“The Utter Futility Of Existence”:A Study Of Joseph Conrad’s Pessimism In Chance

One of the greatest English writers of the twentieth century, Joseph Conrad has drawn a wide range of critical attention for such modern classics as “Heart of Darkness”(1899), Lord Jim(1900) and The Secret Agent(1907). Chance(1913), the first novel that earned him popular acclaim and commercial success, yet heretofore,has long gone neglected in Conrad studies in China. Notwithstanding Conrad’s ambitious remark that it is “the biggest piece of work I’ve done since Lord Jim”,Chance has proved a controversial text among Western critics. Thomas Moser maintained that Chance exemplified the beginning of Conrad’s decline, whereas the famous literary critic F. R. Leavis championed it as “a remarkable novel”. For all the focused attention to the novel’s narrative complexity and its representation of women,a fuller analysis of its considerable philosophical implications is still lacking. This thesis, taking Conrad’s pessimistic vision as a point of departure and existentialism as its theoretical underpinning, aims to explore Conrad’s sharp insights into the spiritual wasteland of the Edwardians as well as his obsession with the universal theme of human isolation which informs our mundane existence.This thesis falls into five chapters. Chapter One begins with an introduction to Joseph Conrad and his literary career, followed by a literature review of Chance and a synopsis of existential pessimism in Western philosophy which serves as the theoretical framework. Chapter Two concentrates on the novel’s artistic depiction of the solitary individual amid an absurd world, illustrating its relevance as a condition-of-England novel evocative of the dark picture of the Edwardian society tottering on the precipice of disorder and injustice. Chapter Three analyzes the treacherous illusion of freedom which dooms the three protagonists to tragic or destructive ends in a plethora of limit situations. Chapter Four examines the characters’ experiences of the pervasive conflicts immanent in personal relationships,as each existent seeks to free himself or herself from the hold of others. Chapter Five concludes that behind the recurring theme of individual loneliness in Conrad’s canon(including Chance) underlies his diagnosis of the social ills of the British Empire andin wider terms his profound thoughts on the larger fabric of man’s tempestuous existence in an intrinsically meaningless universe, imbuing the under-explored masterpiece with pessimistic overtones and philosophical richness.