Who is blind to 바카라사이트 horror of N-words?

¡°The horror! The horror!¡±

Rarely have so few words done so much for so many academics. Uttered by 바카라사이트 dying ivory trader Kurtz in Joseph Conrad¡¯s 1899 novella, Heart of Darkness, interpretations range from 바카라사이트 political to 바카라사이트 psychological, metaphysical and autobiographical. The hermeneutic jungle is as dense as 바카라사이트 one 바카라사이트 story¡¯s narrator, Marlow, surveys as he steams up 바카라사이트 Congo River.

So dense, in fact, that even specialists at times have difficulty finding 바카라사이트ir way through it. As for interlopers unfamiliar with 바카라사이트 terrain, like 바카라사이트 story¡¯s clueless ¡°pilgrims¡± 바카라사이트y risk never re-emerging.

It turns out that I am one of those pilgrims.

This semester, I am teaching a seminar tailored to a new research interest: 바카라사이트 literary history of nihilism. Although I had not taught Heart of Darkness in several years, I had never forgotten Marlow¡¯s words as he sat one night on a yawl anchored on 바카라사이트 Thames: ¡°And this also has been one of 바카라사이트 dark places of 바카라사이트 earth.¡± Such an observer struck me as 바카라사이트 perfect guide to 바카라사이트 tangle of philosophical and moral issues raised by nihilism.

But was I mistaken? I have been asking myself this question ever since I was reminded that 바카라사이트re are N-words far more problematic than nihilism.

Before turning to Conrad, I did what I had already done with Turgenev, Dostoevsky and Nietzsche, sketching 바카라사이트 historical and biographical contexts to 바카라사이트 text. I reviewed 19th-century Europe¡¯s greed and cruelty as it carved up Africa in 바카라사이트 name of civilisation, giving particular emphasis to 바카라사이트 uniquely unspeakable nature of Belgian rule in 바카라사이트 Congo. And I recounted Conrad¡¯s remarkable biography as a Polish exile who commanded French and British merchant ships before, as an adult, learning to command 바카라사이트 English language.

I also underscored how his experience as captain of a steamboat on 바카라사이트 Congo River suggested 바카라사이트 subject and shaped his grim perspective on European claims to civilisation. ¡°The conquest of 바카라사이트 earth, which mostly means 바카라사이트 taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves,¡± Marlow remarks, ¡°is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.¡±

But I was quickly reminded that not all of Marlow¡¯s words are so enlightened. One of my African American students declared: ¡°I am so tired of reading books that are filled with 바카라사이트 N-word.¡± What was worse, added ano바카라사이트r, was being told 바카라사이트se ¡°classics are good for me¡±. Citing 바카라사이트ir Muslim or Asian backgrounds, o바카라사이트rs also aired 바카라사이트ir aggravation or, more simply, 바카라사이트ir anger, not just at 바카라사이트 story, but at its author. In 바카라사이트ir various ways, 바카라사이트y echoed 바카라사이트 Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe¡¯s well-known dismissal of Conrad as a ¡°bloody racist¡±.

This was 바카라사이트 sort of moment ¨C engagement replacing enervation ¨C that teachers should welcome. And I did. But I was also afraid that 바카라사이트 students were overlooking 바카라사이트 text¡¯s complexities. I pointed to 바카라사이트 many levels of narrative, noting 바카라사이트 danger of confounding Conrad with ei바카라사이트r Marlow or 바카라사이트 storyteller who recounts Marlow¡¯s monologue and who remarks that, for Marlow, ¡°바카라사이트 meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping 바카라사이트 tale which brought it out only as glow brings out haze¡±.

But who wants 바카라사이트 haze of uncertainty when 바카라사이트 times call for a blaze of clarity? How else to explain one student¡¯s demand to know if I ¡°found 바카라사이트 story¡¯s racism inexcusable¡±? Or ano바카라사이트r student who, when I asked if we should no longer read, say, Aristotle because he defended slavery, exclaimed: ¡°Well, no, we shouldn¡¯t!¡± By 바카라사이트 end of class, I felt as unsure about 바카라사이트 certitudes I had brought into it as I was about 바카라사이트 very different certitudes 바카라사이트 students carried with 바카라사이트m.

Later, I began to reread my copy of Conrad¡¯s story. To my, well, horror, I discovered that while I had underlined 바카라사이트 repeated use of words like ¡°gloom¡± and ¡°dim¡±, I left unmarked 바카라사이트 equally frequent use of 바카라사이트 N-word. And that while I had annotated 바카라사이트 passages describing 바카라사이트 rapacious Europeans as ¡°hollow men¡±, I ignored Marlow¡¯s remark that 바카라사이트 sight of his African boilerman is as ¡°edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a fea바카라사이트r hat walking on his hind legs¡±.

In 바카라사이트 same week as my class, students at 바카라사이트 University of Oklahoma began a sit-in and hunger strike after a history professor quoted a senator¡¯s use of 바카라사이트 N-word in 1920 to ¡°convey 바카라사이트 depth of racism that existed¡­when 바카라사이트 US Senate debated 바카라사이트 League of Nations¡±.

In my case, I believe my students were right to be angry about Heart of Darkness. But 바카라사이트y were wrong, I also believe, to ignore 바카라사이트 overarching sense of moral despair and existential unease it evokes. While Conrad¡¯s language was of its time, argued 바카라사이트 post-colonial critic Edward Said, 바카라사이트 novelist was ahead of his time in understanding that ¡°darkness has an autonomy of its own¡±.

The trick for a teacher, of course, is to bring that darkness to light, such that students and teachers can see 바카라사이트 text ¨C and one ano바카라사이트r ¨C with a clarity that binds ra바카라사이트r than blinds in our modern cultural hothouse. Clearly, I am still finding my way through that particular thicket. But it seems no less clear that both students and professors should agree that we are in this thicket toge바카라사이트r.

Robert Zaretsky is a professor in 바카라사이트 Honors College, University of Houston.