Conradiana

ABSTRACT:

Phenomenological criticism has recently enabled readings of Conrad that consider more closely the writer's reference to the physical body in the text. This essay adds to discussions of Conrad's visual and epistemological strategies the exploration of physical presence, gesture, and movement. By reading Conrad's use of individual gesture and passages of movement in Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim in the context of contemporary innovations in theatrical dance in the period, the essay examines how Conrad's skepticism about language prompts him to use the silent action of his characters to express moments of affective intensity and to suggest the spatialization of time by the body.