Solitude Versus Solidarity in the Novels of Joseph Conrad: Political and Epistemological Implications of Narrative Innovation

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and a
poet. He is the author of Calling Texas, Earth Prime, and Mind the Gap.

Lord’s rather specialized study of Conrad is also a study of the
impact of Darwinian thought on Thomas Hardy, whom she discusses at
length as a way of introducing her subject, the conflicts between ideas
of individualism and social solidarity. The book applies a long list of
theorists to Conrad: Darwin, Weber, Arendt, Mannheim, Marx, Lukacs, and
the Canadian Charles Taylor. Lord provides some insights into the
literary qualities of the novels, but the real emphasis is on Conrad’s
struggles with political and philosophical problems. It is dangerous to
underrate Conrad’s intellect, but his fiction deals with these
problems as felt life rather than as philosophical issues. Lord’s work
is learned, intelligent, and exceedingly dry. The multiple perspectives
fail to form a unified picture, making the book valuable in parts but
not very satisfying as a whole. Historians of ideas will find the
thought very diffuse, and admirers of Conrad will find the literary
criticism rather dispersed.