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
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Page 2
... sexual potency or sexual desire. Retinger, incidentally, used a similar formulation when asked by Ian Watt whether Conrad had had any extramarital affairs. In an article written jointly with John Halvorson Watt reports that 'Retinger ...
... sexual potency or sexual desire. Retinger, incidentally, used a similar formulation when asked by Ian Watt whether Conrad had had any extramarital affairs. In an article written jointly with John Halvorson Watt reports that 'Retinger ...
Page 6
... desire; - therefore sexuality does not play a significant role in his fiction. The second of the three views that I mention at the start of this Introduction was stated in its clearest — and most widely influential — form by Thomas C ...
... desire; - therefore sexuality does not play a significant role in his fiction. The second of the three views that I mention at the start of this Introduction was stated in its clearest — and most widely influential — form by Thomas C ...
Page 9
... desire for Herrnann's niece imposes itself on him and will not be restrained by social taboo or cultural convention. But Conrad is careful to make it clear that what Falk experiences for the girl is not mere sexual desire, not just lust ...
... desire for Herrnann's niece imposes itself on him and will not be restrained by social taboo or cultural convention. But Conrad is careful to make it clear that what Falk experiences for the girl is not mere sexual desire, not just lust ...
Page 11
... sexual desire does not play a key role in the development of its plot, whether this desire is overt and recognized by the person who experiences it, as for example with the triangle of Taminah, Nina and Dain Maroola in Almayer's Folly ...
... sexual desire does not play a key role in the development of its plot, whether this desire is overt and recognized by the person who experiences it, as for example with the triangle of Taminah, Nina and Dain Maroola in Almayer's Folly ...
Page 13
... desire flash intermittently along wires designed primarily to carry other messages. The unmentioned subject, sexual desire, and especially homosexual desire, escapes the vigilance of the artist searching afier the elusive mot juste ...
... desire flash intermittently along wires designed primarily to carry other messages. The unmentioned subject, sexual desire, and especially homosexual desire, escapes the vigilance of the artist searching afier the elusive mot juste ...
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