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Reading, Traveling, Conversing

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Reading, Traveling, Conversing 134 winter/spring 2018 no. 11–12 Wiesław Ratajczak Reading, Traveling, Conversing critics: Agnieszka Adamowicz-Pośpiech, Tra- vels with Conrad: Essays (Podróże z Conradem. Szkice), Kraków 2016. The title of Agnieszka Adamowicz-Pośpeich’s When preparing for a journey, the first, indis- book might strike the reader as an odd fit. Liter- pensible step is to collect maps, guidebooks, ary travel writing is not the book’s primary fo- useful information, and in this case: a sampling cus, nor is the author interested in wandering of good literature on the subject. Adamowicz- in the footsteps of an author or the heroes of Pośpiech provides a scrupulous overview of the his prose. Yet it would be unfair to assume that readings offered by her predecessors, some- the signpost Travels after Conrad only func- times following their cues and often polemiciz- tions here as a heading that holds together ing with them. These references never over- various essays with little in common. The image whelm the reader, however, and in reading the of reading and interpretation as acts of travel book, you never feel bombarded by footnotes. seems straightforward and even a little too ob- Instead, you feel confident that the book’s inter- vious. In the case of Conrad’s work, however, pretations are new but rooted in tradition. you would be hard pressed to find a more ap- propriate concept to grasp the map of his lit- Any journey, or perhaps the departure of a ship, erary invention (spanning just about the whole can only start with an encounter with the cap- planet), the wonders of navigation that provide tain, for his word decides all. It seems appropri- the very context of narration, the simultane- ate, then, that Adamowicz-Pośpiech opens her ous risk and promise of an encounter with the book with an essay discussing the integration of Other, cultural borders, foreign languages and autobiographical elements into Conrad’s books. spheres of initiation… Although this is a favorite theme among Con- critics | Wiesław Ratajczak, Reading, Traveling, Conversing 135 rad acolytes and has already been the subject Dąbrowski and Maria Czermińska, among oth- of much scholarship (much of which is deriva- ers). In doing so, she reveals the volume’s sin- tive of Zdzisław Najder’s foundational study),1 gular quality as a mediated autobiography that Adamowicz-Pośpiech introduces the term “an- embeds the writer’s life in a diverse body of ref- ti-confessional autobiography,” which allows erences to literary tradition and allusions to the her to grasp the matter more precisely than her lives of others, second-hand anecdotes, and predecessors. Using this insightful formula, she portraits of the places he visited. Adamowicz- builds upon Najder’s premises. Najder has ar- Pośpiech manages to persuasively elevate the gued that embedded in Conrad’s Lord Jim is longstanding dialogue on the “integrity” of Con- a challenge to Jean-Jacques Rousseau as the rad’s confessions to a new level. founder of modern confessional literature and its tendency to seek the exotic and rationalize Aside from the dispute over the autobiographi- infidelity and impotence.2 Adamowicz-Pośpiech cal status of his prose, the second issue that centers her reflections around the volume looms large in Conrad criticism (particularly in A Personal Record, which embodies the tenets Poland) is the ethics of his stories’ protagonists. of the Conradian autobiographical pact. These Adamowicz-Pośpiech has also decided to con- tenets include an aversion to speaking directly tribute her “two cents” (p. 31) to this discus- of the self, the displacement of emphasis to sion in the book’s second chapter. Tracing the the places he visited and the people he met, formation of the value system with which Con- and a tendency to process existential experi- rad identified, she underscores the importance ences through the prism of literature, relying on of Korzeniowski’s family life (to use his Polish allusion, citations, and unattributed references. name). When he was a toddler, the young Con- These strategies set up a game of conceal- rad was exiled with his parents to the Russian ment and revelation that is rife with red herrings interior for their involvement in conspiracies and and subterfuges. Paradoxically, however, while an uprising. Although these experiences rarely Conrad conceals himself, he simultaneously re- enter into Conrad’s prose explicitly, Adamowicz- veals the essential hallmarks of his work and Pośpiech highlights this background as a sig- personality. As Adamowicz-Pośpiech points nificant context that deserves further scrutiny. out, Conrad rejects the convention of confes- sion but simultaneously divulges the very prin- The book offers a contribution of extreme value ciples he “expressed in his works, but more im- and originality, however, in the form of its sche- portantly, those by which he lived his life, such ma for four variations among Conrad’s heroes. as self-possession, self-control, sobriety, duty, She proposes a typology that can be applied and an infinite sense of loyalty” (p. 15). to nearly all the major characters encountered throughout the reader’s journey with Conrad. To Adamowicz-Pośpiech situates the volume start off, Adamowicz-Pośpiech singles out the A Personal Record against an expansive back- “simple hero:” this figure is brave, reliable, and drop of theories of personal writing and its po- unwaveringly faithful to his professional code of etics (drawing from the work of Regina Lubas- conduct. We see this archetype reflected in Sin- Bartoszyńska, Phillippe Lejeune, Mieczysław gleton from The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus,’ the French lieutenant in Lord Jim, and Captain Mac- 1 Zdzisław Najder, Życie Josepha Conrada Whirr from Typhoon. The next cluster consists of Korzeniowskiego, Krakow 2014. “sensitive heroes” whose personalities are crip- 2 See also: Zdzisław Najder, Conrad i Rousseau, [in:] idem, Sztuka i wierność. Szkice o twórczości Josepha pled by some weak point that ultimately forces Conrada, Opole 2000, pp. 149-162. them into a moment of reckoning. In this group, 136 winter/spring 2018 no. 11–12 we find Kurtz from Heart of Darkness and Jim systematic and erudite schemas offering various from Conrad’s masterpiece. We can also dis- interpretations of the novel. The scholar adds her tinguish a group of “reflective heroes” united by own approaches to the scholarly tradition she a common tendency to live by straightforward knows so well. Her main preoccupation is the and consistent principles who are nonetheless issue of impeded (and often downright impos- cognizant of the risk of moral downfall and en- sible) mutual understanding among people from tirely aware of their own weaknesses and fears. different cultural spheres due to their prejudices, This archetype characterizes Marlow, a narrator ignorance, preconceptions and stereotypes. who appears in several of the author’s works. The final typology consists of Conrad’s “anti-he- Adamowicz-Pośpiech’s approach adopts some roes” who are entirely bereft of shame and moral insights grounded in the anthropological dis- intuition. Adamowicz-Pośpiech informs us that course introduced in Marek Pacukiewicz’s book this type “has little appeal for Conrad due to the on the subject.4 Adamowicz-Pośpiech analyzes wholesale deviation from society it represents” the figure of Marlow as a subject who is vul- (p. 50). This claim seems to hold true if we limit nerable to prejudices of his own and tends to ourselves to the examples of Donkin (from Nig- treat others as foreign and inferior. Given that ger of the ‘Narcissus’), and Chester, Robinson, the novel’s core theme is the pursuit of the truth Cornelius and Brown (who all hail from Lord of others through dialogue and by compiling the Jim). However, in the case of Jones from Vic- stories of others, the “communicative disconti- tory, it becomes harder to determine whether nuities” (p. 51) in Lord Jim (to use Adamowicz- this character is compelling for the author and Pośpiech’s words) become particularly severe. his readers. Willems, from An Outcast of the Is- Many factors underlie these fundamental mis- lands, is another ambiguous case. At any rate, understandings, such as racial aversions, lan- Adamowicz-Pośpeich’s notion remains ex- guage gaps, and psychic blocks. In her analy- tremely useful and opens up a space for new sis, the author effectively reveals the “didaska- readings, including those that revise or refine her lia” offered by Marlow’s dialogues with other schema. Moreover, the scholar has once again characters, in which moments of understanding managed to contribute a new approach to the run up against moments of distortion that either traditional and widely discussed theme of Con- obstruct the pursuit of truth or make it altogeth- rad’s ethics and their contexts. er impossible. The situations grows even more complex when the main protagonist relates The strongest section of the book by far and a story secondhand, now filtering its content the most thrilling stage of Travels with Conrad through his own identity and proclivities. In this consists of three essays devoted to Conrad’s light, Marlow becomes an ambiguous character, individual novels and stories. In the first essay, and to a certain extent a figure more intimate to a reading of Lord Jim, Adamowicz-Pośpiech the reader. This relationship is analogical to how proves herself as a scholar of English letters with Marlow himself becomes closer to the figure of her ability to point out nuances that have been Lord Jim gradually surfacing through a morass lost in translation. Here, I should mention that of metaphors (particularly abundant in the tales Adamowicz-Pośpiech is also the author of Con- told by the character Stein). Marlow gradually rad’s “Lord Jim:” Readings (“Lord Jim” Conrada: pieces together a portrait of the eponymous Interpretacje).3 This book consists of thorough, hero from various, fragmented testimonies.
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