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'

interpretation of Marlow's search for Kurtz as creating a kind of double of his own self, whereas Kurtz becomes a kind of double of Marlow. The frequent ambiguity of the personal pronouns when used in reference to himself and Kurtz is probably not accidental. Kurtz is trying to identify with the 'primitive' world. He is a border-dweller, a kind of madman whose madness is the result of mismanaged assimilation resulting in awkward cultural displacement. He gives up his identity trying to adopt a new one, but his sense of the acquired identity is the result of the reactions he managed to produce in the 'savages' whom he grows to threaten and rule. But these reactions are misleading and certainly fully contribute to the sense of displacement and disorientation in the case of Kurtz. Conrad in many instances depicts this alienation that leads to dislocation, as when Marlow states that: There was nothing either above or below him - and I knew it. He had kicked himself loose of the Earth.

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9 It is clear that the reference does not concern the land of the Congo only. This image formulates the culmination of fears that displacement could lead to the loss of the self. Because Africa in Heart of Darkness is not simply a continent the map of which was geographically discovered, but, as Marlow often admits, it is the mysterious land where the lack of knowledge and genuine interest of the 'civilised pilgrims' proved insufficient for their survival. At the beginning of the novella Marlow sets out on a journey in search of the lost vitality of the West, the essential wholeness man has lost in the course of its material progress, the distinctly human godlike stature the late Victorians were not certain about anymore. His attempt is then the attempt to reintegrate the 'symbolic' and the 'real,' the 'sacred' and the 'profane.' Marlow himself is not fully aware of his motives determining his journey, but in his account we always feel an intense anticipation of Biblical significances: "I [...] could not shake off the idea [..^The snake had charmed me [...] I felt somehow I must get there..." The limits of understanding Africa 2

9 Heart of Darkness, 65 3

0 Heart of Darkness, 53 168