Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism

JOSEPH CONRAD

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Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism SERIES EDITOR: Ross C Murfin

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre EDITED BY Beth Newman, Southern Methodist University

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights EDITED BY Linda H. Peterson, Yale University

Geoffiey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath EDITED BY Peter G. Beidler, Lehigh University

Kate Chopin, The Awakening EDITED BY Nancy A. Walker, Vanderbilt University

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Second Edition EDITED BY Ross C Murfin, University of Miami

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations EDITED BY Janice Carlisle, Tulane University

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter EDITED BY Ross C Murfin, University of Miami

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw EDITED BY Peter G. Beidler, Lehigh University

James Joyce, The Dead EDITED BY Daniel R. Schwarz, Cornell University

James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man EDITED BY R. B. Kershner, University of Florida

William Shakespeare, Hamlet EDITED BY Susanne L. Wofford, University ofWisconsin-Madison

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein EDITED BY Johanna M. Smith, University of Texas at Arlington

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver)s Travels EDITED BY Christopher Fox, University of Notre Dame

Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth EDITED BY Shari Benstock, University of Miami

Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism SERIES EDITOR: Ross C Murfin, University of Miami

JOSEPH CONRAD Heart of Darkness

Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts,

Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives

SECOND EDITION

EDITED BY

Ross CMurfm University of Miami

Macmillan Education ,..

For Bedford Books President and Publisher: Charles H. Christensen General Manager and Associate Publisher: Joan E. Feinberg Managing Editor: Elizabeth M. Schaaf Developmental Editor: Stephen A. Scipione Editorial Assistant: Mark Reimold Production Editor: Karen S. Baart Copyeditor: Nancy Bell Scott Text Design: Sandra Rigney, The Book Department Cover Design: Richard Emery Design, Inc. Cover Art: Cotton and silk wrapper (Asante peoples, Ghana). Photo­graph by Franko Khoury. National Museum of African Art, Eliot Elisofon Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-80800 Copyright © 1996 by BEDFORD BOOKS of St. Martin's Press All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a re­trieval system, or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, me­chanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as may be expressly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or in writing by the Publisher. Manufactured in the United States of America. 0 9 f e

8 7 d c

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For information, write: St. Martin's Press, Inc. 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 Editorial Offices: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116

ISBN 978-0-333-65707-2 ISBN 978-1-349-14016-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-14016-9

Published and distributed outside North America by:

MACMILLAN PRESS LTD. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world.

ISBN: 978-0-333-65707-2

Acknowledgments Acknowledgments and copyrights are at the back of the book on page 315, which con­

stitutes an extension of the copyright page. It is a violation of the law to reproduce these se­lections by any means whatsoever without the written permission of the copyright holder.

About the Series

Volumes in the Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series provide college students with an entree into the current critical and theoretical ferment in literary studies. Each volume reprints the com­plete tq:~ of a classic literary work and presents critical essays that ap­proach the work from different theoretical perspectives, together with the editors' introductions to both the literary work and the critics' theoretical perspectives.

The volume editor of each Case Study has selected and prepared an authoritative text of the classic work, written an introduction to the work's biographical and historical contexts, and surveyed the critical responses to the work since its initial publication. Thus situated bio­graphically, historically, and critically, the work is examined in five critical essays, each representing a theoretical perspective of impor­tance to contemporary literary studies. These essays, prepared espe­cially for undergraduates, show theory in praxis; whether written by established scholars or exceptional young critics, they demonstrate how current theoretical approaches can generate compelling readings of great literature.

As series editor, I have prepared introductions, with bibliogra­phies, to the theoretical perspectives represented in the five critical es­says. Each introduction presents the principal concepts of a particular theory in their historical context and discusses the major figures and

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key works that have influenced their formulation. It is my hope that these introductions will reveal to students that effective criticism is in­formed by a set of coherent assumptions, and will encourage them to recognize and examine their own assumptions about literature. After each introduction, a selective bibliography presents a partially anno­tated list of important works from the literature of the particular theo­retical perspective, including the most recent and readily available edi­tions and translations of the works cited in the introduction. Finally, I have compiled a glossary of key terms that recur in these volumes and in the discourse of contemporary theory and criticism. We hope that the Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series will reaffirm the richness of its literary works, even as it introduces invigorating new ways to mine their apparently inexhaustible wealth.

Ross C Murfin Series Editor

University of Miami

About This Volume

Part One of this volume reprints the text of Heart of Darkness from the 1921 Heinemann edition of Conrad's Collected Works- the last version of the text that Conrad approved.

Part Two includes five contemporary critical essays on Heart of Darkness, representing reader-response, deconstructionist, feminist and gender, new historicist, and cultural approaches to Conrad's most famous tale. Three of the essays- reader-response, feminist and gen­der, and new historicist - were specifically written for this edition.

New to This Edition

I undertook a second edition to make this Case Study of Heart of Darkness a more useful and current resource for introducing students to the latest trends in contemporary criticism. Both the reader­response and the cultural essays are new, reflecting recent develop­ments in those fields of theory. The feminist essay of the first edition has been revised to encompass a more contemporary gender perspec­tive, and the new historicist essay has been updated. All of the intro­ductions and bibliographies to the critical approaches have been sig­nificantly revised. The critical history now extends well into the 1990s, and also discusses Chinua Achebe's "An Image of Africa: Conrad's

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Heart of Darkness," which has been so influential in recent postcolo­nial and cultural investigations of Conrad's work.

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to those whose comments have improved the intro­ductions to the critical approaches: Shari Benstock, Patrick Brant­linger, Janice Carlisle, Steven Mailloux, J. Hillis Miller, Margot Nor­ris, and Brook Thomas. I am deeply grateful to the authors of the critical essays, especially Peter J. Rabinowitz for his new reader­response essay, and Johanna Smith and Brook Thomas for the revisions of their respective essays from the first edition of this Case Study. I continue to appreciate the exemplary help of the people at Bedford Books, especially Chuck Christensen, Joan Feinberg, Steve Scipione, Elizabeth Schaaf, Karen Baart, Laura Arcari, and Mark Reimold. At the University of Miami, I would like to thank my staff assistant, Tracy Helenbrook, for her extraordinary competence, diligence, and good cheer. Patricia Woodward tutored me on the subject of gender studies and helped me develop the bibliography in that area. This book is dedicated to Supryia Ray, whose research habits, editorial acumen, de­bating skills, and unfailing, friendly support made it possible for me to revise and update the introductions to all five critical approaches represented in this volume.

Contents

About the Series v

About This Volume VII

PART ONE Heart of Darkness:

The Complete Text

Introduction: Biographical and Historical Contexts 3

The Complete Text 17

PART TWO Heart of Darkness:

A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism

A Critical History of Heart of Darkness 99

Reader-Response Criticism and Heart of Darkness us What Is Reader-Response Criticism? II5 Reader- Response Criticism: A Selected Bibliography 127

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A Reader-Response Perspective: PETER J. RABINOWITZ, Reader Response, Reader Responsibility: Heart of Darkness and the Politics of Displacement 131

Feminist and Gender Criticism and Heart of Darkness 148

What Are Feminist and Gender Criticism? 148 Feminist and Gender Criticism: A Selected Bibliography 162 A Feminist and Gender Perspective:

JOHANNA M. SMITH, "Too Beautiful Altogether": Ideologies of Gender and Empire in Heart of Darkness 169

Deconstruction and Heart of Darkness 185

What Is Deconstruction? 185 Deconstruction: A Selected Bibliography 201 A Deconstructive Perspective:

J. HILLIS MILLER, Heart of Darkness Revisited 206

The New Historicism and Heart of Darkness 221

What Is the New Historicism? 221 The New Historicism: A Selected Bibliography 233 A New Historicist Perspective:

BROOK THOMAS, Preserving and Keeping Order by Killing Time in Heart of Darkness 239

Cultural Criticism and Heart of Darkness 258

What Is Cultural Criticism? 258 Cultural Criticism: A Selected Bibliography 272 A Cultural Perspective:

PATRICK BRANTLINGER, Heart of Darkness: Anti-Imperialism, Racism, or Impressionism? 2 77

Glossary of Critical and Theoretical Terms 299

About the Contributors 313

Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism

JOSEPH CONRAD

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