Joseph Conrad and the Interaction of Men

This dissertation handles the ways in which individuals and groups influence other individuals or groups as this influence appears in the fiction of Joseph Conrad. Although this author thinks there has not been before he started this project any study to focus on this particular aspect, the studies about Conrad seem to be accumulating at an amazing speed. It is true that Conrad has many of his protagonists interacting with a small group in remote regions, but this should not deter us from investigating his view of social and individual relations, but should be more incentive to look well at this aspect. Conrad preferred to register the actions and features of men during and after crises rather than their thoughts and feelings, because description was more congenial to him than analysis. He preferred to make his reader see and hear the experiences of his protagonists. One thing that this study points out is that Conrad's alienated characters have been among the white and the most sophisticated. In this way, civilization has not been a boon. This, however, does not mean that he has been sparing to the non-white.