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Autobiography, Fiction and the Overcoming of Romance. The Parable of the Outsider in Joseph Conrad’s The Shadow-Line

Publication date: 2018

Yearbook of Conrad Studies, 2018, Vol. 13, pp. 83 - 99

https://doi.org/10.4467/20843941YC.18.007.11242

Authors

Gianluca Cinelli
Institute for the History of the Resistance in Cuneo, Italy
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Titles

Autobiography, Fiction and the Overcoming of Romance. The Parable of the Outsider in Joseph Conrad’s The Shadow-Line

Abstract

The Shadow-Line represents a fundamental achievement in Conrad’s literary career and constitutes the peak of the author’s ethical reflection on the relationship between literature and life. By combining the autobiographical narration with the motives, atmospheres, and vocabulary of romance, Conrad presents the account of his personal experience of initiation to adulthood as a quest-like fiction of maturation through hardship. The key-figure of this merger is the “outsider,” who is an individual who learns how to endure hardship and failure by opening his or her soul to solidarity and respect for humanity, thus achieving wisdom and ethical worth.

References

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Primary sources

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Conrad, JosephThe Shadow-Line. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986.

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Information

Information: Yearbook of Conrad Studies, 2018, Vol. 13, pp. 83 - 99

Article type: Original article

Authors

Institute for the History of the Resistance in Cuneo, Italy

Published at: 2018

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Gianluca Cinelli (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

-

Publication languages:

English