Wednesday Wisdom

WHO?

Joseph Conrad, born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski (1857–1924), was a Polish-British writer. He was born in Ukraine to Polish parents, which at the time was part of the Russian Empire. Poland, his parents’ homeland, was not an independent country but rather divided among three major powers: the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia (later part of the German Empire), and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This period of partition, known as the Partitions of Poland, lasted from the late 18th century until the end of World War I. Conrad's father, Apollo Korzeniowski, was a Polish patriot and nationalist who became involved in various anti-Russian activities. As a result, the family was exiled to Vologda, Russia, in 1861, when Joseph Conrad was just four years old. They eventually settled in Chernihiv, Ukraine, where Conrad's father continued to participate in Polish nationalist movements. Conrads family’s experience left a lasting impression which would shape his views on political ethics in the years to come and on his writing. His mother died when he was seven, his father passing 4 years later resulting in Conrad being sent to Poland to live with his uncle.

Conrad became fascinated with the sea and at age sixteen left Poland for Marseille, France to pursue a maritime apprenticeship. Conrad embarked on a seafaring journey at the age of 16, drawn to the allure of adventure and the vast expanse of the sea. Over the next two decades, he navigated the waters of the world, serving on various vessels under different flags. Growing up in the Ukraine, he primarily spoke Polish and French and didn’t learn English until his early twenties while at sea, which makes his English literary career even more impressive.

Conrad's experiences as a sailor exposed him to the harsh realities of life at sea—the storms, the monotony, the dangers, and the camaraderie among shipmates. His voyages took him to remote corners of the globe, including Africa, Asia, and South America, exposing him to a diverse array of cultures, landscapes, and peoples. These experiences provided him with a firsthand understanding of the maritime world and the diverse cultures he encountered during his voyages. Conrad's maritime career also exposed him to the complexities of human nature, as he observed the interactions and conflicts among the diverse crew members aboard ship. These observations would later find their way into his writing, infusing his novels and stories with a sense of authenticity and depth. In 1890, Conrad signed a contract with a Belgian trading company and traveled to the Congo Free State (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to work as a steamboat captain on the Congo River. His mission was to transport ivory from the interior to the coast.

What he produced

Conrad's time as a sailor fueled his imagination and shaped his literary vision. He authored 19 books based on experiences including “Lord Jim”, “Typhoon” and most famously “Heart of Darkness”. During his time in the Congo, Conrad witnessed firsthand the brutality and exploitation of European colonialism. He encountered the harsh realities of the Congo Free State under the rule of King Leopold II of Belgium, where indigenous people were subjected to forced labor, violence, and oppression in the pursuit of profit.

"Heart of Darkness" draws heavily on Conrad's experiences in the Congo, offering a searing critique of the ethics of European colonialism and the dehumanizing effects of imperialism. The novella follows the journey of Charles Marlow, a steamboat captain, as he travels up the Congo River in search of the enigmatic ivory trader Mr. Kurtz. Through Marlow's eyes, Conrad vividly portrays the horrors of colonial exploitation and Kurtz’s descent into moral darkness.

2024 why do we care?

Conrad's works often explore themes of human nature, colonialism, and the ethical consequences of European imperialism. Written at the height of the British Empire and influenced by his upbringing as well maritime experience, Conrads works are a landscape for the geopolitical situation around Europe at the turn of the century and leading up to WW1.

T.S. Eliot, the American British poet and playwright that was deeply influenced by Conrad. Many of his works like “Wasteland” and “Hollow Men” are contemplations on WW1 and the destruction after the war. The poem “Hollow Men” reflects on the loss of faith in humanity, despair and emptiness. The poem starts with an epigraph, which is a quotation or word that provides a theme or context to the literature. In “Hollow Men”, Conrad starts the poem with the epigraph;

 Mistah Kurtz-he dead
A penny for the Old Guy

The reference is to Conrads’s character of Mr. Kurtz, who Mallow describes in the book as “hollow to the core”. The second line is a reference to Guy Fawkes who was hung for treason and straw effigies of him are burned in England every year. The poem starts by, “We are hollow men, We are stuffed men, leaning together, headpiece filled with straw, Alas!”

In 1979 John Milius, Micheal Herr and Francis Ford Coppolla wrote a screenplay based on the Heart of Darkness, changing the backdrop from the 19th century Belgian Congo to the Vietnam War. In the movie “Apocalypse Now”, Captain Williard is summoned to travel up the river and find Captain Kurtz and terminate his command with extreme prejudice. Captain Kurtz has gone rogue in Cambodia and like Conrad’s Kurtz, he is a lost and soulless.

We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us—if at all—not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men.

II

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams In death's dream kingdom These do not appear: There, the eyes are Sunlight on a broken column There, is a tree swinging And voices are In the wind's singing More distant and more solemn Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer In death's dream kingdom Let me also wear Such deliberate disguises Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves In a field Behaving as the wind behaves No nearer—

Not that final meeting In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land This is cactus land Here the stone images Are raised, here they receive The supplication of a dead man's hand Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this In death's other kingdom Waking alone At the hour when we are Trembling with tenderness Lips that would kiss Form prayers to broken stone.

IV

The eyes are not here There are no eyes here In this valley of dying stars In this hollow valley This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places We grope together And avoid speech Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless The eyes reappear As the perpetual star Multifoliate rose Of death's twilight kingdom The hope only Of empty men.

V

Here we go round the prickly pear Prickly pear prickly pear Here we go round the prickly pear At five o'clock in the morning.

Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow Life is very long

Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is Life is For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.

Towards the end of the movie Captain Kurtz recites “Hollow Men”, which serves to underscore his sense of disillusionment and spiritual emptiness, as well as his profound existential despair in the face of the horrors of war.

Conrad's masterful writing and imagination, Eliot's evocative poetry, and Coppola's visionary filmmaking all contribute to the aesthetic impact of Conrads initial theme. Through their different mediums, these works offer profound insights into the human condition, identifying its worst malevolence. A novel, a poem and a film culminating in a trinity, while portraying the darkest aspects of humanity, also celebrates the creativity and integrity of the storytellers behind them.

And now you know...

Thanks, Dad, for the gift of curiosity!

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science.

METAPHYSICS: Literally, the term metaphysics means ‘beyond the physical.’ Typically, this is the branch that most people think of when they picture philosophy. In metaphysics, the goal is to answer the what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

LOGIC: The study of reasoning. Much like metaphysics, understanding logic helps to understand and appreciate how we perceive the rest of our world. More than that, it provides a foundation for which to build and interpret arguments and analyses.

ETHICS: The study of morality, right and wrong, good and evil. Ethics tackles difficult conversations by adding weight to actions and decisions. Politics takes ethics to a larger scale, applying it to a group (or groups) of people. Political philosophers study political governments, laws, justice, authority, rights, liberty, ethics, and much more.

AESTHETICS: What is beautiful? Philosophers try to understand, qualify, and quantify what makes art what it is. Aesthetics also takes a deeper look at the artwork itself, trying to understand the meaning behind it, both art as a whole and art on an individual level. A question an aesthetics philosopher would seek to address is whether or not beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

EPISTEMOLOGY: This is the study and understanding of knowledge. The main question is how do we know? We can question the limitations of logic, how comprehension works, and the ability (or perception) to be certain.