Conrad: Symbolist or Impressionist

Ian Watt Article, "Impressionism and Symbolism in Heart of Darkness"

• Discusses whether Conrad is a Symbolist or an Impressionist with various definitions of each
• Impressionism: can be identified with the Impressionist movement in painting, characterized by artwork that had an obscured subject.
• It is the depiction of a subject that is blurred by the atmosphere or environment it is in, seen in Monet's work a lot.
• Heart of Darkness can be considered an Impressionist piece of literature because the Marlow's tale is kind of enveloped, making its overall meaning a little hazy.
• The word hazy or misty is used many times in the opening pages describing the Nellie as it moves down the Thames, which can be applied to the meaning of Marlow's / Conrad's story as a whole.
• The primary narrator "warns us that Marlow's tale will be not centered on, but surrounded by, its meaning.." and the meaning will be difficult to figure out.
• Virginia Woolf quote: "Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end."
• Impressionists aimed to portray what is actually seen rather than an idealized or imagined view of things.
• Apparently though, Conrad was did not consider himself an Impressionist because he was more into realism stuff. Somewhat anti-impressionist.
• However, Heart of Darkness seems very Impressionist because it "it accepts...the bounded and ambiguous nature of individual understanding."
• Another Impressionist characteristic is that Conrad presents something and then holds off on explaining it until later, known as delayed decoding.
• This technique gives a more realistic feel to the narrative = more Impressionist
• Symbolism: objective is to discover coherent meanings and values for which was inwardly yearned, but not found in reality.
• The same argument is made that Heart of Darkness has very Symbolist characteristics, but Conrad himself did not consider himself a symbolist at all.
• Some of his quotes on the subject: He says he wrote the story "straight from the heart," in an attempt "to give a true impression." But he also says, "that [he] wanted to connect the small world of the ship with that larger world carrying perplexities, fears, affections, rebellions, in a loneliness greater than that of the ship at sea." = symbolist attitude!
• There are symbolist aspects of the novel, for example Watt discusses the title.
• The title is compelling in that it make us think about deeper meanings of it beyond the center of Africa.

"How can something inorganic like darkness have an organic centre of life and feeling? How can a shapeless absence of light compact itself into a shaped and pulsing presence? And what are we to make of a 'good' entity like a heart becoming, of all things, a controlling part of a 'bad' one like darkness?"