland. He was the only child of Apollo Korzeniowski and Ewa Bobrowska. His father was a writer, translator, political activist and would-be revolutionary. Almost all the countryside was owned by the Polish nobility, to which Conrad’s family belonged. The Korzeniowski family played a significant role in Polish attempt to regain independence. Conrad’s patriotic father belonged to the “Red” political faction, whose goal was to re- establish the pre-partition boundaries of Poland, but which also advocated land reform and the abolition of serfdom. Conrad refused to follow Apollo’s footsteps and chose exile over resistance. This was, form him, a source of lifelong guilt. Because of hi father’s political activism, his family moved repeatedly. In 1861 they moved to Warsaw, where Apollo joined the resistance against Russian Empire. This led to his imprisonment. In 1861 Apollo and his family were exiled to Vologda, in 1863 his sentence was commuted and the family was sent to Ukraine. However in 1865 Ewa died for tuberculosis. Apollo did his best to home-school his son. In 1869 he died, leaving Conrad orphaned at the age of 11. Conrad had been gravely ill for tuberculosis. He was placed in the care of his uncle (Ewa’s brother), Tadeusz Bobrowski. Conrad’s poor health and his unsatisfactory schoolwork caused many problems to his uncle and also many financial outlay. Conrad wasn’t a good student, he excelled only in geography. His uncle saw him as one who could combine maritime skills with commercial activities. In 1871, 13 years old Conrad announced his intentions to become a sailor, because as a child he had read sea stories and novels and was fascinated by them. in 1874 he was sent to Marseilles for a planned career at sea. Though he had not completed secondary school, his accomplishments included fluency in French, some knowledge of Latin, German and Greek, and he was well read in literature. Conrad was a Russian Subject, having been born in a Russian area. After hi father’s death, his uncle had attempted to secure Austrian citizenship for him, probably because Conrad had not received the permission from Russian authorities to remain abroad permanently. So Conrad could not return to Ukraine. His uncle had to wishes for him: his naturalisation abroad and the possibility of joining the British merchant marine. Eventually Conrad would make his home in England and would be granted British nationality in 1886. These aspects of his life account for the importance EXILE is given in his writings (-> connection between his biography and works). In 1874 Conrad left Poland to start a merchant- marine career and, after 4 years, he joined the British merchant marine which served for 15 years. Most of Conrad’s stories and novels, and also many of their characters, were drown from his seafaring (=navigazione) career and persons whom he had meet and heard about. For his fictional characters he often borrowed the authentic names of actual persons. Conrad’s 3 year appointment with a Belgian trading company, for example, inspired and episode of his novella Heart of Darkness. In 1894 Conrad gave up the sea for many reasons: his poor health, his wish to become a writer, etc. His first novel, Almayer’s Folly, was published in 1895. In it he first used the pen name Joseph Conrad -> Konrad was the 3rd of his polish names and he anglicised it in Conrad. His first novel, together with its successor An Outcast of the Islands (1896), laid the foundation for Conrad’s reputation as a romantic teller of exotic tales. Almost all of Conrad’s first novels were published in newspapers and magazines. Conrad was a reserved man, so his manner of portraying emotions in his books was full of restraint, scepticism and irony. Conrad suffered throughout his life from ill health, physical and mental. In 1878, at 20 years old, he tried to suicide, by shooting himself in the chest with a revolver. His uncle said it was caused by the debts but it might have been a symptom of depression. In 1896 Conrad married an English woman, Jessie George, who was unsophisticated, working class and 16 years younger than him. The couple had 2 sons, Borys and John. The first son proved a disappointment for school and integrity. The couple rented a long series of homes: France and England. In 1924 Conrad died at his house in Kent, England, probably of a heart attack and was interred in Canterbury. MAIN NOVELS, NOVELLAS AND STORIES: Almayer’s Folly (1895), An Outcast of the Islands (1896), The Nigger of the “Narcissus” (1897), Tales of Unrest (1898), Lord Jim (1900), Youth (1902), a collection of 3 stories including Heart of Darkness (1899), Typhoon (1902), Nostromo (1904), The Secret Agent (1907), Under Western Eyes (1910), A Personal Record (1912), The Shadow-Line (1917). HEART OF DARKNESS GENRE: NOVELLA/ SHORT NOVEL 1899 Structure: Narrative frame + framed story (=interpolated story). there are 2 narrators: the FIRST is UNKNOWN, the SECOND is CHARLIE MARLOW. TITLE: the original title was “THE heart of darkness”, but the article was deleted to make the metaphor vaguer and more general. BACKGROUND: Belgian colonialism in Congo, which was a hard and cruel case of colonialism. Exploitation of colonies, mainly for the ivory trade. Conrad describes the reality of this fierce colonial occupation. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ELEMENTS: in 1890 Conrad left Bordeaux to reach Congo and started his journey up the river. He started to write his travel journal, later titled “Congo Diary”. It tells his meeting with the British Consul in Congo, who publicly denounced the atrocities committed in Congo by King Leopold’s soldiers and administrators, including limb mutilations. The Consul was sentenced to death and executed before 1st World War and also accused for being homosexual. On his journey, Conrad faces the atrocity of Belgian colonization. Forced to stop at a station along the river, he met a Belgian administrator whom he disliked, in fact he inspired some negative characters met by Marlow (-> fictionalization). Other autobiographical elements could be: when he started hi journey again, Conrad arrived at the Inner Station of Stanley Falls where met and agent of his company, Klein. Klein is strongly evocative of Kurtz, also in his name. Klein was ill so Conrad decided to bring him back on his boat but he died on the way. In Kinshasa, Conrad fell ill and was psychologically upset, so decided to go back home soon. Conrad’s letters and diary show that his travel was a shocking experience. he turned all into fiction after 10 years when he became a professional writer. The Congo experiences are also narrated into Youth and An Outpost of Progress. His experiences inspired his works, but he gave them more existential connotations in fiction. SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR KURTZ: George Antoine Klein (the agent of the Belgian company that conrad had to meet); Hodister (a manager of the company for whom Klein worked) who knew African customs well and had a good charisma; Captain Leon Rom (of the police and army of Leopold II) who was chief at the Stanley Falls station and committed many atrocities; Henry Morton Stanley (British explorer who worked for Leopold II) whom writings use a similar rhetoric as found in Kurtz’s report; Kurtz anticipates historical figure as Hitler and Stalin. They have similar rhetorical skills and were able to manipulate public opinion.