warp & woof,

[Terrance]

Otto Sell wrote:
> 
> Terrance,
> I'm not at all taking Achebe's point (as you describe it) which is far too
> undifferentiated, misjudging Conrad at all, his works and his life.
> I said he was "still infected" - meaning not free of it. But without any
> doubt there are major differences between Conrad and. let's say Kipling
> (whom he is often linked to or compared with), political, ethical and in the
> question of literary class which at last is the most important point and
> this Achebe seems to have forgotten absolutely. It's easy stating something
> as he did instead of reading the texts. I'm sure he gives no quotes to
> support his point.
> 
> Otto

I don't think the Achebe essay should be omitted from the
Norton HoD 4th  because   racism, colonial bias, if they are
present in the story or not, present in the  narrative
voic(s), the symbolism, or not, or in Conrad's biography,
letters, diaries or not,  is not worth discovering and
writing about. In fact, people have been writing about these
since the story was first published and they continue to do
so. Achebe's strident essay is just the most popular. 

Achebe provides plenty of quotes but doing so doesn't make
an argument a good argument. 

I don't think that Achebe has forgotten something, he makes
many of the same points you have, he says, it's not Conrad's
fault, he was born 1857, christians... and so on.