For Tuesday: Brantlinger's essay, "Heart of Darkness: Anti-Imperialism, Racism, or Impressionism?" (277-296)

Patrick Brantlinger: critic of Darkness

Brantlinger's essay sums up some of the modern readings of Heart of Darkness, most notably Chiuna Achebe's charges of HOD as being a racist text that participates in an imperialist discourse.  As you read, consider some of the following ideas and questions:

* What does Brantilinger mean when he calls Conrad an "impressionist" writer?  How does this help us understand the composition/meaning of HOD?

* Can a writer be somewhat racist in real life yet as an artist write free of racial bias, and indeed, critique the very institutions of racism?  How does the essay discuss this?

* In the story Conrad wrote with Ford Madox Hueffer, The Inheritors, he writes that "The old order of things had to live or perish with a lie" (281).  How might this statement inform how we read parts of, if not much of, HOD?

* How does the essay define "commodity fetishism," and how might this relate to the events and characters of HOD?

* Why does Brantlinger argue that "evil is African in Conrad's story" (285)?  How might Conrad's use of imagery and symbolism suggest racist tendencies and, according to Achebe, an underlying imperialist agenda?

* Why does Brantlinger, citing the words of Fredric Jameson, call Conrad a "schizophrenic" writer?  What specifically does this term explain about his writing?

* Brantlinger quotes the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who implicates 19th century imperialism in the rise of Fascism and the Nazi party.  Why might this reading work well with Conrad's depiction of Kurtz?

* On page 291-292, Brantlinger quotes critic Lionel Trilling, who sees Kurtz as something of a heroic, Nietzchean figure.  Does Brantlinger agree with this characterization? 

* Brantlinger suggests that Kurtz is not only a mirror for Marlow but for Conrad (and his story) himself.  Why is this?  How might there be a little of Conrad--and his ideas--in Kurtz?