Sexuality and the Erotic in the Fiction of Joseph ConradAwarded third place for The Adam Gillon Book Award in Conrad Studies 2009 The book presents a sustained critique of the interlinked (and contradictory) views that the fiction of Joseph Conrad is largely innocent of any interest in or concern with sexuality and the erotic, and that when Conrad does attempt to depict sexual desire or erotic excitement then this results in bad writing. Jeremy Hawthorn argues for a revision of the view that Conrad lacks understanding of and interest in sexuality. He argues that the comprehensiveness of Conrad's vision does not exclude a concern with the sexual and the erotic, and that this concern is not with the sexual and the erotic as separate spheres of human life, but as elements dialectically related to those matters public and political that have always been recognized as central to Conrad's fictional achievement. The book will open Conrad's fiction to readings enriched by the insights of critics and theorists associated with Gender Studies and Post-colonialism. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 13
Page 13
... actually, a far more knowing author than Harpham portrays him to be, one more in control of his meanings, and one more deliberate and knowledgeable in his portrayal of sexuality. What I do not want to do in the pages Introduction 13.
... actually, a far more knowing author than Harpham portrays him to be, one more in control of his meanings, and one more deliberate and knowledgeable in his portrayal of sexuality. What I do not want to do in the pages Introduction 13.
Page 17
... knowing reading of 'II Conde' has effectively destroyed the innocent one. And while the emergence of the knowing reading of 'II Conde' has not led to the same sort of divide among critics as have Freudian and neoFreudian readings of The ...
... knowing reading of 'II Conde' has effectively destroyed the innocent one. And while the emergence of the knowing reading of 'II Conde' has not led to the same sort of divide among critics as have Freudian and neoFreudian readings of The ...
Page 20
... knowing way, without ever quite managing so to do. Dolan sees the tale as 'an exact analogue of the nursery rhyme tragedy of “Little Miss Muffett”. Their common theme is the fragility and impermanence of comfort and security in this ...
... knowing way, without ever quite managing so to do. Dolan sees the tale as 'an exact analogue of the nursery rhyme tragedy of “Little Miss Muffett”. Their common theme is the fragility and impermanence of comfort and security in this ...
Page 24
... knowing' reading is made public (James's governess does not see ghosts, they are the product of her sexual frustrations; Conrad's Count is not a saintly old man but a gay roue' cruising for young men) the tale can never again be read in ...
... knowing' reading is made public (James's governess does not see ghosts, they are the product of her sexual frustrations; Conrad's Count is not a saintly old man but a gay roue' cruising for young men) the tale can never again be read in ...
Page 25
... knowing' Conrad is not the Conrad who was familiar to readers for most of the twentieth century. Thus the second answer to the question that I posed above is one that I have already suggested: the knowing reading of '11 Conde' took so ...
... knowing' Conrad is not the Conrad who was familiar to readers for most of the twentieth century. Thus the second answer to the question that I posed above is one that I have already suggested: the knowing reading of '11 Conde' took so ...
Contents
1 | |
17 | |
2 The exotic and the erotic in An Outcast of the Islands and Heart of Darkness | 61 |
3 The erotics of cruelty in A Smile of Fortune The Planter of Malata The Secret Agent Victory and Freya of the Seven Isles ... | 77 |
4 Voyeurism in The ShadowLine and Under Western Eyes | 131 |
Conclusion and? | 153 |
Notes | 159 |
Bibliography | 166 |
Index | 173 |
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Common terms and phrases
11 Conde Aissa Alice Jacobus Alice’s Almayer Arrow of Gold associated attractive Author’s Note captain captain-narrator chapter characters confirms Conrad’s fiction Count Crippen critics depicted elements erotic European exotic face feeling Felicia female femininity fictional figure final find first Freya Haldin Harpham Heart of Darkness Heemskirk heterosexual Heyst hints homosexual impotence innocent involves Islands Jacobus’s James’s Jessie Jim’s Jones Joseph Conrad knowing Lena looking Lord Jim male man’s Marlow masculine masochistic Mauritius murder narrative narrator narrator-captain Nathalie Nostromo novella obsession Outcast Oxford passage passion Planter of Malata Ransome Ransome’s Razumov reader reading relationship Renouard reports Retinger Ricardo sadism and masochism sadistic scene Schomberg Secret Agent seems sense sexual desire Shadow-Line shared ship significant Smile of Fortune sort story suggests symbolic tale teacher of languages Venus in Furs Verloc voyeurism Western Eyes Willems Willems’s Winnie woman women word World’s Classics Edition writhing writing young