@article{ART002177784},
author={Koo Seung-bon},
title={Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness},
journal={Cross-Cultural Studies},
issn={1598-0685},
year={2016},
volume={45},
pages={479-496},
doi={10.21049/ccs.2016.45..479}
TY - JOUR
AU - Koo Seung-bon
TI - Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
JO - Cross-Cultural Studies
PY - 2016
VL - 45
IS - null
PB - Center for Cross Culture Studies
SP - 479
EP - 496
SN - 1598-0685
AB - The aim of this essay was to investigate Marlow's desire for constructing enlightenment subject of knowledge and power sustained by the collusion of imperialism and patriarchy in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Marlow's narrative, based on his journey up the river in Africa to retrieve Kurtz, attempts to conceptualize himself as the subject of the enlightenment reason and rationality.
In the novella, collusive network of ideologies of empire and gender contributes to the making of a Western Enlightenment subject. Marlow eulogizes himself for realizing the harsh realities of imperialism, political domination and economic exploitation of the natives in Africa. However, Marlow is a colonial subject who has been ruled by the hierarchical system of thought in the Western logocentrism.
He is not aware that his narrative has already been infiltrated by the ideological discourse of the totalitarian enlightenment. His narrative in effect is not a self-congratulatory testimony to truth and realities but a narcissistic and self-defeating document. Marlow unconsciously employs the totalitarian ideologies of empire and gender in order to relegate the African natives to the inhuman existence and to consign women to the sphere of illusion.
KW - Joseph Conrad;Heart of Darkness;totalitarianism;ideology;subjectivity
DO - 10.21049/ccs.2016.45..479
ER -
Koo Seung-bon. (2016). Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Cross-Cultural Studies, 45, 479-496.
Koo Seung-bon. 2016, "Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness", Cross-Cultural Studies, vol.45, pp.479-496. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2016.45..479
Koo Seung-bon "Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness" Cross-Cultural Studies 45 pp.479-496 (2016) : 479.
Koo Seung-bon. Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. 2016; 45 479-496. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2016.45..479
Koo Seung-bon. "Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness" Cross-Cultural Studies 45(2016) : 479-496.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2016.45..479
Koo Seung-bon. Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Cross-Cultural Studies, 45, 479-496. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2016.45..479
Koo Seung-bon. Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Cross-Cultural Studies. 2016; 45 479-496. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2016.45..479
Koo Seung-bon. Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. 2016; 45 479-496. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2016.45..479
Koo Seung-bon. "Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness" Cross-Cultural Studies 45(2016) : 479-496.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2016.45..479
