Joseph Conrad, Au coeur des ténèbres

Résumé du document

Heart of Darkness can be analyzed under the specter of the battle between two schools of artists keeping their own specific vision of art. The first considers that art must remain an aesthetic support, only seeking to communicate emotion and display beauty; this school advocates art for art's sake. The second considers that art should be a means to introduce an idea or to fight for a cause, that is to say that art has not only an aesthetic purpose but also a political influence.
In a way, at the beginning of the 20th century, Conrad is the heir to this controversy. He does not face revolutions but another prevalent issue: colonization. He directly witnessed Europeans leaving the continent to travel to every part of the world and mainly Africa. In Heart of Darkness, he displays the evolution of Marlow, a young British sailor travelling on a ship to Congo to find a colonialist called Kurtz. Then, where does Conrad stand in the battle opposing two visions of art?

Extraits

[...] Considering his 1901 statement business of a work striving to be art is not to teach, to prophesy, nor to pronounce a definite conclusion”, it seems that he rather park in the art for the art's sake supporters' side. Indeed, the sentence p. 97: you see the story? Do you see anything? It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream. [ ] No it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence that which makes its truth, its meaning- its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. [...]

[...] There is no value judgement in Conrad's description. He wants us to feel the strong emotion of such an impressive character. However, in many places in the book, we find some critics such as p.70, talking about some colonialists: “They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what they got. It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at blind”. Is it a betrayal from his 1901 statement: is not it a kind a definite conclusion? [...]

[...] There Conrad compares colonialists to mean burglars. Conrad presents us p the character of an aristocrat coming to Africa make money, of course” as this one said. And this character adopts a scornful attitude towards Marlow so we are prompt not to appreciate his behaviour and then to dislike the kind of grasping people. Finally, Kurtz's last words before he dies are horror! The horror! ”which can be seen as an ultimate critics towards colonization. Kurtz died in Congo after he dedicated his life to mission”. [...]

[...] Clearly, here Conrad let the doors of the discussion open. Related to the issue of colonization, because it is what Marlow has in mind when he states the previous phrase, the sentence means that Conrad does not want to bring a definite judgement. He claims that what we are witness of cannot be objectively judged since the truth cannot be found. Moreover, the whole story of Heart of Darkness is a long search and quest for Kurtz which can symbolize the truth or the sense of a senseless world. [...]

[...] They saw colonization as a duty. Other good views of colonization can be found in the book like when Kurtz's widow says p.162 that his death is loss for the world” since Kurtz was useful in the development of African people. P a sailor glorifies Kurtz saying that is a prodigy. He is an emissary of pity and science and progress, and devil knows what else”. The readers can identify to these ideas and characters which could be found in the British society. [...]