Centenary of the death of Joseph Conrad

Mexico City. A century after the death of Polish-born writer Joseph Conrad, today marks the commemoration of his complex work on the moral crossroads of humanity. Recently, a new version of his emblematic novel was released Heart of Darkness, Translated by Colombian narrator Juan Gabriel Vásquez. The volume is available in Mexico only in e-book version.

Vásquez pays tribute to the author of that title that became a genuine myth of our timewhat He tells us things we’d rather not know. Maybe that’s why we still need him.according to the prologue of the recent Alfaguara edition.

He said that what Conrad – born on December 3, 1857 and died on August 3, 1924 – saw in Africa “forever transformed his vision of colonialism as a phenomenon and of the white man as an actor. He had left Europe with the conviction of his civilizing mission, and that conviction was soon shattered (…) That irresponsible innocence ended with the trip to the Congo.”

The author of the biography Joseph Conrad: The man from nowhere He noted that the short novel is “one of the most ambiguous, elusive and enigmatic fictions of our tradition (…); it rejects simplifications and betrays the Manicheans, and has been doing the same for several generations.”

Vásquez recalled that in June 1890, the sailor Conrad arrived on the coast of what was then the Belgian Congo. The memories of that journey and some notebooks of notes served him to write eight years later the 99 handwritten pages of Heart of Darkness.

Currently, more than twenty different editions of the book are offered in Mexican bookstores. Heart of Darkness under labels such as Valdermar, Tomo, Alianza, Austral, Cátedra, Lectorum, Fontamara and Sexto Piso.

The Mexican narrator Alberto Chimal told The Day that Conrad lived through different languages ​​and cultures, and is very relevant in this era, when “there are so many people displaced by conflicts, wars and problems due to forced emigration and racism.

His career is as exemplary as his work: he is a writer who looks in many ways at the culture of the country that adopted him, England, the great empire of the world that was just beginning to glimpse its decline and, in some way, dismantled many of the myths surrounding it.

Chimal reviewed the wide variety of registers and characters in Conrad, observed from that foreign perspective, a little unable to integrate, but also very eager to observe and understand. Such a perspective is very much needed in these times..

The naturalized British narrator, continued the Mexican, “has a very subtle, but very insistent and clear discourse in this era, against colonialism. Heart of Darkness It is obvious, but it can also be seen in The black of the Narcissus or in Lord Jim. “Characters who defend the glorious image of the British Empire as a colonial power are deservedly criticized.”

He added that the perspective of a Conrad migrant, of someone who is outside and is not allowed in, who looks from there, influenced later authors in many ways.exemplified with Grave song, by Julian Herbert, whose character travels abroad and witnesses the strangest events with a somewhat distant gaze. “The spirit of Conrad is in that book and in other books by exiles or emigrants, perhaps not as an explicit homage, but it shows that this perspective is important. I am sure that many of them must have read Conrad.”

“Other books that speak of the colonial question and inequality between countries and cultures have contact with Conrad’s work. From Usual, by Javier Zamora, the story of a migrant child, until Huaco portrait, by Gabriela Wiener, an essay against the prejudices of a colonialist and heteropatriarchal image of the world.

Chimal proposed reading novels such as Lord Jim, The Secret Agent y Boatswain, as well as the book Typhoon and other stories y An advance of progress as Very good entrance doors to Conrad.

Regarding recent criticism against this author, Alberto Chimal asked to look at his books in a deeper way. “In his central text, Heart of Darkness, The inhabitants of the Congo do not have much of a say, but they are not reduced to dehumanization by the author, the narrator of the novel; they are so because that is how their European colonizers treated them.

Conrad does not celebrate colonization and is not in favor of the dehumanization and unrestrained exploitation of these human beings. That distinction can be made. Racism is not celebrated in his books, although it may be defended by the characters. An author may not think like his or her characters, because he or she needs to represent every possibility of human experience, even those with which he or she does not agree.

The novelist, who was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, was orphaned at the age of 12 and taken in by his uncle Thaddeus. At the age of 17, he travelled to Italy and then to Marseille. He became a sailor in 1875, and then became fascinated by adventure, travel and the marine world.

He later appears with British nationality and enrolled in the merchant navy of the empire, at the height of its naval power and expansion. Conrad wrote his first novel, Almayer’s Folly, in 1894. Two years later he married Jessie George and devoted himself exclusively to literature.

The Fondo de Cultura Económica published an illustrated version of Heart of Darkness, Adapted by American cartoonist Peter Kuper, who said in the introductory text that getting involved in Conrad’s narrative made him reflect on events in his nation: the corruption of our highest officials, the rampant xenophobia and racism at home and abroad.

The illustrator noted that “it is eerily similar to the transgressions committed in the name of colonialism depicted (…) Conrad also produced work that at the time raised public awareness of the atrocities committed in the Congo and encouraged a reform movement.”

The British label Bloomsbury released the volume Joseph Conrad’s Cultural Legacy: Centennial Essays, coordinated by Linda Dryden and Robert Hampson.

The text reflects on Conrad’s enduring influence on 21st-century literature and culture, through the eyes of critics and scholars of the author, as well as figures from the arts and culture sector. It ranges from the way he has inspired contemporary films and operas to the relevance of his works to key current conflicts and issues.