Joseph Conrad and the reader : questioning modern theories of narrative and readership / Amar Acheraïou.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Acheraïou, Amar.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924--Criticism and interpretation.

Conrad, Joseph.

Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924.

Narration (Rhetoric)--History--20th century.

Narration (Rhetoric).

History.

Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924--Technique.

Technique.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

x, 233 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke [England] ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Summary:

"Joseph Conrad and the Reader is the first book fully devoted to Conrad's relation to the reader, visual theory and authorship. This challenging study proposes new approaches to modern literary criticism and deftly examines the limits of deconstructionist theories, introducing groundbreaking new theoretical concepts of reading and reception"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I Theoretical Perspectives

1 Conrad's Conception of Authorship: Probing the Implications and Limits of the Death-of-the-Author Theory 11

Part II Reception Theory: Reading as a Cultural and Ideological Construct

2 Polish Responses: Art and the Ethics of Collectivity 25

3 British Reception: Englishness and the Act of Reading 49

Part III Aesthetic Ramifications, Narrative Entanglements, and Fictional Readers

4 Conrad's Visual Aesthetics: Classical and Modern Connections 69

5 A Cartography of Conrad's Fictional Readers: Reading Hierarchy in Lord Jim, 'Heart of Darkness', Nostromo, and Victory 94

6 Narrative Solidarity and Competition for Truth and Signification 110

7 Conrad and the Construction of the Reader: Tension between Democratic Vision and Aristocratic Leaning 123

8 Narrative Self-Consciousness and the Act of Reading: Examining Under Western Eyes through the Lens of the Poetics of Fielding, Sterne, and Diderot 143

8.1 Fielding, Sterne, and Diderot: literary novelty, verisimilitude, and truth 143

8.2 Fielding, Sterne, Diderot, and Conrad: moral and aesthetic didacticism 150

8.3 Dramatic impulse in Under Western Eyes: text as stage, reader as active spectator 161

8.4 Narrative shock tactics: the ethics of negativity and the role of the reader 167.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9780230228115

0230228119

OCLC:

457771074