Under Conrad's eyes : the novel as criticism / Michael John DiSanto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

DiSanto, Michael John, 1975-

Series:

McGill-Queen's studies in the history of ideas ; 47.

McGill-Queen's studies in the history of ideas ; 47

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Conrad, Joseph.

Criticism.

Physical Description:

1 electronic text (253 p.) : digital file.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Joseph Conrad's novels are recognized as great works of fiction, but they should also be counted as great works of criticism. A voracious reader throughout his life, Conrad wrote novels that question and transform the ideas he encountered in non-fiction, novels, and scientific and philosophic works. Under Conrad's Eyes looks at Conrad's revaluations of some of his important nineteenth-century predecessors - Carlyle, Darwin, Dickens, George Eliot, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche. Detailed readings of works from Heart of Darkness to Victory explore Conrad's language and style, focusing on questions regarding the will to know and the avoidance of knowledge, the potential harmfulness of sympathy, and the competing instincts for self-preservation and self-destruction. Comparative analyses show how Conrad transforms aspects of Bleak House into The Secret Agent and Middlemarch into Nostromo. Especially compelling are explorations of Conrad's ambivalence towards Carlyle's faith in work and hero-worship as rejuvenators of English culture and his views on Nietzsche's assault on Christianity. This important new study of a novelist of profound contemporary relevance demonstrates how Conrad exemplifies the artist as critic while challenging both the categories we impose on texts and the boundaries we erect between literary periods.

Contents:

Introduction: something of an intellectual

The dangers of Carlyle's heroic work in Heart of darkness

The despair of knowing in Bleak house and The secret agent

The trouble with sympathy in Middlemarch and Nostromo

Dostoevsky's last confession in Under western eyes

Living to die in Lord Jim

Conrad versus Nietzsche versus Christ

Conclusion: future work.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-282-86751-2

9786612867514

0-7735-7706-8

OCLC:

923235228