Achebe on Conrad

[jbor]

from 'Heart of Darkness: Ignorance and Racism' (author not cited):

http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/1255.html

"Joseph Conrad develops themes of personal power, individual responsibility,
and social justice in his book _Heart of Darkness_. His book has all the
trappings of the conventional adventure tale - mystery, exotic setting,
escape, suspense, unexpected attack. Chinua Achebe concluded, "Conrad, on
the other hand, is undoubtedly one of the great stylists of modern fiction
and a good story-teller into the bargain" (Achebe 252). Yet, despite
Conrad's great story telling, he has also been viewed as a racist by some of
his critics. Achebe, Singh, and Sarvan, although their criticism differ, are
a few to name."

[ ... ]

"Frances B. Singh, author of 'The Colonialistic Bias of Heart of Darkness'
said "The African natives, victims of Belgian exploitation, are described as
'shapes,' 'shadows,' and 'bundles of acute angles,' so as to show the
dehumanizing effect of colonialist rule on the ruled" (269-270). Another
similar incident of "double speak" appeared on the death of Marlow's
helmsman. Marlow respected the helmsman, yet when the native's blood poured
into Marlow's shoes, "To tell you the truth, I was morbidity anxious to
change my shoes and socks" (Conrad 47). How can someone respect yet feel
disgusted towards someone? Singh looks into this question by stating, "The
reason of course, is because he (Marlow) never completely grants them
(natives) human status: at the best they are a species of superior hyena"
(Singh 273)."


And from:

Conrad's image of Africa: Recovering African voices in Heart of Darkness
------------------------------------------------------------------------
by

Peter Mwikisa
University of Botswana

http://www.arts.uwa.edu.au/MotsPluriels/MP1300pmw.html

"Similarly Charles Sarvan and Wilson Harris patronizingly assume that Achebe
failed to grasp Conrad's real intention in _Heart of Darkness_. Sarvan, the
less severe of the two detractors, thinks that Achebe is rather rash in
identifying Conrad with Marlow, his narrator. Particularly pernicious is
Harris Wilson's conclusion that precisely because he is an African, Achebe
may have had difficulties appreciating the sophistication of Conrad's
vision, which requires that Kurtz be seen as a symbolic expression of the
danger of idealism being used to cover up and legitimate tyranny. The point
that Achebe makes in his lecture and which his detractors do not seem to
appreciate sufficiently, of course, is that Conrad does make all these
humanitarian and liberal claims. His point is that in doing so Conrad relies
on stereotypes that dehumanize and insult Africans. The problem then becomes
how to endorse the liberal ideals in his work without reinforcing at the
same time the prejudices that its stereotypes recycle. It is my contention
in this paper that the two cannot be separated and that to endorse the book
on grounds of its humanitarian pretensions is at the same time to recycle
stereotypes that reinforce racist reinventions of Africa."

[ ... ]

"It is possible that the need to preserve that image is at the heart of the
fact that some Western readers find Chinua Achebe's attack on the novel as
racist both shocking and hard to take. When Conrad wrote _Heart of
Darkness_, he did not foresee an African readership. Although he may have
written from the best liberal and humanitarian intentions, he was unaware
that the stereotypes and conventional attitudes about Africa that he took
for granted would one day, be confronted by a readership that would not
instantly recognize itself in them. It would probably have shocked Conrad to
hear that these images that he took for granted as a natural way of talking
about Africa may be "the Heart of Darkness." They are the source of the
unexamined idealism upon which the civilizing mission was based and the
seeds from which its betrayal among its agents in Africa inevitably grew.
Achebe was simply pointing _Heart of Darkness_ towards a long overdue
dialogue with people it projects as Europe's "others."
   However, a postcolonial interrogation of _Heart of Darkness_ need not be
restricted to pointing out the racist stereotypes and assumptions, which
underpin its image of Africa." [ ... ]


Other on-line essays:

http://www.digitalsquid.com/ambrosea/ambrosea/darkness/hod.htm

http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~scoggins/316british/heartofdarkness/reform.htm

"Achebe himself admits that Conrad tries to shield himself by having a
narrator tell Marlow's story, but in the end he believes that the lack of an
alternative frame of reference makes Marlow's view Conrad's. In the end,
Achebe concludes that because Conrad is such a blatant racist, _Heart of
Darkness_ cannot be considered art.
   Sarvan concedes that Conrad may not have been immune to the prevalent
racism of his day, but that he was a leader in changing popular opinion on
race." [ ... ]


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>From: Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>