Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’
It is quite remarkable how Marlow’s recurrent characterisation of Kurtz as a spectre in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ has passed almost unnoticed in the large body of criticism on the novella. This essay interprets Marlow’s persistent expression of loyalty to Kurtz’s ghost as the last in a series of...
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| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2011 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC) |
| Repository: | Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/21542 |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21542 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Summary: | It is quite remarkable how Marlow’s recurrent characterisation of Kurtz as a spectre in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ has passed almost unnoticed in the large body of criticism on the novella. This essay interprets Marlow’s persistent expression of loyalty to Kurtz’s ghost as the last in a series of ideological strategies that endow the imperialist culture in which he is embedded with a minimum degree of consistency that counterbalances the debilitating exposure of its evils. The ensuing pages develop this central thesis concerning Kurtz’s ghostly status by drawing on Slavoj Žižek’s Lacanian approach to the ideological function of the spectre, which allows the author to diverge from other readings of ‘Heart of Darkness’ relevant to this topic. An exploration of the logic of spectrality helps to explain why the novella falls short in its indictment of imperialist ideology, a failure which, in the last instance, amounts to an endorsement. |
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