A Study Of Joseph Conrad’s Impressionist Writing Techniques In His Sea Stories

As a representative of Impressionistic writers,Joseph Conrad(1857-1924)always seeks to use sensory words in his works,and to depict situations that are extremely harsh or desperate.He holds that all art depends on sense perception and that a writer should awaken the reader’s sensations and feelings.He claims that as a writer his “task is,by the power of written word,to make you hear,to make you feel—it is,before all,to make you see! ” and that “the moral discovery should be the object of every tale”.This thesis,based on textual analysis of Conrad’s three sea stories,“Typhoon”,“Falk”,and The Shadow-Line,attempts to explore how Conrad employs his Impressionist writing techniques to describe characters’ senses and to reveal truth.This thesis reviews researches on Conrad’s Impressionist writing technique,and finds deviant focus from Conrad’s art pursuit.According to his own view on story-writing,Conrad cares about revealing reality most.Based on textual analysis,this thesis holds a view that,by the dynamic interplay of multi-dimensional sensory description in every sense,including visual,auditory,gustatory,olfactory and tactile sense,as well as their subdivisions,Conrad establishes different symbolic meaning and presents a vivid picture of desperate situation which is often beyond human’s control and presents the loneliness of the human individual in this often indifferent world.In these sea stories,at text and content level,Conrad points out epistemological predicament of mankind,that is the impossibility of achieving absolute reality.Conrad suggests that humans resort to subjectivity,get connected and build community solidarity,foronly by this way can human overcome merciless world.This epistemological suggestion of Conrad is still of great value for readers today.