Literary Visions and Categorical Thinking

Abstract

Joseph Conrad’s classic novella Heart of Darkness has been the object of a controversy, and harsh condemnations were formulated against the work. Notably, it was targeted as an example of colonialist as well as racist prejudice and prominent author like Achebe and influential theorists like Eagleton and Said have launched far reaching criticisms again this work long considered as part of modern literary canon. This paper argues that these criticisms failed to demonstrate their relevance as literary analysis and ignored crucial features of the novella as a work of art. If we put the story in the context of its creation and read the text in the way as Conrad intended much of the accusations would appear superficial and wide of the mark. Moreover, it is argued that literary figures should be judged by themselves for their aesthetic values as literary creation and not as prototypes of some social category. The specificity of a literary work lies in the fact that it is fundamentally different from political and sociological discourse.