Research Catalog

Title

Joseph Conrad and the anthropological dilemma : "bewildered traveller" / John W. Griffith.

Author

Griffith, John W. (John Wylie), 1964-

Publication

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 248 pages; 23 cm.

Summary

• This is the first detailed analysis of Conrad's early works in relation to nineteenth-century anthropology, Victorian travel writing, and contemporary anthropological theory.
• Conrad's early fiction originated as a response to his travels in so-called primitive cultures: Malaysia, Borneo, and the Congo. As a sensitive observer of other peoples and a notable emigre, he was profoundly aware of the psychological impact of travel, and much of his early fiction portrays both literal and figurative voyages of Europeans into other cultures. By situating Conrad's work in relation to other writings on 'primitive' peoples, John Griffith shows how his fiction draws on prominent anthropological and biological theories regarding the degenerative potential of contacts between European and other cultures. At the same time, however, Conrad's work reflected an anthropological dilemma: he constantly posed the question of how to bridge conceptual and cultural gaps between various peoples. As John Griffith demonstrates, this was a dilemma which coincided with a larger Victorian debate regarding the progression or retrogression of European civilization.

Series Statement

Oxford English monographs

Uniform Title

Oxford English monographs

Subject

• Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924 > Knowledge and learning
• Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924
• Conrad, Joseph
• Conrad, Joseph, (1857-1924) > Et l'ethnologie
• Travel in literature
• Anthropology in literature
• Ethnology in literature
• Culture in literature
• 18.05 English literature
• Anthropology
• Reiseliteratur
• Anthropologie
• Ethnologie
• Reisbeschrijvingen
• Cultuurschok
• Interculturele vergelijking
• Heart of darkness (Conrad)
• Culturele antropologie
• Voyage > Dans la littérature
• Primitivisme > Dans la littérature
• Anthropologie > Dans la littérature
• Ethnologie > Dans la littérature
• Culture > Dans la littérature

Note

• Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Oxford University.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [231]-244) and index.

Contents

Introduction: 'Bewildered Traveller': The Anthropological Dilemma in Joseph Conrad's Fiction -- 1. Transcultural Identification: The Anthropological Dilemma in Heart of Darkness and Victorian Anthropology -- 2. Cultural Immersion and Culture Shock in Conrad's Fiction -- 3. 'Pioneers of Trade and Progress': Conrad's Civilization and its Discontents -- 4. The Rise and Fall of Empires: Heart of Darkness and Historical Cycles in the Victorian Era -- 5. 'Going Native', Coming Home: 'Decivilization' in Heart of Darkness and Conrad's Malaysian Novels -- 6. Nordau's Degeneration and Lombroso's Atavism in Heart of Darkness and 'Falk' -- 7. Anthropology's Impact on Evolution and Ethics in the Victorian Era -- 8. Tribes and Detribalization: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.

ISBN

• 0198183003
• 9780198183006
• 0585072019
• 9780585072012

LCCN

94045316

OCLC

• ocm31709745
• 31709745
• SCSB-14578466

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library