Conrad And His Criticism Of Romanticism

The ultimate goal of this dissertation is to argue Joseph Conrad's critical reflections on Romanticism which arise as much from the subject matter Conrad investigates as they do from the narrative techniques he employs. Viewing Conrad from the perspective of his critical reflections on the Romantic Movement is conducive to a better appreciation of his subject matter and his narrative strategies which suggest his uniqueness and profundity in the contemplation of the destiny of each individual and the entire human race.Despite different interpretations of the gist of the Romantic Movement and greatly divided arguments about Conrad's Romantic heritage,the effect of the current critical research tends to regard Conrad as a devoted follower of Romanticism in the early nineteenth century. William Bonney, for example, basing on a deconstructive redefinition of Romanticism, argues that the Romanticists are cultural vandals and Conrad is also dismantling in his books the metaphysical thrusts. Bonney's deconstructive contention helps to highlight the Romantic doubt and anxiety and invites us to trace Conrad's indeterminacy. The problem is that Bonney who, like the other deconstructionists, is eager to give priority to the unprivileged elements in binary oppositions, tends to exaggerate the degree of the Romantic metaphysical anxiety. We could hardly accept his view that the Romantic writings are a conscious and willed effort of the "dismantlement of the superstructure of Western culture" when the Romantics are still endowing a sheltering function to Nature.David Thorburn, by contrast, offers a more circumspect and therefore more acceptable view of Romanticism. Acknowledging some continuity between Romanticism and modernism, Thorburn believes that the true Romantic spirit is more of apocalyptic synthesis and that the subversion and dismantlement of extant ideologies is more a matter of the twentieth century than an essential attribute of the nineteenth-century Romanticism. And since it is my purpose to look into Conrad's attitude toward Romantic Movement commonly perceive by his contemporaries, it is appropriate to found the study on a reference back to the widely-accepted traditional definition of Romanticism that is prevalent at the time of Conrad's writing. Though I applause Thorburn's definition, I don't share his conclusion that Conrad, following the Romantic poets, has portrayed in his works a world which is impregnated with transcendental values accessible to individual beings.In the traditional framework of Romanticism, apotheosis of Nature, preoccupation with self-sufficient individuals and optimism in ultimate truth via intuitive are commonly regarded, for all the differences in emphasis and even in substance, as the essential features of Romanticism. Therefore, the dissertation examines in detail Conrad's critical response to the three major and fundamental Romantic assumptions. That is, how Conrad reacts to the Romantic deification of Nature, the Romantic glorification of individuals and the Romantic optimism over man's capacity for final truth.I begin with an exploration of Conrad's impatience with the Romantic deification of Nature. A detailed contrast of the natural images in the works of the Romantic poets and Conrad is conducted to present Conrad's unique demonization of Nature. In contrast to the Romantic poets who deify Nature and view it as a comforting shelter for human beings, Conrad dramatizes Nature into the Demon. Her intoxicating tenderness and beauty is but an illusion which usually heralds disaster and calamity. Nature is intrinsically hostile to human beings and constantly overwhelms their endeavors. This negative transformation of Nature shows Conrad's fundamental. disapproval of the Romantic belief in Deism, a doctrine which holds the presence of a benign God in Nature. It is indicated in Conrad's works that this must be a godless world where the absence of a merciful God signifies the absence of transcendental meaning. It is a Romantic delusion to believe in the transcendental existence of sustaining values in Nature. Conrad's writing demonstrates that meaning of life is not a transcendental state of being, but a matter of doing. Human beings are able to confer meaning and value to this meaningless universe if they choose to engage with tenacity to a losing battle with a powerful and tyrannical Nature.Conrad believes that man can create meaning for this world devoid of transcendental meaning, but he doesn't agree with the Romanticists that meaning can be obtained through the endeavor of a questing individual. Meaning for Conrad involves not only doing, but a collaborative doing. Chapter Two explores Conrad's criticism of Romantic individualism and his faith in community. In Conrad individuals are not portrayed as heroic in the Romantic style. Three types of Romantic heroic figures are belittled by Conrad into beings with inherent weaknesses and, limitations. The heroes in Conrad's books are all past their prime and often are afflicted with a sense of weariness in life. The Romantic retainer figures that are experienced and help initiate youth into mature adulthood undergo radical transformation in the fictional world of Conrad. All guardians, mortal or immortal, private or public, are helpless and impotent to accomplish their job in protection and guidance. Even the heroic stature of the artist, who is acclaimed as a priest and truth teller by the Romantic poets, is undercut by Conrad. The artist in reality assumes the image of a common labourer who is-very likely to fail in his artistic endeavor for all his strenuous exertions. As a result, the Byronic heroes who fight single-handedly suffer great setbacks in the works of Conrad. It is suggested that mortal individuals are able to grow powerful and function effectually when they are united into a group. Collaborative work not only makes it possible for mortal individuals to triumph over the Nature and gain a sense of achievement but also helps endow their life with meaning and value even in failed missions. Though people are defeated, they harvest support, friendship and care which form an essential part of the meaning and purpose of life. To promote solidarity among weak individuals, Conrad lists pity and mercy as the most valuable moral qualities. It is the absence of such qualities that leads to individualism and precipitate tragedies.Conrad also harbors a deep doubt over the Romantic optimistic assumption about man's accessibility to final truth. The Romantics decry rationalism's exclusive reliance on abstraction in the disclosure of the world. They contend emotions and intuitive reflections offer a more trustworthy avenue to the secret of life and universe. Therefore, although they offer a somewhat mystical approach, the Romantics generally believe in man's capability in the revelation of final truth. Conrad, however, doesn't share such an optimistic outlook. Conrad employs innovative narrative strategies to dramatize a world of darkness, where human beings, though fallible, can usher flashes of illumination. Conrad's narrator is endowed with thematic implications which convey his profound epistemological inquires. On the one hand, the absolute authority of the omniscient narrator is confirmed. His all-inclusive view is used as a foil to show a limited perspective and the resultant ignorance of human beings. On the other hand, the omniscient narrator's authority is dismissed. He is transformed into an unreliable narrator. In so doing Conrad erodes the absolute authority of the omniscient narrator and ultimately frustrates people's traditional expectation of a final answer. The inherent limitations of human beings are exposed'in Conrad's character narrators, which affect the validity of their judgments and make their observations questionable. Narrative structure is another device Conrad uses to dismantle the Romantic delusion of final truth. Conrad abandons and disrupts structural completeness in some of his works to reinforce the sense of lingering confusion he builds up with his unique characterization of narrators. Along with Conrad's daring transformation of narrative devices, there are instances of his compliance with conventional devices. Stories written in chronological order and complete formal structure are indicative of Conrad's belief that man may not be able to obtain final truth but can attain fragments of truths through his efforts.