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C H A P T E R #11
Joseph
Conrad as a Symbolist
Conrad's Visual Imagery and Symbols
Art must make its basic
appeal through the senses and it must reveal the inner truth of the experience
thus sensuously recorded. Fiction must "aspire to the plasticity of
sculpture, to the colour of the painting, and to the magic suggestiveness of
music...By the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you
feel...before all, to make you see." The visual imagery and symbols of
Conrad's work would be enough to confirm it. Gordan underscores the importance
of the visual scenes to Conrad when he talks of Conrad's' continual efforts to visualize
his own material-by forcing Mrs. Conrad to act out senses, for example, or by
drawing pictures of his own characters and settings: Nina Almayer in red and
black ink or a detailed floor plan of Dona Rita's house. Like Maupassant,
"a great artist, who sees the essential in everything," Conrad is concerned
with the symbolic qualities of experience. "To this end, he makes use not
only of colour, form, and movement; but also shifts of perspective, stylistic
and tonal variations, and many other devices. And all of these devices are made
easier by the presence of Marlow, who can stand as the mediator between the reader
and a range of physical facts, elicit and define its meaning, and finally
communicate an experience which is both perceptual and meditative.
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