Reading Heart Of Darkness From The Perspective Of New Historicism

Joseph Conrad’s classical work Heart of Darkness is regarded as the first real modern novel in English literature, the most influencing novella in the twentieth century. The novella is not only significant in literature, but also important in history. Heart of Darkness catches the eyes of a large number of readers and critics. This essay applies Steven Greenblatt’s theory, new historicism, to analyze Heart of Darkness, focusing on the concept of circulation and subversion, and the interaction between history and text.The introduction briefly introduces Conrad and Heart of Darkness, the main research of the novella by the critics home and abroad, and the new theory to analyze the novella. Chapter One introduces the theory of new historicism, the development of new historicism, its basic views and the concept of circulation and subversion, supplying theoretical basis for the essay. Chapter Two analyzes the circulation in Heart of Darkness, introducing the main social consciousness in the age, analyzing the circulation between imperialism, Darwin’s Theory and the novella. Conrad describes the prevailing social awareness of imperialism through Marlow’s narration. Marlow’s tale reflects the domination of imperialism, the European’s domination over the African natives and the primitive African continent. In the novella, Conrad points out the feeling of superiority of the white race when he describes the primitive African continent and the native blacks. Chapter Three discusses the subversion in the novella, its function, and the influence of the novella on the literary, non-literary works and on the age. Subversion is a rebellion to the social ideology. Conrad criticizes the cruel deeds and the greed of the imperialistic colonizing. Chapter Four discusses the function of the novella and the subversion. The novella arouses native people’s rebellion against the colonial exploitation of the imperialism. The last part is conclusion. Through the analysis of the novella by applying the new historicism, we make a summary of the relationship between history and text.