The modern novel and Joseph Conrad
In a nutshell
The 20th century gave rise to a new approach to literature. In contrast with 18th and 19th century literature, the modern novel was the gradual addition of new narratives and structure. One of the figures of the modern novel was Joseph Conrad, an English novelist who wrote about imperialism and individual consciousness.
The modern novel
The structure of the English novel had its origins in the 18th and 19th centuries, however, it was not until the 20th century that a new novel pattern for both the writer and the reader came up. The social and political changes in British society needed to be reflected from the literary point of view, and novelists took on a new role of mediators between the values of the past and the confusing present.
Modern novelists experimented with new narratives like the interior monologue, and the omniscient narrator was rejected. Instead, the characters' thoughts shifted from external reality to the individual's consciousness and vice versa. Also, time was subjective and inner, which meant that building a well-structured plot was not necessary.
Some novelists were known as psychological novelists because they highlighted the character's mind and human relationships. For example: Joseph Conrad, whose novels try to record the mystery of human experience, D.H. Lawrence, who wrote about the liberating function of sexuality, and E.M. Forster, whose most predominant theme was the complexity of human relationships.
The Author's Life
Joseph Conrad was born in Ukraine in 1857 in the heart of a patriotic and revolutionary family. Due to his father's political influence, Conrad and his family had to emigrate to Russia. A forced exile, loneliness, and the death of his parents were some unfortunate events that affected Conrad's life. In 1874, he left for Marseilles to go to sea and joined an English ship sailing to the Far East and Australia. His career as a seaman allowed him to learn English, become a Master Mariner and British subject, and have contact with men from different social classes and backgrounds of his own that would teach him many values to render in his novels.
In 1890, Conrad abandoned the sea and dedicated himself to writing. Some of his most emblematic works are The Nigger of the Narcissus (1897), Youth (1898), Heart of Darkness (1902), The Secret Agent (1907), and The Rover (1923). Unfortunately, Joseph Conrad died of a heart attack in 1924.
Main Topics
Joseph Conrad wrote about topics such as imperialism, isolation, loneliness, and the absurdity of evil. However, Conrad was known for his particular writing style and the theme of individual consciousness.
THE INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS
There is a recurrent situation in Conrad's work: the man who relies on honesty, courage, pity, and fidelity to achieve an ideal of behavior is confronted by a sense of evil against which these virtues seem powerless. This situation portrays the conflict between self-control and a hostile background.
CONRAD'S WRITING STYLE
Joseph Conrad thought the task of the writer was to record the complex pattern of life as he perceived it. Thus, Conrad experimented with his main characters as lonely figures committed to an uncertain future. In order to portray the theme of isolation and inner conflicts, Conrad's settings were the sea, the ship, the jungle, and exotic latitudes.
Conrad's narrative broke the normal time sequence and used time shifts to give the illusion of life being lived by multiple people at the same time. He used various narrative techniques such as first-person narrator, invisible narrator, journals, and letters.
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a novel written by Joseph Conrad and published in 1902. Conrad wrote this novel in 1890 in the Congo, where he witnessed the colonial imperialism King Leopold II of Belgium practiced in his Congo free state, which he regarded as personal property. It was a moment of uncertainty about imperialist politics that shaped his thought about the hypocrisy of imperialism.
THE PLOT
Heart of Darkness is divided into three parts and the setting is the sea in the 19th century. The story is told by Marlow, a sailor who, together with the passengers of 'Nellie', is waiting to sail from London. He speaks about his task to carry raw ivory from the heart of the continent to the coast for a Belgian company in the Congo. Once in Africa, he finds a French gunboat firing into the jungle even if there does not seem to be any enemy. This makes him feel disappointed by the cruelty of colonial exploitation and by the negligence of the organization.
It is during these events that he hears about Kurtz, a Company agent who has managed to supply more ivory than others and has become a sort of leader for the natives. An expedition is organized to bring him back to civilization, where Marlow finds out Kurtz has even been required by the Suppression of Savage Customs to write about the noble ideas that brought him to Africa, which he concludes saying: 'Exterminate all the brutes!'. Eventually, Marlow gets to meet him and speak to him, but before he can ask about the 'unspeakable rites', Kurtz dies whispering: 'The horror!'. When Marlow returns to Belgium, he calls Kurtz's fiancée and lies by telling her Kurtz whispered her name while dying.
HEART OF DARKNESS' STRUCTURE
The story begins with an anonymous narrator boarding 'Nellie', later introduces Marlow, an observer narrator, and formally closes the narrative. The rest of the details and minor characters are rendered through continuous shifts back and forth in Marlow's narrative.
Throughout Marlow's journey, he hears different positive opinions about Kurtz so he is eager to meet him. These events depict the idea that perhaps Marlow has created an image of Kurtz that fits the prototype of the man he would like to become. The difference between these two characters is that Kurtz has reached the excitement of life through different experiences, and Marlow feels he has lived incompletely.
This novel can be read as Marlow's personal journey to find himself and bring a new truth, even if he does not surpass his limits and does not join those unspeakable rites. On the other hand, the jungle drives white men crazy because of its solitude. For example, Kurtz's character was a painter, writer, and musician who was praised by the black natives, however, maybe because he does not really know himself, he pays the price with madness and later death. Heart of Darkness ends with the idea that it is not possible to cross the line of reality without a meaningful way.
The following text is an extract from Heart of Darkness, Part I:
The word 'ivory' rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I've never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion. | (Conrad J.) |
This passage describes Marlow's first impression of the Central Station. He mentions the way that the word 'ivory' has taken a sort of background that represents economic freedom, social advance, and a way out from being an employee; the word has been disconnected from the real concept to become an object of worship. Marlow's reference to death refers to elephants and Africans who die as a consequence of white man's pursuit of ivory.
