TETRALOGIA MARLOWIANĂ ÎN CONTEXTUL EXPERIMENTULUI CONRADIAN CU TEHNICA NARATIVĂ

Abstract

In comparison with the third-person narratives, the first-person narratives, especially those with Marlow, represent a turning point in Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)’s literary activity. Much has been written about the importance of this narrator in the context of the writer’s experiment with the narrative technique. Thus, the article focuses on Marlow’s contribution to the treatment of Neoromantic concerns in Youth, The Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim and Chance. In Youthand The Heart of Darkness, for instance, certain Neoromantic themes like the contrast between the young idealist and the middle-aged man, the absolute and the relative truth are technically tackled by means of dialogization. Lord Jim, on the other hand, relies on point of view and concentriccircles, while the essence of the sophisticated narrative method in Chance resides in the reflection of some Neoromantic preoccupations that rarely appear in J. Conrad’s works – mystery, chance as a factor determining the human destiny, romantic idyll etc.