HEART OF DARKNESS

Jozef Konrad Korzenioswi was born in Russian-occupied Poland in 1857 JOSEPH CONRAD Jozef Konrad Korzenioswi was born in Russian-occupied Poland in 1857 1874 Left for Marseilles, France, and became a sailor. 1878 Joined an English ship 1878 Became a British citizen 1890 Voyage to Africa He later abandoned the sea and devoted himself to writing MAIN WORKS Heart of Darkness (1899) Nostromo (1904) Lord Jim(1900) The Secret Agent (1907)

IMPERIALISM was the key issue in most of Conrad’s works WRITING IN A TIME OF CRISIS IMPERIALISM was the key issue in most of Conrad’s works Justified by Western powers as a noble enterprise, bringing the «light» of civilization to savages Conrad strongly criticized the imperial exploitation of Africa, which he defined as «The vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human conscience […]»

«Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold» (W.B. Yeats) WRITING IN A TIME OF CRISIS Like many Late Victorian writers, he perceived that the values of society were collapsing «Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold» (W.B. Yeats) Conrad sought to portray the COMPLEXITY OF EXPERIENCE through both content and form

PORTRAYING COMPLEXITY - CONTENT What happens to the codes we live by in society when we are on your own and we go through a moment of crisis? INADEQUACY

PORTRAYING COMPLEXITY - FORM Conrad is considered by many a FORERUNNER of MODERNISM No more third- person, omniscient narrator (Victorian) DISRUPTION of CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATION Fragmented perspective  HISTORY presented from DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW Frame narration Psychologically laden symbolism CHINESE BOXES TECHNIQUE