{"title":"Moral Dogma and Ethical Relativity in Joseph Conrad’s Almayer’s Folly","authors":"Subhadeepta Ray, Goutam Karmakar","doi":"10.1080/00144940.2023.2200156","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper studies the intricate treatment of the abstract and dogmatic order of imperial, racial, and religious morality, and the issue of ethical commitment in the concrete and fleeting relationships between individual subjects in Joseph Conrad’s debut novel, Almayer’s Folly (1895). The novel is set in the Malay Archipelago, where the fading years of the imperial absolutism of Europe give way to conflicting trade and political interests. A pessimistic philosophical outlook in Conrad’s text shows how all the overindulgent narcissistic moral orders accommodate hate and self-interest motivated conspiracy, and simultaneously violate ethical demands of the Other in human contact.","PeriodicalId":42643,"journal":{"name":"EXPLICATOR","volume":"80 1","pages":"127 - 131"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"EXPLICATOR","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00144940.2023.2200156","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract This paper studies the intricate treatment of the abstract and dogmatic order of imperial, racial, and religious morality, and the issue of ethical commitment in the concrete and fleeting relationships between individual subjects in Joseph Conrad’s debut novel, Almayer’s Folly (1895). The novel is set in the Malay Archipelago, where the fading years of the imperial absolutism of Europe give way to conflicting trade and political interests. A pessimistic philosophical outlook in Conrad’s text shows how all the overindulgent narcissistic moral orders accommodate hate and self-interest motivated conspiracy, and simultaneously violate ethical demands of the Other in human contact.
期刊介绍:
Concentrating on works that are frequently anthologized and studied in college classrooms, The Explicator, with its yearly index of titles, is a must for college and university libraries and teachers of literature. Text-based criticism thrives in The Explicator. One of few in its class, the journal publishes concise notes on passages of prose and poetry. Each issue contains between 25 and 30 notes on works of literature, ranging from ancient Greek and Roman times to our own, from throughout the world. Students rely on The Explicator for insight into works they are studying.