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 64
Page 2
... seems that Eros did not play an important part in Conrad's spiritual life. It is impossible to tell why; we know too little of that aspect of his life even to attempt to answer the question whether this resulted from some traits of ...
... seems that Eros did not play an important part in Conrad's spiritual life. It is impossible to tell why; we know too little of that aspect of his life even to attempt to answer the question whether this resulted from some traits of ...
Page 6
... seems to see Conrad's fictional (and, doubtless, biographical) world as one devoid of sexual secrets and complex sexualities. Although Conrad is composed of two men, they seem equally lacking so far as a sexual life is concerned. It is ...
... seems to see Conrad's fictional (and, doubtless, biographical) world as one devoid of sexual secrets and complex sexualities. Although Conrad is composed of two men, they seem equally lacking so far as a sexual life is concerned. It is ...
Page 11
... seems to have been unwilling to talk about this. Josef Retinger, in his 1941 memoir Conrad and his Contemporaries, reports that 'Once I questioned him about the love affairs of his youth, which he must have had, and pointed out that in ...
... seems to have been unwilling to talk about this. Josef Retinger, in his 1941 memoir Conrad and his Contemporaries, reports that 'Once I questioned him about the love affairs of his youth, which he must have had, and pointed out that in ...
Page 12
... seems to have used a POWCI'fiJl age-filter on his own mental camera. Meyer also argues for the existence of a recurrent pattern in the fiction that involves — at its simplest level — strong women and weak men. It is possible to go ...
... seems to have used a POWCI'fiJl age-filter on his own mental camera. Meyer also argues for the existence of a recurrent pattern in the fiction that involves — at its simplest level — strong women and weak men. It is possible to go ...
Page 13
... seems to be happening is that — especially in the period of his concentrated greatness, 1897—1900, from The Nigger to Lord Jim — Conrad makes 'mistakes' by failing to perform the kind of 'screening' that is performed more or less ...
... seems to be happening is that — especially in the period of his concentrated greatness, 1897—1900, from The Nigger to Lord Jim — Conrad makes 'mistakes' by failing to perform the kind of 'screening' that is performed more or less ...
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