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 41
... sort of home life . ( 1926 , 24-5 ) In her second memoir , Jessie adds a comment that invites interpretation but that provides no help in setting bounds to that activity - although the comment on Conrad's fidelity should be noted . I ...
... sort of divide among critics as have Freudian and neo- Freudian readings of The Turn of the Screw , it has had two signal effects . The first of these is that it has transformed ' Il Conde ' into a far more complex , artful , and ...
... sort of blue nightmare traversed by stinks and perfumes [ ... ] ' [ CL3 , 241 ] . We may remember the Count's perfumed moustache at this point , while ' biblical ' may well be a coded reference to homosexuality . ) In a letter to Ada ...
... sort of reputation that invited readers to look for sexual sub - plots - especially of an illicit or tabooed nature – in his works . But because readers were able to remain satisfied with innocent ' surface ' readings of Conrad's works ...
... sort of thing - the waiters had discovered abandoned outside the dining - room door . Our gold - laced door - keeper recognized it and I heard him directing one of the lift boys to run after Il Conde with it ' ( 269-70 ) . Perhaps the ...
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 |