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JOSEPH CONRAD: THE FEMININE PERSPECTIVE.
Abstract
Conrad's outlook on women is but one aspect of his view of human nature--a view compiled and modified during his lifetime by the person- alities and experiences most striking to his imagination. His perspec- tive on human nature and his fictional portraits of men and women derive greatly from a reorganization of the factual through the medium of imagination. Conrad himself stated that he used little if any fabri- cation: "Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life" (APR, p. 25). His method of composition depended on the imagina- tive recreation of a composite of facts--snatches of real personalities and actual situations completely reordered and reshaped but not actually "fabricated." Thus the real people in Conrad's past have significance insofar as the particular characteristics he used from his memory of them represent distinct and often profound impressions--impressions possibly influential in forming his interpretation of life as of human nature. The few men and women who most affected his life became a part of it, contributing to the formation of the author's mature personality and taking a living place in his imagination. A review of these major figures might provide an enlightening preliminary to the study of Conrad's fictional characters in general, and to his view of women in particular.
Subject Area
British and Irish literature
Recommended Citation
LUNDVALL, SUSAN DORA, "JOSEPH CONRAD: THE FEMININE PERSPECTIVE." (1978). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI7900333.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI7900333