Heart of Darkness
A Publication of TRANS Asian Research Journals
AJMR
Asian Journal of Multi di mensional Research Vol.1 Issue 5, October 2012, ISSN 2278-4853
HEART OF DARKNESS: JOSEPH CONRAD’S ANTI-IMPERIALISTIC PERSPECTIVE THROUGH RACISM, PESSIMISM AND IMPRESSIONISM
LAKMINIRADEESHANIKABASNAYAKE* *Lecturer in English, Department of English Language Teaching, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka. ABSTRACT Imperialism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is one of the chief focal aspects of critical controversy and debate in the fields of literary theory and literary criticism. The aim of the study is to examine the ideological background to viewing Conrad as anti-imperialist in ‘Heart of Darkness’, while dealing also with the presentation of imperialism and racism. The study reveals that Conrad was consciously anti-imperialist but he unconsciously or carelessly employed racist terminology. The novel is a moving record of White imperialism in the Belgian Congo and of the intense suffering of the Africans. It conveys Conrad’s nihilistic impression of the Whites who exercised unpardonable authority over natives. As Conrad sets up Africa as a foil to Europe and a place of negation and cannibalism, many contemporary critics viewed the text as a racist work. But in writing about the diabolical practice of White imperialism in Africa, can Conrad be seen as an extremist in terms of racism? Does he support the dehumanization of natives which is practiced by the Whites in the name of a civilizing role? The study scrupulously examines these controversial elements in the text and concludes that Conrad’s impressionistic narrative technique, incorporating a pessimistic viewpoint, along with his disillusioned emotions over what seems to be White cannibalism in the Congo, and the excessively grim nature of the novel Heart of Darkness, all serve Conrad’s antiimperialistic perspective effectively. Conrad’s anti-imperialistic ideology employed in Heart of Darkness provides then
AJMR
Asian Journal of Multi di mensional Research Vol.1 Issue 5, October 2012, ISSN 2278-4853
HEART OF DARKNESS: JOSEPH CONRAD’S ANTI-IMPERIALISTIC PERSPECTIVE THROUGH RACISM, PESSIMISM AND IMPRESSIONISM
LAKMINIRADEESHANIKABASNAYAKE* *Lecturer in English, Department of English Language Teaching, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka. ABSTRACT Imperialism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is one of the chief focal aspects of critical controversy and debate in the fields of literary theory and literary criticism. The aim of the study is to examine the ideological background to viewing Conrad as anti-imperialist in ‘Heart of Darkness’, while dealing also with the presentation of imperialism and racism. The study reveals that Conrad was consciously anti-imperialist but he unconsciously or carelessly employed racist terminology. The novel is a moving record of White imperialism in the Belgian Congo and of the intense suffering of the Africans. It conveys Conrad’s nihilistic impression of the Whites who exercised unpardonable authority over natives. As Conrad sets up Africa as a foil to Europe and a place of negation and cannibalism, many contemporary critics viewed the text as a racist work. But in writing about the diabolical practice of White imperialism in Africa, can Conrad be seen as an extremist in terms of racism? Does he support the dehumanization of natives which is practiced by the Whites in the name of a civilizing role? The study scrupulously examines these controversial elements in the text and concludes that Conrad’s impressionistic narrative technique, incorporating a pessimistic viewpoint, along with his disillusioned emotions over what seems to be White cannibalism in the Congo, and the excessively grim nature of the novel Heart of Darkness, all serve Conrad’s antiimperialistic perspective effectively. Conrad’s anti-imperialistic ideology employed in Heart of Darkness provides then
References: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Achebe, Chinua. AnImage of Africa: racism in Conrad‟s „Heart of Darkness. Massachussetts Review ,1977:p.782-94 Brantlinger, Patrick. Rule of Darkness: British Literature and Imperialism, 1830-1914. Cornell University Press, 1988. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness,1902 Conrad, Joseph. A Personal Record. New York: Harcourt,1968 Goonetilleke, D.C.R.A. Developing Countries Fiction,London:Macmillan;Totowa,NJ:Rowman&Littlefield,1977 in British Jameson, Frederic. The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a socially Symbolic Act. Ithaca: Cornell UP,1981 Hawkins, Hunt. Conrad‟s Critique of Imperialism in „Heart of Darkness‟ .PMLA,1979 Morel, E.D. King Leopold‟s Rule in Africa.Westport: Negro Universities P, 1970. Murfin, Ross.C. Heart of Darkness: Joseph Conrad, Bedford Books of St.Martin‟s Press,1996 Najder, Zdzislaw. Joseph Conrad: A Chronicle, Halina Carroll-Najder,Cambridge,1983 Stape, J.H. Joseph Conrad, Cambridge U.P,1996 Watts, Cedric. Conrad‟s „Heart Discussion.Milan:Mursia,1977 of Darkness‟: A critical and Contextual Watts, Cedric. „“A Bloody Racist”: About Achebe‟s View of Conrad.‟ Yearbook of English Studies 13,1983 TRANS Asian Research Journals http://www.tarj.in 10