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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Autor: Sacido Romero, Jorge
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
Repositorio:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/21542
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21542
Access Level:acceso abierto
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spelling Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’Exorcismo fallido: el estatus espectral de Kurtz y su función ideológica en ‘Heart of darkness’ de ConradSacido Romero, JorgeIt 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.Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN)Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Filoloxía Inglesa e Alemá20112011-01-0120112011-01-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10347/21542reponame:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostelainstname:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2© The author. This work is under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/215422026-06-15T12:47:27Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’
Exorcismo fallido: el estatus espectral de Kurtz y su función ideológica en ‘Heart of darkness’ de Conrad
title Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’
spellingShingle Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’
Sacido Romero, Jorge
title_short Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’
title_full Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’
title_fullStr Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’
title_full_unstemmed Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’
title_sort Failed exorcism: Kurtz’s spectral status and its ideological function in Conrad’s ‘Heart of darkness’
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Sacido Romero, Jorge
author Sacido Romero, Jorge
author_facet Sacido Romero, Jorge
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Filoloxía Inglesa e Alemá
description 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.
publishDate 2011
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2011
2011-01-01
2011
2011-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21542
url http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21542
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
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dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
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eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN)
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN)
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
instname:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
instname_str Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
reponame_str Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
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