Aspects of hybridism in joseph conrad’s almayer’s folly and heart of darkness

Abstract

In the light of concepts put forth by cultural theorists like Homi Bhabha, Edward Said and Cliford Geertz, among others, this essay discusses Joseph Conrad’s novels Almayer’s Folly and Heart of Darkness as stagings of the conlicts inherent in the syncretic nature of all culture. In the irst novel, the protagonist’s daughter, Nina, the ofspring of an interracial marriage, is analyzed as a projection of the problems of racial and cultural hybridism. he theme recurs in Heart of Darkness, in the igure of the “harlequin”, whose mixed ancestry and motley appearance make him the butt of continuous abuse. A ictional anticipation of Michel Serres’ allegorical harlequin, the half-caste proves close to three Conradian characters: Nina, in Almayer’s Folly, and, in Heart of Darkness, Kurtz and Marlow, the narrator. Conrad’s two novels thus nod to each other as mutually illuminating references, ictional premonitions of the key postcolonial category of hybridity.