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'
beer, to dream their insignificant silly little dreams. They trespassed upon my thoughts. They were intruders whose knowledge of life was to me an irritating pretence, because I felt so sure they could not possibly know the things I knew/ 7 Conrad states the necessity of "solidarity that knits together the loneliness of innumerable hearts" 3 8 as essential for an artist, and in the introduction to Almayer's Folly he refutes the criticism he has received for writing on 'decivilised' people: And there is a bond between us and that humanity so far away [...] I am content to sympathise with common mortals, no matter where they live; in houses or in tents, in the streets under a fog, or in the forests behind the dark line of dismal mangroves that fringe the vast solitude of the sea. For their land - like ours - lies under the 39 inscrutable eyes of the Most High. Sincere, straightforward and convincing. There are other examples to support the idea that racism is far from Conrad's intentions. In A Personal Record , for example, he writes: An impartial view of humanity in all its degrees of splendour and misery together with a special regard for the rights of the unprivileged of this earth, not on any mystic ground but on the ground of simple fellowship and honourable reciprocity of services, was the dominant characteristic of the mental and moral atmosphere of the houses which sheltered my hazardous childhood - a matter of calm and deep conviction both lasting and consistent. 4 0 The sense of mystery in Heart of Darkness certainly cannot be equated with covert racism, since the mystery is the shadow of the prehistoric times Europeans like Kurtz and Marlow are wilting to face in Africa. Kurtz tries to surrender for the sake of understanding both past and present, but he becomes the victim of such a daring attempt. Marlow formulates this idea explicitly: 3 7 Heart of Darkness, 120-1 3 8 The Nigger of the Narcissus , xii 3 9 Almayer's Folly , viii 4 0 A Personal Record, vii 172
