康拉德丛林小说中的救赎主题

Chapter One Introduction 

1.1 Choice and Purpose of the thesis 
Joseph  Conrad（1857-1924),  is  one  of  the  most  influential  writers  in  the  world, occupying a significant position in the late 19th century and the early 20th century English literature. He is acknowledged as a master of literature who creates in English. Generally speaking, Conrad’s novels can be divided into political novels, jungle novels and marine novels. Since the publication, Conrad’s works have attached worldwide attention. Up to now,  there  have  been  different  kinds  of  comments  about  his  works.  In  China,  many scholars  also  pay  much  attention  to  Conrad  in  recent  years.  His  novels  have  been interpreted from various perspectives, such as, Modernism, Feminism, and Symbolism.  The concept of salvation originates from the western religion and is regarded as the core concept of the Bible. Therefore, the salvation motifs always appear in the literature and  become  an  important  and  eternal  motif  in  the  literature.  Conrad  also  pays  much attention to the salvation motifs. However, few studies focus on the salvation motifs in Conrad’s jungle novels. To some extent, all western writers are influenced by the Bible and Conrad is not an exception. Due to his unique life experiences and the influence of social environment in Victorian era, Conrad forms unique salvation thoughts. In terms of the  theme  of  his  works,  many  scholars  relate  Conrad  with  colonialism.  Some  of  them believe  that  Conrad  is  an  anti-colonial  writer.  Some  of  them  also  hold  the  idea  that Conrad’s  attitudes  towards  colonialism  are  ambiguous  and  ambivalent.  Based  on  the study of the salvation motifs in Conrad’s jungle novels, it can be found that Conrad is not completely  against  the  colonialism.  On  the  contrary,  to  some  extent,  Conrad  beautifies the colonialism in his jungle novels. The focal point of this thesis is from the perspective of salvation, which is a relatively new perspective among the researches on Conrad. The thesis can provide some new references for the studies on Conrad and can also help us to read Conrad in a comprehensive way. Conrad’s attitude towards colonialism has always been a controversial topic, causing a wide attention in English and American literature. The study of the salvation motifs in Conrad’s jungle novels can help us to interpret his attitudes of colonialism. The purpose of the thesis is to solve such questions as how the salvation  motifs  are  embodied  in  Conrad’s  novel;  what  is  the  essence  of  the  salvation motifs.  
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1.2 Introduction of Joseph Conrad and His works
Joseph Conrad, born on December 3, 1857, is regarded as a very significant writer in English literature. Conrad’s father Apollo Korzeniowski is a famous and revolutionary polish  patriot  who  is  considered  as  a  revolted  activist  by  the  authority  at  that  time. Conrad  has  a  miserable  childhood.  His  mother  dies  when  he  is  only  8  years  old.  Four years later, his father also dies. The little Conrad becomes an orphan and is raised by his guardian named Bobrowski, his mother’s brother. Conrad’s family is a Polish gentry but it ends as a broken family finally. The changes give Conrad significant impacts and force him  to  start  his  new  life  at  sea.  What’s  more,  when  Conrad  is  only  15  years  old,  he expresses his desire to seek for a new life at sea. Conrad works at sea for many years, which broadens his horizons and pays the foundation for his writing. In terms of the achievement in literature, Conrad is a genius. Though he is a Polish British  writer  and  English  is  not  his  native  language;  however,  he  has  written  many famous  English  novels  in  his  life  and  some  of  them  are  also  classified  as  classics  in literature. Conrad begins to write works in his late years. Conrad’s writing career can be divided into three periods. The early creation is mainly based on his sea experiences and the  colonial  Malaya.  The  most  famous  work  during  the  first  period  is  Conrad’s  Malay trilogy,  Almayer’s  Folly,  An  Outcast  of  the  Islands  and  The  Rescue.  As  to  this  period, Wang  Shouren  points  that  Conrad  criticizes  the  Colonialism  by  describing  the  moral defects of the white people but Conrad also holds to his fixed point of the view (Wang Shouren,  2008:4).  
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Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 Relevant Studies on Conrad abroad
By 1930，，Richard Cure and Granville Hicks noted a decline in Conrad’s reputation. In  the  essay  Conrad  and  the  Younger  Generation,  Cure  remarks  that  the  younger generation regarded Conrad as an exotic spirit rather than as a serious novelist. Hick, in the article Conrad after Five Years suggests that Conrad’s reputation is shrinking because he is not a sociological novelist and is perceived to be a writer of Romance and adventure rather than the philosophical novelist that he was (Peters, 2008: 121).The main argument of Conrad in 1930s is whether Conrad is a philosophical writer or not. It is not until the 1940s that Conrad rebuilds his reputation and the foreign studies on Conrad enter into a new stage. In this period, some scholars begin to keep an eye on Conrad.  Some  critics  struggle  for  rebuilding  Conrad’s  reputation.  The  most  significant figure  in  the  recovery  of  Conrad’s  reputation  is  Morton  Dauwen  Zabel,  arguing  that Conrad’s reputation needs to be established once more on a firm foundation. Later, in the well-known  introduction  to  The  Portable  Conrad  (1947),  marking  the  permanent recovery  of  Conrad’s  reputation,  he  further  argues  that  Conrad  is  a  novelist  of  moral insight, who imposes moral experience on the structure of his plots (Peters, 2008: 121). Zabel deals with the psychological aspect of Conrad’s writing as well as the inextricable nature  of  form  and  content  in  his  works,  which  lays  foundation  for  the  Conrad  study. Other figures also fight for the recovery of Conrad’s reputation, for instance, in 1941, F. R.  Leavis  published  a  series  of  review  articles  called  Revaluations:  Joseph  Conrad  on Scrutiny.  This  event  marks  the  study  on  Conrad  starting  to  get  the  attention  of  British academic field. The 1950s is an important period of Conrad’s great revival. During this period, Guerad makes insight introduction to the Signet edition of Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer. Robert Penn Warren publishes the famous introduction to the Modern Library edition of Nostromo, and he argues that Conrad’s is a philosophical novelist. 
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2.2 Relevant Studies on Conrad in China
The domestic study of Conrad is closely related to the translation of Conrad’s novels. From 1920s to1950s, the domestic study is mainly on the translation of Conrad’s novels. In 1931 and 1934, Liang Yuchun, translated Conrad’s Youth and Lord Jim. Yuan Jiahua translated some other novels of Conrad, such as The Nigger of the “Narcissus”, Typhoon. In this period, Lao She speaks highly of Conrad and admits that his writings were also influenced by Conrad. Recent years witness the development of the studies on Conrad in China. Most of the  studies  are  focused  on  Conrad’s  marine  and  jungle  novels.  The  book  History  of Modern  English  Fiction,  published  in  1985  by  Professor  Hou  Weirui,  introduced Conrad’s artistic view systemically and the book is still an important book for the Conrad study.  In  1994,  Professor  Wang  Zuoliang  published  the  book  The  Twentieth  English Literature  in  which  he  mainly  discussed  Conrad’s  Heart  of  Darkness,  Lord  Jim  and Conrad’s political trilogy. The book points out that Conrad’s greatest contribution is his revelation of the modern civilized society and the analysis of the modern psychological activity.  Other  publications  also  discuss  Conrad  and  his  works,  showing  that  Conrad  is getting more and more attention in the domestic academia.  
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Chapter Three The Embodiments of Salvation Motifs ..... 15 
3.1 Human’s Sins in Lord Jim ..... 15
3.2 The Atonement in Lord Jim ......... 21 
3.2.1 Jim’s Moral Dilemma ....... 22 
3.2.2 Jim’s Moral Discovery ...... 24 
3.2.3 Jim’s Death for Eternal Life ........ 27 
3.3The Sins in Heart of Darkness ..... 29
3.4The Atonement in Heart of Darkness ....... 37 
3.4.1 Kurtz’s Atonement ....... 38 
3.4.2 Marlowe’s Self-reflections ..... 39 
Chapter Four The Development of the Salvation Motifs ........ 42 
4.1 From the Individual Salvation to the Group Salvation .......... 42
4.2 From Physical Salvation to Spiritual Salvation ......... 49 
4.2.1 Jim’s Physical Salvation ......... 50
4.2.2 Spiritual Salvation of the Colonists Represented by Kurtz ......... 51 
Chapter Five The Sources of Conrad’s Salvation Thoughts ........ 53 
5.1 Personal Factors ......... 52
5.2 Social Factors ...... 58

Chapter Six The Essence of Salvation Motifs 

Conrad is a world-influential novelist with strong sense of social responsibility. He not  only  tries  his  best  to  realize  the  artistic  value  of  the  works  but  also  pays  more attention  to  the  enlightening  function  of  the  novel.  In  his  jungle  novels,  the  clues  of salvation motifs are very clear. In his representative works of jungle novels Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness, Conrad shows the alienated and distorted human nature, which also makes readers reflect human’s behaviors. Conrad also shows the protagonists’ awakening of  their  sins  and  the  difficult  process  of  their  salvation,  which  shows  Conrad’s expectations towards human’s future and the wishes of the human society. However, any writer  is  a  product  of  a  specific  era  and  can’t  get  rid  of  the  influence  of  society completely. The salvation motifs in his jungle novels are just a superficial phenomenon. Actually,  by  showing  the  salvation  motifs,  Conrad  shows  his  acquiescent  attitudes  of colonialism, which is the essence of the salvation motifs in his jungle novels.   

6.1 Conrad’s Acquiescent Attitudes to Colonialism
Conrad lives in a period of heyday of imperialism and witnesses kinds of colonial deeds.  His  Congo  journey  pays  the  foundation  for  the  writing  of  Heart  of  Darkness which  is  usually  recognized  as  a  thorough  satire  of  the  colonists.  In  his  jungle  novels, Conrad  relentlessly  reveals  the  imperialism  and  the  colonialism  of  the  western  whites. However, it should be pointed that the protagonists’ salvation process shows that Conrad still can’t completely get rid of the traditional sense of European superiority. In the 19th, the western colonists believe that they are the best and the perfect species because only they can conquer the world. It seems that the whites are born with nobleness and Europe is the only center of the world. The white color gives the colonists a sense of superiority to other colors, especially the black. In Conrad’s jungle novels, some plots in his jungle novels  and  the  words  he  uses  shows  that  Conrad  also  defends  the  legitimacy  of  the colonialism to a certain degree. 
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Conclusion

Human’s salvation is a difficult process in which human experiences the depravity, atonement and rebirth. In Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness, Conrad fully shows the whole process of the salvation and how the salvation motif develops. The major findings of this paper can be concluded as follows. Firstly, Conrad provides us with two clear clues to understand the human’s salvation process.  One  is  the  human  sins.  The  human  sins  are  the  roots  of the salvation. In Lord Jim, the human sins mainly include the failure of resisting temptation at critical moments and  the  moral  depravity.  In  Heart  of  Darkness,  the  numerous  sins  of  the  colonists  are represented by Kurtz, such as the greed of excessive wealth and the absolute power, the cruel rule, the lust of expanding territories. The other clue is the human’s atonement for their sins. Jim spares no efforts to achieve his moral redemption and the final death can be seen a rebirth of his moral. In spite of the numerous sins, Kurtz’s last words on the edge of his death show the colonists finally realize their wrong behaviors and achieve his salvation. Secondly, Conrad also shows us that human’s salvation is a process of continuous development.  There  are  two  aspects  of  the  salvation  development  in  Conrad’s  jungle novels. One is from the individual salvation to the group salvation. The salvation in Lord Jim  is  an  individual  salvation.  Jim’s  awakening  of  the  conscience  and  the  salvation  is only an individual behavior. Compared with Jim, other whites don’t feel sinful for their wrong  deeds.  On  the  contrary,  they  all  take  their  wrong  behaviors  for  granted.  The salvation  in  Heart  of  Darkness  is  a  group  salvation,  because  Kurtz  is  a  typical  of  the colonists. 
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