Heart of darkness by joseph conrad

Joseph ConradJozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski

Joseph Conrad

Biographical Facts

•Born December 3, 1857, in Poland

•Only child of Apollo and Ewa Korzeniowski,

members of Polish aristocracy

•1861: Conrad’s father was an intellectual, writer,

and Polish patriot at a time when Poland was part of

the Russian Empire; Apollo arrested for

revolutionary activities; family is exiled to Russia;

harsh climate causes hardships and illness (TB)

•1865 Conrad’s mother dies in Chernigov, Russia;

father, because of his own poor health, allowed to

relocate with seven-year-old son in Austrian Poland

•1869: father and son move to Krakow, where

Apollo dies; eleven-year-old orphaned child

becomes ward of mother’s brother Tadeusz

Bobrowski, apparently a kindly man

Because doctors recommended a seaside environment

for Joseph’s health, the moved to France. As a young

man Conrad lived on his uncle’s funds and made

several sea voyages as a sailor.

4

1874-77 Teenage Conrad goes to Marseilles, where

he enters French merchant marine; during these

years he completes a number of voyages to the

Caribbean and in 1877 he may have engaged in

some gunrunning on behalf of Spanish rebels.

Marseilles, France

3

1878 In February Conrad is presumed to have

shot himself in the chest, an incident that for years

was disguised as a duel. Was this a drastic

reaction to an unhappy love affair?…

More adventures…at the age of 17 Conrad

had signed on his first English ship—served

on 18 different vessels—worked up the ranks:

second mate, first mate, finally to captain…

•In addition to smuggling guns, Conrad at one

point had to run his ship aground to avoid

capture for smuggling.

• Lost all his money gambling in Monte Carlo.

•Lost all his money gambling in Monte Carlo

When he was second mate on a ship, it caught fire and

sank; the crew survived in open boats until they

reached land…

1886 Conrad became a British citizen

*1890 Conrad was in Belgium Congo as part of a

European trading company but left before the

year ended.

He apparently was weakened by malaria and his

psychological and moral senses were shaken by

his witnessing the exploitation of the natives in

Africa

Despondent about working opportunities and earning

small wages, Conrad began writing his first novel

Almayer’s Folly.

The book, which received favorable critical notice,

describes the turmoil and adventures of his early

years at sea.

It is interesting to note that at this point in

his life Conrad was conversing daily in

Polish, writing letters in French, and

thinking in English as he worked on the

manuscript of Almayer’s Folly!

Conrad’s middle years were

peaceful and relatively

uneventful.

In 1896 he married Jessie

George and the family rented a

farm in Kent (England).

The Conrads had two sons:

Borys and John.

Apparently Conrad was not especially close to his sons because

of his aloof personality.

Personal troubles included bouts of severe illness as well the

anguish of writing.

His writing was, however, critically well received.

Conrad supplemented the family income by writing short

adventure fiction for popular magazines.

Conrad …

•had eight books published in his lifetime

•declined a knighthood in 1924

•died of a heart attack August 7, 1924, after years of ill health

•buried in Canterbury, England

Canterbury, England

(Kent)

Conrad as an author…

Four major contributions to England and to world literature:

1. His unique style

2. The additions of new settings and genre to the world of

literature

3. Creation of the psychological story

4. Creation of political fiction—spy novel, espionage

Conrad created excitement by putting the emphasis on the

interior lives of his characters.

Conrad’s work represents a remarkable feat because he was

already an adult by the time he had learned to read and speak

English.

His work is also remarkable for the

writer’s precise descriptions of exotic

settings—however the plot tends to be

slow-moving.

In Conrad’s era, the writings of Sigmund Freud

and other psychological theorists opened new

aspects of the human personality.

Heart of Darkness was written in the years prior to World War I

and represents a transition between Victorian literature and the

Modern British literature of the post-war era.

Popular Victorian adventure

writers included Rudyard

Kipling and H.R. Haggard,

who took readers into exotic

locales usually associated

with the far-flung locations of

the British Empire.

In novels such as Heart of Darkness, events are

filtered through the perceptions and minds of

characters who are changed by what they see and

experience.

• His major focus was the capacity of human

beings to endure—under extreme conditions—the

constant threat of the dissolution of human

integrity and a surrender to the darkness that he

saw as the essential heart of the entire universe.

His works always focus on human beings under

stress, and he never comes to clear conclusions

about why people behave as they do. This

ambiguity is one of the traits that mark him as a

transitional figure between mainstream

nineteenth-century novelists and the modern

writers of the twentieth century who were

influenced by him.

• The notion of “voyage” in a work y Conrad

translates to a voyage of self-discovery.

• The question of loyalty, so crucial for the

survival of a ship’s crew, appears as a question

of the general frailty of human relationships

and the limits of self-knowledge.

• The menacing jungles, vast oceans, and exotic

people that confront the characters become

metaphors for the hidden depths of the self.

• Telling tales set around the globe, Conrad

charts a geography of the human soul.

The result in the writings of Conrad is that much of the action

is internal or psychological, which was to be more typical of

Modern post-war British literature.

Symbols to look for…

Darkness—consider multiple meanings

Voyage—another journey theme; this is a quest but what type

of quest?

Fog—literal and figurative (impaired perception,

lack of understanding)

This lack of clarity of understanding is also more

Modern than Victorian.

Knitting women—who are these females?

Vegetation—note the references and associations with death

Rivets—represent civilization; how effective are they?

Book—left beside a stack of firewood; whose is it? Watch for it…

Jungle—isolation, animalistic side of man…anything else?

Structure:

Framed narrative with

shifts…be alert for change in

narrative voice or change in

time/place…

Also be alert for IRONY…

Snakes—recurrent symbol;

used mostly metaphorically;

linked to biblical image of

original sin

Themes of the novel?

Be alert…what does the story have to say about evil,

about humankind, about exploitation of others…?

What does the title mean?

Heart of Darkness

(Think about

more than one

explanation.)