Joseph Conrad and the Reader

List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES Conrad's Conception of Authorship: Probing the Implications and Limits of the Death-of-the-author Theory PART II: RECEPTION THEORY: READING AS A CULTURAL AND IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCT Polish Responses: Art and the Ethics of Collectivity British Reception: Englishness and the Act of Reading PART III: AESTHETIC RAMIFICATIONS, NARRATIVE ENTANGLEMENTS & FICTIONAL READERS Conrad's Visual Aesthetics: Classical and Modern Connections A Cartography of Conrad's Fictional Readers: Reading Hierarchy in Lord Jim , 'Heart of Darkness' , Nostromo and Victory Narrative Solidarity and Competition for Truth and Signification Conrad and the Construction of the Reader: Tension between Democratic Vision and Aristocratic Leaning Narrative Self-Consciousness and the Act of Reading: Examining Under Western Eyes through the Lens of Fielding's, Sterne's and Diderot's Poetics Conclusion Notes Works Cited Index