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 metaphysical aspects and their meanings can be ignored created the premises of Conrad's being called a racist. It is true that one has the sensation that the two sections of this paper were speaking about two definitely different stories. Both analyses are possible but in themselves tend to ignore the truth about the book, and certainly cannot formulate the complex thematic implications of the novella. Therefore the third section of this paper will follow Conrad's implied stage directions. When Marlow adopts the posture of a Buddha he suggests further meditation on all the issues problematized in the reverse mode, an interpretation where reality cannot be separated, but should be interpreted in their interrelations. Since perception and clarity and mystery are approached through two visibly governing discourses alternatively assuming progressive and regressive qualities, identifying the third discourse container of the two governing ones seems to offer a most comprehensive perspective. Ill The end of the novella clearly shows that we have read a work of self-reflexive introspection referring back to Marlow's insistence on the idea that he wants his listeners to see. The attempt is reminiscent of Kant's theory asserting that the outside world can only be understood if filtered through the interpretation of the individual's introspection. Marlow's uncertainty suggests the difficulties he faces when trying to define his own concept of self in relation to the world around him. To gain the dimensions of the representative 'particular' he has to extend the meanings of the immediate world around him to the dimensions of the universal. Objective reality cannot be changed. This means that the two lies we have mentioned are the openly formulated echoes of a deeper, more severe, hidden lie. The agent purporter of these lies as already noted belongs to the realm of discourse. The rhetoric of imperialism has already been shown in its rival relation to the rhetoric of metaphysics, but if we are right in sensing the imminent will to lie, there must be a third discourse realised through a virtually invisible rhetoric. We could define this discourse as pseudo-mythical realism. The function of this discourse is to chart the mental landscape of the protagonist suspended between the mythical and realistic discourses without obeying to any 174