Originally published in 1986, this is a powerful and original book. It offers textual interpretation of Conrad-s major work and articulates the subtlety and richness of his treatment of social-political institutions and of the forces that complicate and distort private and public life.
Suresh Raval argues that the social-personal relations in Conrad-s fiction cannot be conceived apart from their existence in the political life of a community; but at the same time they cannot be accommodated institutionally. The author-s concern is with the problematic status of the self under various perspectives: experience and understanding (Heart of Darkness), an ethical ideal (Lord Jim), history (Nostromo), ideology (The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes), scepticism (Victory). What the self is remains ambiguous and elusive. Conrad-s fiction is concerned with exhibiting the failure of language, but always as a result of an immense effort of language itself. As language undoes itself in t
