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Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was born and brought up in Poland, and then became naturalized in Britain in 1886. Since he lost his parents as a child, he was raised by his uncle. After that, he left Polan...d and made a living as a seaman, voyaging around the world until he was in his late thirties. In 1886, he passed the examination for a master’s certificate, yet the writing and publication of his first novel Almayer’s Folly (1895) and his second novel An Outcast of the Islands (1896) made him ultimately quit his career in the merchant navy. The protagonists of these earlier works, which are based on Conrad’s experiences in the East, are white men living in the Malay world. This paper discusses how Conrad represents such protagonists as Almayer and Willems by referring mainly to the author’s biography and the historical or cultural context of the era in which these texts were written. Through the description of these characters, Conrad seems to reveal his complex and conflicting attitudes toward them. One is the sympathetic Polish viewpoint, which reflects both Conrad’s feelings as an exile and the state of affairs in Poland. The other is the critical viewpoint, which derives from his situation as an outsider in British society. This critical stance, which is especially shown by Malay women, such as Nina and Aïssa in Conrad’s first two novels, is further developed in Heart of Darkness (1899), where Marlow and Kurtz are used by Conrad to indict civilized white men by successfully disclosing their hypocrisy and deceit.show more
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