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

Scarica Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Joseph Conrad  Joseph Conrad was an important writer of modern novels. He  was born in ​1857 ​in the ​Polish Ukraine​ from an aristocratic  family: his father was a ​cultured man ​but he was exiled in  Russia because he was a supporter of the ​polish  independence​. When his mother died he was sent to his aunt  and he will never see his father again because he died after a  few years. When he finished his studies in ​Cracow ​he became a  ship’s officer​ and for this reason he went in ​Marseille​. Because  of disappointments he attempt ​suicide​ but the ​bullet​ missed his  heart and it didn’t do any serious damage: this event produced a  sense of guilt ​which is often represented in his works. When he  was about 20 years old he joined a ​British ship ​where he  learned the ​English language​. His career as a sailor was long  and successful and he received the ​British nationality​.   In this period he started writing and he travelled to the ​East  which fascinated him and provided a ​splendid background​ for his works such as ​Almayer’s folly​ and  The Nigger of the Narcissus​.   In ​1890​ he worked for a Belgian company in ​Congo ​and the notes he wrote became the basis for ​The  Heart of Darkness​, one of his most famous works.  Even if he loved his life as a sailor, he decided to ​leave the sea ​in order to dedicate himself to writing.  In this period he published his most important works such as:  ○ The nigger of the Narcissus  ○ Lord Jim  ○ Youth  ○ Nostromo  ○ The secret agent  ○ Under Western Eyes  Moreover he wrote 28 short stories, the most important of which are:  ➢ The secret sharer  ➢ The Lagoon  ➢ Freya of the seven isles  ➢ The duel  He died in ​1924​ for an heart attack.                    Heart of Darkness  Heart of Darkness​ is considered by many as the ​first modernist novel ​and it was published in ​1902​.   It deals with a voyage to ​Congo​ ​and many elements of the story come from the ​writer’s experience ​in  Africa. The novel opens with a ​first person narrator ​without a  name that describes a boat on the the river ​Thames ​outside  London. On the boat there were ​five men​, the narrator and his  four companions, that were waiting for the tide to turn. One of  them, ​Marlow ​began to narrate a tale like ​Coleridge’s Mariner​.   He told about his sinister and ​nightmarish voyage​ around the  African coast in search for ​Mr Kurtz​, a ​pioneer agent​ of an ivory  company that everybody mentioned but never appeared.   After many adventures and dangers they found Kurtz and they  discovered that he was ​cruel tyrant​ with a strong hold over  natives. He was very ill so he died during the voyage to Europe.  There, several people contacted Marlow to have the ​papers ​that  Kurtz had given him before dying but Marlow refused. He gave  the papers to Kurtz’s wife who believed that her husband was a  wonderful man​ devoted to the ​mission of civilising​ the African natives. Marlow didn’t destroy her  illusion ​and told her that his last word was her name while in reality he died saying “​The horror! The  horror!​”. The novel finishes on the Thames, where it started.     The main themes of the novel are:  ➢ Colonisation ​because the novel describes the exploitation of resources and the inhuman  treatment of the natives  ➢ The ​voyage into the inner self ​and the dark forces that are hidden there    The symbols  Heart of Darkness ​is characterised by the presence of many symbols:  ➢ The ​black​ ​is the symbol of ​Africa​ and of African natives and it is associated to ​good​ and  innocence​ even if the natives are not civilised  ➢ The ​white​ ​is the symbol of the ​European colonists ​and it is associated to ​evil​ and ​cruelty  because white people made Africans slaves and exploited their resources  ➢ The ​jungle​ ​is the symbol of ​truth​ and reality and also of the ​brutal side​ of man  ➢ The ​darkness​ represents the ​doubt​ and the ​inner forces​ that control the animalistic side of  human nature. It also stands for ​ignorance​ and the inhuman treatment of the natives  ➢ The ​voyage​ ​stands for the ​quest​ that is the ​search for truth​ and for the ​self​: in fact Marlow’s  voyage is a ​physical​ and ​spiritual voyage​ in search for the deepest meaning of human  behaviour. The theme of the journey was represented also by Eliot in ​The Waste Land​.   ➢ Marlow ​represents the ​wanderer​ who has a story to tell as a sort of ​expiation​ so he can be  compared to the ​ancient mariner​ of Coleridge’s famous ballad.   ➢ According to some critics ​Kurtz ​could represent Marlow’s ​evil side​ while Marlow himself is  Conrad’s​ fictional ​alter ego​ so ​Heart of Darkness ​can be associated to Stevenson’s works for the  themes of the split ego, the ​double​ and the dualism of human nature  ➢ The setting in place in ​Congo​, in the centre of Africa, in the heart of the jungle symbolise the  most ​intimate part​ of the inner self    Conrad  Stop and check pg 222  1. The writer’s early years were marked by the exiliation of his father because he was a supported  of the independence: for this reason Conrad lived in Northern Russia; when his mother died he  returned in Polish Ukraine with his uncle and he didn’t see his father again because he died after  a few years.  2. Conrad was haunted by a sense of guilt because he wanted to kill himself but the bullet didn’t  hit his heart but it went out of his back without doing any serious damage  3. For many years Conrad followed his dream which was to be a ship’s officer: at first he joined a  British company and then he started a successful career travelling around the world  4. His experiences as a sailor had a great impact on his work. In fact, many of the elements of  Heart of Darkness​ come from the memories of the author’s stay in Africa​ ​where he experienced  the horrors of colonisation. For this reason, many critics believe that Marlow is Conrad’s alter  ego.   5. Heart of Darkness is a modernist novel because it is characterised by:  ○ Complex structure made up of flashback  ○ The rejection of the omniscient narrator  ○ The themes of the lack of values and the degradation of the modern period  ○ The critic to the colonisation as a way to civilise other populations  ○ The representation of the inner self and thoughts which anticipates the stream of  consciousness technique  6. The most important themes in Conrad’s works are:  ○ Solitude​ of man that fights against the reality  ○ Moral sense  ○ Individual freedom  ○ Guilt  ○ Solidarity  ○ Death  ○ Honour  ○ Double​ was a theme that fascinated Conrad maybe because he was Polish by birth but he  was a ​cosmopolitan man​ since he travelled around the world as a ship’s officer  ○ Negative Overreacher because Kurtz, one of the main characters of the Heart of  Darkness, is an ​overreacher ​since he goes beyond the human limits because he  imposed himself to the native with cruelty: infact he experienced all the horror of  human life in order to impose his superiority to the african population and for this  reason he became a bad man.  7. The narrative technique of Heart of Darkness is characterised by a circular structure because  the novel starts from the end and represented Marlow's voyage. Moreover it is characterised by  the presence of many narrators        Heart of darkness  Esercizi pg 220  1. Mr Kurtz’s last words symbolise both the ​perception of the evil ​in his own soul and the  recognition of the ​darkness​ that is inside the human heart. In fact Kurtz is the symbol of the  evils of colonialism​ but also of the dark side of every man. As a result, the horror that he  voices in his last words is not referred to his life but to the ​dark forces​ hidden inside the self.  2. The word “​Darkness​” is referred to the brutal part of the inner self but also to the doubt,  ignorance, uncertainty.  3. The message of this novel is the rejection of the view of colonisation as ​mission​ to civilise  native populations and the description of the ​enslavement​ of the natives, of the ​exploitation  of the resources and of the degradation of the colonists. This new concept of colonisation is  opposed to the view expressed by ​Kipling​, who exalted the positive aspects of ​English  civilisation​ imposed on the natives.