A Research On Ambiguities In The Creation Of Joseph Conrad’s Fiction

Conrad is not just a high-profile novelist,but also a novelist who lives in the intense debate and controversy.Since the emergence of Conrad’s novels,there are disputes among domestic and foreign critics on many issues.Rich and varied interpretation of the works has brought different views of the writer positioning.Spanning more than a century,Critics are still unable to define Conrad clearly,and they still impossible to draw a conclusion on many aspects of his contradictory thought.Because Conrad is not unitary and clear in terms of personality connotation,value orientation,ideology or creative style,which is ambiguous,fallible and often self-contradictory with multiple complex meanings instead.This ambiguous contradiction is not only reflected in the various textual puzzles that Conrad sets in the process of writing the novel,but also reflected in Conrad’s fragmented multi-faceted ideology and readers’ various critical interpretations of the text based on individual experiences.In order to deeply and accurately analyze this kind of comprehensive contradiction phenomenon that closely unites those three aspects,this thesis is analyzed and explained by William Empson’s ambiguity theory.Through the close reading of the text,we can find and dig out the deep ideological background and the author’s deep original intention under the expression of Conrad’s textual ambiguous discourse.Although writers in a period of social and historical transition tend to have varying degrees of ambiguity,compared with other writers’,Conrad’s features of ambiguity are obviously more obscure and profound,and also more ideological and international.Therefore,it is very necessary and feasible to take ambiguity of Conrad’s novel creation as the research object and research direction.This thesis consists of four chapters except for the introduction and the conclusion.The introduction part introduces the reason and significance of the topic selection.It is believed that the controversy caused by the complex meaning and ambiguity of Conrad’s novel creation is universally recognized.One of the important reasons is the solidification of the research stand and the single research perspective;the series of philosophical and humanistic thinking contained in Conrad’s novels has not been effectively explored.It also limits the deepening and expansion of Conrad’s research from another aspect.Based on this,The author of this thesis decided that "A Research on Ambiguities in the creation of Joseph Conrad’s Fiction " was selected as the topic of the thesis,who intend to borrow the research category and method of the new criticism school of "Ambiguity",take the"Ambiguity" of Conrad’s novel creation as the research object,and use the thought and humanities behind the ambiguity of Conrad’s novel creation as the starting point,looking back and interpreting the complexity,ambiguity and contradiction in Conrad’s novel creation,it is discovered the concern about human civilization and a series of philosophical and humanistic thoughts contained in Conrad’s novel creation,so as to comprehensively understand such a rational and great novelist,and make a contribution to the study of Conrad in the new global vision.According to the study of Conrad’s writing style,the study of Conrad’s ideological orientation,the evaluation of Conrad’s works and the evaluation of Conrad,this paper combs the research on the contradiction,multiplicity,complexity of Conrad’s novels and spiritual culture.Finally,the academic innovation,research ideas and research framework of this topic are introduced.The first chapter discusses analysis of ambiguous characters.This thesis analyzes the appearance of ambiguity of the characters in Conrad’s novels from the three aspects of the multiple personalities of the characters in Conrad’s novels,the contradictory images of "heroes" and "anti-heroes",and the differences between the images of "self" and "others".Starting from text analysis,it deeply analyzes and discovers Conrad’s ambiguity in the characterization of characters.We find that the creation of characters with multiple personalities and often facing moral conflicts is an important manifestation of the "Ambiguity of Reference" frame of Conrad’s novel creation,which has obvious polysemous and aesthetic functions.The thesis also points out that Conrad used superb writing techniques to portray the inner shaking and character defects of the various characters in his novel,which caused great uncertainty in the inner of the characters.This kind of uncertainty is interspersed with the development of entire storyline,which makes the meaning of the whole text become ambiguous and polysemous.He revealed the complexity and contradiction of human nature and personality through deep excavation and broad understanding,and describe the cultural differences and contradictions of different cultural groups under different cultural backgrounds,which has important cultural anthropological significance.The thesis also points out that Conrad’s novels break away from the traditional stereotyped character image creation,and created a large number of three-dimensional figures with rich and complex images,so that readers can appreciate the sense of alienation,sense of vicissitudes,sense of despair,and the characters image become plump and mellow,which provides an opportunity for the transformation of the Characters in English novels from the traditional to the modern.The thesis also points out that although the various races and groups created by Conrad are opposite,none of them is absolutely sanctified or demonized,both aspects of human nature restricted to each other on an independent individual,changing at any time,but opposite and interdependent.This kind of contradictory character image makes readers unsure about understanding the author’s intention,consequently have doubts and hesitations,and difficult to make a clear judgment on Conrad’s ideological tendency.The combination of the opposing plot of the text,the struggle of the author’s creative psychology,and the reader’s uncertain reading experience,ultimately generates the core meaning,which can make us understand that the purpose of Conrad’s character creation is not focus on individual people,but to reveal the human nature of the entire human being through the ambiguous depiction of various characters.The second chapter discusses ambiguous meaning referred to pessimism and optimism.This chapter explores the ambiguous meaning from the two dimensions of the pessimism and the optimistic spirit of Conrad’s novels.Judging from the initial experience of the text of Conrad’s novels,his works are full of strong pessimism;moreover,Conrad’s pessimism is different from many writers.His pessimism is more complicated,and stronger.The thesis presents Conrad’s rational thinking on society,history and existence from two aspects:the presentation of pessimism in Conrad’s novels and the subjective selection of characters.Conrad expressed his skepticism and pessimism by digging out the Mental fragmentation and alienation of the characters.His pessimistic anti-rational world outlook and political outlook highlight his distinctive pessimistic characteristics.At the same time,it also allows us to see the human’s active resistance to fate,showing the whole process of human’s transformation from doubt to thinking,from thinking and resistance to human consciousness.The thesis holds that Conrad’s pessimism is not only pessimism itself,but also indomitable struggle in Conrad’s novels.He is using pessimism as an incision,implanting youthful vitality and hope for tomorrow.His pessimism contains reflections on the times and life,which shows the dynamic and optimistic future of human nature.The juxtaposition of pessimism and optimism and the two plots,one bright and one dark,enrich the meaning of the text and immerse readers in it.Therefore,Conrad constructs the ambiguous of pessimism and optimism with the rich,complex and strong pessimism,which contains dynamic and energetic optimism.The third chapter discusses the ambiguous expression of colonialism and anti-colonialism.Conrad discusses the dispute of the century from three aspects:the double-sided text of the colonizer and the colonized person in Conrad’s novels,the interpretation of the contradiction between colonialism and anti-colonialism,and Interpretation of the interpreter’s interpretation of the contradiction between colonialism and anti-colonialism.The thesis holds that the critics have diametrically opposed evaluations and controversies about Conrad’s attitude towards colonialism,which is related to the narrative text of Conrad’s novels.Conrad often uses contradictory ambiguous in his narratives about colonial and anti-colonial content.and each narrative clue of dual narrative has two versions,positive and negative.In a large number of vivid stories,whether you are looking for the meaning of colonialism or anti-colonialism,you will find it anywhere in the novel text.In this case,different commentators,based on different positions and different discourse systems,will naturally come to different conclusions.Therefore,in order to avoid the ambiguous interpretation of the contradiction between colonialism and anti-colonialism,we should put aside the traditional discourse system,return to the era of Conrad’s existence,and re-understand Conrad’s novels from the origin.Through the description of Conrad’s age of existence and his mode of thinking,the analysis of the worries about the declining Europe,and his rational understanding of Africa and the East,this thesis expounds in detail how Conrad pays attention to the future of the colonial world and how he observes and thinks about the future destiny of globalization.The thesis argues that the contradictory nature of Conrad’s novels can be said to be the setting of critics in a certain sense.The brutality of the colonizers described by Conrad can be regarded as a critique of imperialism,the ignorance of the colonized people described by Conrad can be regarded as a colonial eye,and the different pictures in his description can also be understood as the contradictions of his works,but what we should pay more attention to is that Conrad’s panoramic description of the colonizers and the colonized is not simply affirmative or negative,nor is it intended to show the so-called "contradiction",but to abandoned the dominant"Western-centrism" at that time.With a global perspective,this kind of description has a comprehensive and in-depth insight into history and reality,especially the in-depth understanding of the world outside the "civilized world" that is dismissed by mainstream Western writers,responds to historical questions of the changing pattern of civilization,and to realizes the reflection on the destiny of human civilization.The fourth chapter discusses the ambiguity of intent between the Male chauvinism and female consciousness.It focuses on analyzing the male narrative perspective and the positioning of female caregiver in Conrad’s novels.On this basis,it makes a rational reflection on Conrad’s intentional ambiguity on this issue.We cannot simply and directly determine whether Conrad is a patriarchal writer,or a writer who values the existence of women and has a feminine consciousness,because from the perspective of the novel text,the two aspects of thinking often coexist and influence each other.His understanding and awareness of women and men are intertwined and ambiguous,indicating the author’s complicated state of mind.This kind of intentional ambiguity confuses readers and makes critics very contradictory.The traditional patriarchal hegemony and the emerging feminist discourse affect Conrad,making his thought and character become ambiguous and vague.We need to reorganize the male narrative perspective and female care in the text of his novels,and then conduct a dialectical and comprehensive rational consideration,and find Conrad’s true intentions from the contradictory representations of the various meanings set by him.The thesis argues that Conrad has always emphasized the uncertainty of the human situation and he is a skeptical writer.For the male discourse in his novels,we need to think historically,judge objectively,and analyze in multiple dimensions.Conrad’s understanding of men’s and women’s views and human dilemmas should not be misinterpreted.It’s important to note that Conrad’s skepticism is a suspicion facing the individual as well as a suspicion facing life and the world.It is not only limited to doubts about women,but also points to various patriarchal authorities,and even includes doubts about divinity.The conclusion discusses the literary value of Conrad’s novels,analyzes and summarizes the cause of the ambiguity in Conrad’s novels.This part concludes that Conrad is not only a great writer,but also an avant-garde thinker.He did not stop at the objective expression of the ambiguity,but sought the true meaning of the future world from it.The reconsideration of Conrad’s novel creation reflects the opening of globalization and a series of contradictions faced by globalization.This is a portrayal of Conrad’s global vision.Although he lived in the 19th century,he foreshadows the new world pattern in the coming century.He has a global vision that other writers cannot match,and his thinking and understanding are ahead of his time,while Conrad’s various thoughts and cognitions ahead of his time are realized through the ambiguous of his novel creation.In the study of Conrad,taking this as the breakthrough point to launch relevant work,the various differences on the study of the ambiguity of his novel creation and the layers of mists shrouded in it may be resolved in an entirely new light.