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CONRAD and RELIGION Conrad and Religion CONRAD AND RELIGION Conrad and Religion John Lester M MACMILLAN PRESS ©John Lester 1988 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1988 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG212XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Lester, John Conrad and Religion. 1. Conrad, Joseph- Criticism and interpretation I. Title 823'.912 PR6005.04ZJ ISBN 978-1-349-19106-2 ISBN 978-1-349-19104-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19104-8 For My Mother and the Memory of Harry George Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xi List ofAbbreviations xiii Introduction XV 1 Religion in Poland, 1820-70 1 2 Religion in Conrad's Life, 1857-95 7 3 Conrad's Later Religion 18 4 The Mirror of Islam 41 5 Idols and Edifices 59 6 Conrad's Christians 68 7 Devil and Soul 87 8 The Purposes of Conrad's Religious Imagery 123 9 Conclusion 168 Notes 172 Bibliography 185 Index 193 vii Preface Any critical work (whether it acknowledges it or not) takes part, not in a debate (that favoured concept of our current predilection for polar­ ities), but in an extended act of consultation whose aim is to bring more understanding and appreciation to the writings of a great artist. The responsibility of the critic is great for he is sometimes privy to the most poignant and intimate emotions of an anguished soul, transmitted to paper at a fevered and unguarded moment and published at a later date so that the confidences of a lifetime can be laid bare before the curious gaze of posterity. Public access to such personal files demands a purity of motive on the part of the beholders, a sympathetic response to the secrets thus revealed and a high degree of integrity among those who would make use of their contents. This is particularly the case when dealing with the acutely personal area of religious belief, for which we all have our separate quests. Our empathy and understanding are essential if we are to follow the fluctuations of another's search for truth, whatever differences and similarities there may be to one's own path. In Joseph Conrad's case the trail was a tortuous one, involving many agonies of mind and spirit, minutely detailed as to cause and effect (in his later years at least). To observe his pilgrimage is our privilege; to note its results in his many publications is our pleasure; to contribute to the unending appraisal of their value and meaning is our design. In true consultation what is said is more important than who says it and any clash of ideas (as distinct from the personalities behind them) heralds not conflict but another step towards unravelling yet another fold of the tangled skein of truth. The later critic thus possesses the declared wisdom of his predecessors in the field and where his views collide with previous interpretations the result should be a further evaluation of threatened premises which, in consequence, will either be strengthened or amended. To disagree with a particular approach or critical method is not to deny its contribution to the whole. In the present instance the interpretations with which I have taken issue have led to my own re-evaluations and thoughts. Consultation, properly ix X Preface performed, creates a pool of collective wisdom in which all may dip. Conrad's use of religious language seemed to me to be one of the murkier and neglected areas of that pool. I hope that these few drops of mine have made it less opaque. Timaru JOHN LESTER New Zealand Acknowledgements I first encountered the work of Joseph Conrad in the sixth form where The Rover was one of the set novels for A level English. We were also given a supplementary reading list of recommended novels to lead us to a wider experience of English Literature, and this list included Lord Jim. My first acknowledgement, therefore, should be to the compiler of that list, J. R. Madell, for, whilst The Rover did not make much of an impact, Lord Jim did. In more recent times, I owe a debt of gratitude to the staff of the English Department of the University of Canterbury, whose unfailing encouragement and friendliness made the process of research such an enjoyable one. In particular, I should like to thank Dr P. D. Evans and Dr G. W. Spence for their early enthusiasm, careful supervision, helpful advice and constant patience during the preparation of my doctoral dissertation, upon which this book is based. In addition, Professor K. K. Ruthven, supervisor of graduate studies during the early stages of this work, made many pertinent comments on my initial drafts leading to fruitful areas of investigation. En route, as it were, I feel I should acknowledge the three years of inspiring tuition I received from Professor D. C. Gunby during my earlier days in the university. I am also grateful to the inter-loan section of the University of Canter­ bury library, who obtained so many important texts for me, and to E. John Neilson who generously allowed me the use of his extensive collection of Conradiana, thus enabling me to have constant access to works which would otherwise have been unobtainable. Since complet­ ing the thesis, practical encouragement and advice have also come from Professor Bruce King and from Professor David Leon Higdon, editor of Conradiana. Diane Candy-Karotu typed the thesis with meticulous care; I hope I have approached her achievement in producing the revised typescript for this book. I must also mention the kindly patience, support (and probable forbearance) of my dear wife Barbara during this typing time and the enthusiastic co-operation of Meg Parkin, Director of the Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru (New Zealand). xi xii Acknowledgements Lastly, it would be remiss of me to omit all reference to the Baha'i Faith, whose influence directed my gaze towards the religious aspects of Conrad's works in the first place and certainly caused me to consider his treatment of Islam with more than usual interest. Most of chapter 4 appeared in my essay, 'Conrad and Islam,' in Conradiana, 13 (1981) 163-79. List of Abbreviations With the exception of The Sisters (published by U. Mursia in 1968), all references to Conrad's works come from the Dent Collected Edition (1946-54). They are abbreviated as follows: AF. A/mayer's Folly- a Story ofan Eastern River OI. An Outcast of the Islands NN. The Nigger of the 'Narcissus'- a Tale of the Sea TU. Tales of Unrest u. Lord Jim - a Tale Y. Youth: a Narrative; and Two Other Stories T. Typhoon, and Other Stories N. Nostromo- a Tale of the Seaboard MS. The Mirror of the Sea - Memories and Impressions SA. The Secret Agent - a Simple Tale ASS. A Set of Six UWE. Under Western Eyes PR. A Personal Record TLS. 'Twixt Land and Sea - Tales c. Chance - a Tale in Two Parts v. Victory - an Island Tale WT. Within the Tides- Tales SL. The Shadow-Line- a Confession AG. The Arrow of Gold - a Story between Two Notes Re. The Rescue - a Romance of the Shallows NLL. Notes on Life and Letters Ro. The Rover Sus. Suspense - a Napoleonic Novel TH. Tales of Hearsay LE. Last Essays Sis. The Sisters xiii Introduction In 1906, whilst at the height of his creative powers, Joseph Conrad wrote an essay on John Galsworthy in which he concentrated particu­ larly on The Man of Property, the earliest part of The Forsyte Saga. The manner of his approach to the book is very illuminating, for Conrad speaks of the Forsytes and of their obsession with property as follows: The practical faculty of the Forsytes has erected it into a principle; their idealism has expanded it into a sort of religion which has shaped their notions of happiness and decency, their prejudices, their piety, such thoughts as they happen to have and the very course of their passions. Life as a whole has come to be perceptible to them exclusively in terms of property. Preservation, acquisition - acquisition, preservation. Their laws, their morality, their art and their science appear to them, justifiably enough, consecrated to that double and unique end. It is the formula oftheir virtue. (LE, 128) Soames Forsyte's town house is 'one of the temples of property, of a sort of unholy religion whose fundamental dogma, public ceremonies and awful secret rites, forming the subject of this remarkable novel, take no account of human dignity' (LE, 129). The incidents of the book can be viewed 'in the light of the unquenchable fires burning on the altar of property' (LE, 131). The passage in Galsworthy's novel that inspired this kind of treat­ ment seems to have been the following: This great and good woman, so highly thought of in ecclesiastical circles, was one of the principal priestesses in the temple of Forsyte­ ism, keeping alive day and night a sacred flame to the God of Property, whose altar is inscribed with those inspiring words: "Nothing for nothing, and really remarkably little for sixpence. " 1 XV xvi Introduction The point is that this is the only passage in the novel that likens the Forsytes' regard for property to a religion and yet it is this one aspect that Conrad has chosen to pinpoint as an illustration of the extent of their preoccupation.
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