“[A] glowing gold tinge on the waters of the Pantai”: Conrad’s Challenge to the Narrative of Economic Success in Almayer’s Folly

Agnieszka Setecka

“[A] glowing gold tinge on the waters of the Pantai”: Conrad’s Challenge to the Narrative of Economic Success in Almayer’s Folly

Publication date: 17.05.2018

Yearbook of Conrad Studies, 2017, Vol. 12, pp. 113-122

https://doi.org/10.4467/20843941YC.17.008.8665

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“[A] glowing gold tinge on the waters of the Pantai”: Conrad’s Challenge to the Narrative of Economic Success in Almayer’s Folly

Abstract

The exotic setting of Conrad’s Almayer’s Folly suggests the novel’s affinity to the adventure romance, a genre popular in the final decades of the nineteenth century. However, readers expecting a story of dangerous exploits in the remote lands (or seas) must be disappointed. As Andrea White showed in Joseph Conrad and the Adventure Tradition, Conrad challenges the romance convention by contrasting a life full of adventures, which can only be glimpsed from afar, with the protagonist’s mundane existence. The aim of my paper is to take White’s argument further, and to present Conrad’s first novel not only as a challenge to the late-Victorian romance tradition but also to any narrative of (economic) success which accompanied colonial ventures. Conrad exposes both the myth of the adventurer, whose luck coupled with daring enables him to find a treasure, and the myth of a self-made man, whose perseverance and hard work in the colonies ensure his financial success.

Keywords

Almayer’s Folly, the imperial romance, Victorian realist conventions, self-made man, colonialism

References

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Information

Information: Yearbook of Conrad Studies, 2017, Vol. 12, pp. 113-122

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/20843941YC.17.008.8665

Article type: Original article

Authors

Agnieszka Setecka

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Published at: 17.05.2018

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Percentage share of authors:

Agnieszka Setecka (Author) - 100%

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English

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<p>“[A] glowing gold tinge on the waters of the Pantai”: Conrad’s Challenge to the Narrative of Economic Success in <em>Almayer’s Folly</em></p>

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