Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. Vol. 1. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 24)

Tibor Tóth: Conrad's 'Secret Garden'

the infinite negativity is further generated by the positivity of the repeatedly formulated presence of the Christian myth. At the textual level the adjectival epithets kill the instant meaning of the concrete nouns, but at the same time contribute to the extension of the overall mystical quality of the search for truth, throwing it into the obscure world of the past. As we have already stated, the destination of the pilgrimage itself is suspended between the two kinds of discourse. The deconstructive discourse undermines the initial metaphysical terms Marlow uses. The impossibility to apply metaphysical discourse to a quest that is declaredly of religious quality in the context of the Heart of Darkness is in itself purporter of the meaning of the book convincingly formulated by the title of the novella: the meaning searched for has dissolved in the heart of darkness. Marlow himself is misled by the false deity reigning over the world, although that world is partly of his own creation. He discovers that Kurtz is rather a Cain than the Adam he had hoped to find. The man in the Garden of Eden is not Adam, but a shaman idol characterised by the infinite negativity already mentioned. This also means that the Garden created by God to host Adam and Eve is the realm of "many powers of darkness."

1

5 Karl Miller's interpretation of Kurtz as Marlow's 'secret sharer' and 'adversary self seems to stand the test of the text, but he attaches too far-reaching meanings to Marlow's lie to Kurtz's intended. 1

6Kurtz, the double, becomes the projection of the loss of the noble ideals searched for in that particular geographical and atemporal context. Identification with his 'social' double dictates Marlow the terms of nightmare. Once civilisation comes to be identified with savagery through the parallel identification of Marlow with Kurtz, the negation of the negation seems to be the only solution out of the motionless nightmare dominating that world. The horror faced by Kurtz is Marlow's victory over his dark double, the act being identical to the resurrected painting's horrified cry of joy seeing dead Dorian Gray's nightmarish body. No wonder Marlow does not give up his attempt to transcend reality and reach its metaphysical meanings. It is only that he does not adopt the posture of a Christ figure and his position is reminiscent of a meditating Buddha. 1

5 Heart of Darkness, 116 1

6 Miller, Karl: Doubles: Studies in Literary History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985 159