..Gave experience of African land and out burst of imagination..
"A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellowman is not conceivable as a writer"
- Joseph Conrad
Polish - born English novelist Joseph Conrad is one of the greatest modern writers of England. His novels reflect his concerns with the complex individual, and how sympathy and imagination can blur clear judgment which is essential to life. The character development in Conrad`s books are engaging and powerful.
His earlier works reflected his visits as a merchant mariner and his exploration to distant lands. They are :
"An Outcast of the Islands"(1896)
"The Nigger of Narcissus"(1897)
"The Heart of Darkness"(1899)
"Lord Jim"(1899)
Next novels reflected his political side
"Nostromo" (1904)
"The Secret Agent" (1907)
"Under Westerns Eyes"(1911)
The Shadow Line (1915)
etc
In 1923 he declines Knighthood in England. On August 3, 1924 Conrad died of a heart attack and was buried at Canterbury, England. His grave stone bears lines of Edmund Spenser as
"Sleep after toyle, Port after stormie seas/ Ease after warre, Death after Life, does greatly please"
Heart of Darkness is one of my favourite work by him. The story centers around Marlow, an introspective sailor and his journey to congo river to meet Kurtz. The story is really interesting as it explains the wilderness of African forest, its tribe and how the western man changed over a period of time as he lived there. It exposes the viewpoint of the colonizers and colonized people and how they are exploited. It is frame narrative, circular narrative many motifs, symbols and themes are there. It can be connected to Dante`s Inferno, Marxism, Archetypal, psychological aspects, etc. The story reveals that Darkness is not in the jungle alone, its everywhere, even in the hearts of every human being. Conrad was successful to make his reader imagine the story and we will feel our presence in the story.
"My task, which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written words, to make you hear, to make you feel - It is, before all, to make you see"
- Joseph Conrad
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