Joseph Conrad and Postcritique: Politics of Hope, Politics of Fear

A postcritical approach to Joseph Conrad's major works, including Heart of Darkness, The Secret Agent, Under Western Eyes, and Lord Jim, is taken in this book, which values the information, emotions, ethics, and politics that arise from literature. It acknowledges the pessimism in Conrad's work while also spotting optimism.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 233 pages
Publication date: 18 September 2022
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

This book takes a postcritical perspective on Joseph Conrad's central texts, including Heart of Darkness, The Secret Agent, Under Western Eyes, and Lord Jim. Whereas critique is a form of reading that prioritizes suspicion, unmasking, and demystifying, postcritique ascribes positive value to the knowledge, affect, ethics, and politics that emerge from literature. The essays in this collection recognize the dark elements in Conrad's fiction—deceit, vanity, avarice, lust, cynicism, and cruelty—yet they perceive hopefulness as well. Conrad's skepticism unveils the dark heart of politics, and his critical heritage can feed our fear that humanity is incapable of improving. This Conrad is a well-known figure, but there is another, neglected Conrad that this book aims to bring to light, one who delves into the politics of hope as well as the politics of fear.

Chapters 1 and 2 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Weight: 336g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030725013
Edition number: 1st ed. 2021