"HEART OF DARKNESS" RACISM AND REACTION

ONE OF THE MANY EDITIONS OF THE CLASSIC NOVEL

 An enduring classic of English literature is the novella "Heart Of Darkness" first published in serial form in 1899 in "Blackwood's Magazine" and then as a book in 1902. But the spotlight shone on it with greater intensity in February, 1975 when the then 45 years old Nigerian Author Chinua Achebe made it the subject of an important public lecture. Achebe was already renowned for his novels "THINGS FALL APART"  (1958), "NO LONGER AT EASE" (1960) and ARROW OF GOD" (1964). At the administrative and communications level, he had been intensely active in the Biafran War (1967 -1970), in support of the effort to create Biafra out of the Igbo region of Nigeria.

CHINUA ACHEBE THE MOST RENOWNED AFRICAN AUTHOR

The lecture Achebe had been invited to give, was the prestigious Chancellor's Lecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst on 18th February,1975, and it was later published in the Massachusetts Review in Vol. 18 No. 4 in the Winter of 1977. It was published in book form in 1983. Achebe gave the Lecture the title " An Image of Africa : Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." That very title signalled Achebe's view of Conrad's attitudes.


Anyone who has read Achebe's works is accustomed to his generous and measured style of writing , even when he is making harsh criticisms through the mouths of his characters. It comes as a something of a shock then, to encounter the vigour of his language in his assault on Conrad's work. But vigorous he is, and he does not simply make his targets the easy and obvious marks, but is carefully analytic in his approach. The result is to cause one to reassess one's view of "Heart of Darkness" entirely. 

Obviously the Western reader will come to the task of assessing the work from a different direction to that of this African intellectual and active patriot. When their minds have met, the result is bound to be interesting

CHINUA ACHEBE A MOST IMPRESSIVE AUTHOR

Heart of Darkness

Conrad's novella is a fascinating creation.  There is about it, from its very beginning, an air of the surreal, a group of friends on a sailing vessel at the mouth of the Thames waiting for the turn of the tide as evening falls, listening to Conrad's character Marlowe recount his experiences on the great Congo River in Africa. Marlowe touches reflectively on the ancient history of the Thames, and the people unknown who knew it then.

He begins to recount how he came to take a position as Captain of a small steam boat making its way up the Congo in an effort to reach the mysterious and legendary representative of a Belgian trading company.
But that reality is subordinated in the text , to an almost dream-like contemplation of the mystery of the great river and the jungle surrounding it, and the native people that populate the territory. The jungle, the river and the people , are presented as deeply mysterious, unknowable and menacing. The only black people who are known to Marlowe are a small group of cannibal crew members, and a solitary steersman who becomes important for his ability, but we never learn his name. There is an air of weird unreality about the whole setting. The only value that the place or the people have is their part in creating the air of mystery and menace Marlowe is experiencing. The climax of the tale is itself suitably weird, as is Marlowe's return to the Company's  Head Office to report the results of his mission. 

Reading the novella it is surprising to encounter routine use of the word "nigger" . I am 75 ,and even in far distant Australia it was never acceptable in my lifetime. Nevertheless I can accept that it might have been in common use in some stratas of English society in  1899.Or at least sufficiently so, for Conrad to put it in Marlowe's mouth. He also makes Marlowe comment critically about the Belgian company's treatment of the native people , but this is done in an oblique fashion and not with any systematic sense of moral outrage. But, by and large, river, jungle and the black people of the Congo are merely part of the surreal environment that menaces Marlowe. The book is, as it was no doubt intended to be, disturbing - leaving one with an uncomfortable sense of distaste for the experience it has presented. But one never doubts that it is a remarkable piece of work.

JOSEPH CONRAD (1857  -1924)

Joseph Conrad was born in 1857 in Imperial Russia in the Kiev region. He was Polish by birth, but was granted British Citizenship in 1886. He was a highly successful novelist writing at the height of British Imperialism. He is generally  regarded as having been very influential on many other authors with his modernist style and pre-occupation with human psychology in his characters.


Chinua Achebe 's Assessment

Achebe fully realised that he was dealing with a work and an Author of great reputation. The work was a standard classic in American academic circles and in his immediate audience there would be many academics specialising in English literature.

But , in considering "Heart of Darkness" he had come to the realisation that , as in so much literature involving Africa, the land and her many peoples, were given no recognition for their reality and inherent dignity , characteristics and achievements. They became mere wallpaper for Western performers and their preoccupations and intentions.

But , a man of great literary achievements himself, and an active participant in the inspired , yet ultimately tragic Biafran War he knew better than most the great reality of Africa : places, peoples and aspirations. These had and have the right to be treated with respect, consideration and recognition of their inherent dignity and merit.  What was it  that drove Conrad to refuse all of these and proceed as he did? One word summed it up : Racism.

Achebe carefully and thoroughly examined Conrad's work, his past works and was satisfied that yes, that was Conrad's real heart of darkness.

Needless to say, the occasion of the Lecture itself - immediately upon its conclusion - found Achebe  surrounded by outraged academic critics and some who actually approved of his view, others still were to come to him later and acknowledge conversion to his point of view. In time Achebe's view came to be accepted as correct. But again , in time - such is the nature of academic opinion - the revisionists came forward and at least put a contrary view once again.

What Are We to Believe?

What a cheeky question! There is only one thing to do : Read "Heart of Darkness" - the novella is easy to read in a short period. Then read the Lecture ! Both are continually available. Then judge for yourself.

For my money, the question hinges upon how far we are prepared to distance Conrad's creation from his personal views at one level. Then we need to consider the structure he has chosen to give the novella - and here is where , I believe it is hard to avoid Achebe's conclusion.

The very fact that Conrad's creation is not purposefully vicious in the nature of its racism does not avoid the fact that it is, that he is, racist. For he chooses to refuse the African peoples identity, presents them solely as menacing phantoms,menacing cannibals or a competent, but somehow ridiculous steersman whose life is nothing. He denies them their human dignity, motivation and any aspirations. And the whole of Africa becomes merely a stage for his European real people to act out their intentions.This attitude was wholly unsurprising in its time . Indeed it would have been regarded as simply the natural order of things.

This is not the view I had of the book until I read Achebe's Lecture and I resisted his presentation at first. I had been inclined to accept Conrad's scheme for the novella as  merely a legitimate choice of presentation.  But I have come to see that it was NOT a legitmate choice and it was reflective of a very deep seated and distasteful attitude in Joseph Conrad.

Altogether a very interesting exercise.   

JEWS, ITALIANS,BOOKS AND A SPARROW

Some weeks back my good friend on FB Stephen Sparrow from Christchurch New Zealand, recommended to me "A Thread of Grace" by Mary Doria Russell. I was able to secure it via Audiobook from Audible.Com and to have it accompany me on my daily Rehab. Walk for some days.  I am very grateful to Stephen for the recommendation, because the book itself is a very worthwhile, well-researched fictionalised account of real events. 

But that is not the only reason I found it so satisfying. In fact it cross- referenced loosely with another book (actually two books) which were given to me in Audiobook format by my Brother -in - Law. The books are "The Winds of War " and "War and Remembrance" both by Herman Wouk (best known perhaps for writing "The Caine Mutiny" made into a fine film starring Humphrey Bogart, Fred MacMurray and Van Johnson). 

To further enhance the experience, it also cross-referenced well with the grand novel "The Red Horse" by Eugenio Corti published some years back by Ignatius Press and which I read in hard copy back in the day.

" A Thread of Grace" is the beautifully told story of several Jews who find themselves moved, under the threat of Nazi persecution, to escape firstly to France, then to Italy and the tale unfolds as various Italian Catholic families and groups including Dioceses, Convents and Parish Priests and Partisan groups, spirit them along and hide them in mountain valleys, in convents, in caves - wherever they can be made safe from the Fascist Regime at first and later from the invading , and later retreating Nazis. The fact that the author's research has been so thorough, enables her to base all the events on actual happenings in that time of great struggle. I would recommend this book without reservation. It is beautifully written and the story sensitively told without mere sentimentality. The author is a self-proclaimed convert to Judaism. ( I have never been convinced of the validity of such a process - how can one elect to become a member of a racial group of "Chosen People"?). 

"The Winds of War " and "War and Remembrance" are   superficially very American  - the story of an American Naval Family and their lives in the lead up to and during World War II. But the Jewish Author  Herman Wouk has a lot more in mind as he sets about  unfolding his truly ambitious epic tale. For the two novels allow him a very broad canvas upon which he displays several things simultaneously. Yes, there is the story of the American Naval family, whose patriarch "Pug" Henry rises to Admiral status via a brilliant career and significant dealings with world leaders.  But we pretty soon begin to realise that the Henry family are really the backdrop to Wouk's main effort to give his view of World War II, and an alternative view of it as well, via a fictitious German General's Commentaries.  And in the very foreground is the plight of the Jews in Europe in the lead up to, and during the War. At the same time Wouk , through his characters makes devastating assessments of world leaders, including Franklin D.Roosevelt and Winston Churchill and the French military and political leadership of the time. Much of his analysis is only possible because of the perspectives that he chooses, and is not necessarily objectively correct.  But there is no doubting the brilliance of his work. In following the lives of Natalie Jastrow who marries into the Henry family, and her wealthy author Father who lives in Italy, and her efforts to escape Italy to re-join her husband, we see reflections of the same struggles so well told in "Thread of Grace" in a more restricted geographical area. I commend both of Wouk's novels to any reader for the quality of conception, writing and research. Much of what was involved, I  was familiar with, in military and naval history, as well as political history. In these areas he is really solid. As for the Jewish angle - he is much more obvious than Russell in "Thread of Grace" , but it is not suffocating.

I took these two photographs outside the Palazzo Communale facing onto Piazza Maggiore in the heart of Bologna in 2009.  Bologna has been a centre of Italian Left politics for decades. The photographs show some of the fallen Partisans.   The lower photo gives some statistics Partisan combatants  14,425 (2212 women), Partisans fallen 2,059, Partisans wounded 945, Patriots Arrested 6,543, Patriots executed as reprisals 2,350 Patriots Died in Nazi Prison Camps 829, Recognition of Military Valour 22 Gold Medals, 40 Silver Medals. (N.B. The relatively small number of wounded compared to the number of Fallen is testimony to the ferocity of the fighting.  I do not believe it could be taken for granted that all of the fallen were victims of the Nazis, but some victims of other Partisan groups of different political persuasion

"The Red Horse" by Eugenio Corti is a story of heroic proportions It is years since I read it, but the above novels refreshed my memories in a  number of ways. In this case, the novel gains its authentic character because the author was in fact one of the principal characters in real life. Needless to say the particular character is a very attractive personality as we read along . He is very active politically and when he is called-up, his military service takes him deep into Russia where events of the blackest horror take place. The book is extremely well written, characters are finely drawn and the tale is thoroughly engrossing. Along the way it recounts the complex stories of the Italian Partisan groups. It is a complicated situation. Many but not nearly all, were Communist , and the various groups were just as adept at fighting each other, as they were  fighting the Germans. The bitterness of this internicine strife was truly terrible and led to vicious post war vengeance being carried out. The book also brings out the peculiar character of Italian Communism which was a much less ruthless strain than was to be found in Northern Europe. Much of the responsibility for this lay with the leadership of the Party and the experience of Palmiro Togliatti  Leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927until his death in 1964. Togliatti, like so many other Communist sympathisers went to Russia before the war to get close to the authentic Communist spirit. He got a little too close for his comfort and, when the Revolution started consuming its own children, he found himself on one of the extermination lists and quickly did a runner back home to mother Italia! From then on, he talked the talk , but he and his followers were always careful where and how they walked.The result was a form of Communism that was big on rhetoric but not so big on ruthlessness. "The Red Horse" is another novel of heroic proportions, but the author never loses control and the whole is finely crafted, and reveals many things not known at all in the West generally, including the terrible fate of the huge numbers of Italians who fought in Russia during the War.  The Jews do not figure largely in this novel for it is telling another story, but , in its extensive coverage of the Partisans it is even more revealing than Russell's book. Again, this is a book well worth reading, to complete one's understanding of wartime and post War Italy.

To sum it all up, my thanks to Stephen Sparrow for introducing me to " A Thread of Grace" for its own value, and also inadvertently causing me to complete and deepen my knowledge of the Italian experience of World War II .
  
                      

Hot Fudge: It's coming

Hot Fudge: It's coming





Here is the Blog of my dear Wife a very talented lady in many directions  - the creative side of our Marriage!

AFRICA FIFTEENTH STOP WESTERN SAHARA

WESTERN SAHARA

AFRICA

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.


WESTERN SAHARA

Western Sahara has the Atlantic Ocean for its Western border, on its Northern border is Morocco, the North-Eastern border is shared with Algeria and the Eastern and Southern borders are shared with Mauritania.

The territory of Western Sahara is disputed.It had been a Spanish territory until 1975 when a United Nations resolution requested that the Spanish hold a referendum on self-determination. One year earlier the U.N. had asked Spain to de-colonise the territory.

Spain surrendered control of the territory to a joint administration of Morocco and Mauritania and this shortly led to a war betwen those countries and a local liberation movement - the Polisario Front (strongly backed by Algeria). Mauritania withdrew in 1979 and Morocco secured complete control.

In 1991 the U.N. sponsored a ceasefire giving 2/3rds of the country including the Atlantic Coast to Morocco  and the remainder to SADR the organisation behind the Polisario Front.

The history of the region is not rich. It was originally Berber territory, which became Mohammedanised in the 8th Century A.D. By the early 1700s Spain had established her influence by developing a commercial fishing industry off the coast. After the Berlin Conference of 1884, Spain had claimed Western Sahara as hers.

The population is not large ,estimated at around 513,000 40% of whom live in one coastal city - Laayoune ( or El Aaiun). Commercial efforts to explore for oil and to further develop fishing have come unstuck on international legal issues related to the country's legal status.

In short Western Sahara is a good place to be (away) from.

IN THE BEGINNING LOCOMOTIVE NO. 1

NSW LOCOMOTIVE NO. 1

She is not pretty. Rather , the instant impression is "sturdy".

One of 4 Locomotives designed by James Mc Connell and built by Robert Stephenson and Company in the U.K. for the proposed Sydney to Parramatta railway, she arrived by sea in Sydney on 13th January, 1855, 160 years ago.  She was a "modern" locomotive!  The Copper capped chimney and the brass steam dome and safety valve etc. all evidence the pride taken in this modern technology and the confidence in progress then so well accepted.The design was based on a London and North Western Railway locomotive designed by McConnell only one year earlier.  No.1 is the only McConnell designed locomotive surviving in the world.

No.1 was to haul the very first train in NSW from Sydney to a viaduct near the present day suburb of Lewisham .The short trip was made on  Queen Victoria's Birthday on 24th May, 1855. But she missed out on the glory of running on the day of the official opening of the line to Parramatta on 26th September, 1955 since she was undergoing maintenance. The Honours went to her sister No.3 which took the 9.00 am train out to Parramatta. And the Grand Opening Official train at 12.00 Noon was taken out by sister locomotive No.2 . ( No.4 did not seem to fit into the arrangements for the day!)    

Weighing approx. 26 long tons, she carried in her tender 4 long tons of coal and 2,000 gallons of water. She produced a Tractive Effort of   8,900 lbs.  

No. 1 was retired in 1877 having run 156,542 Miles in her 22 years of service. 

We can be grateful for the decision and perseverance to preserve her. She is now a permanent exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum at Pyrmont in inner Sydney.

A KING, AN ABUSED CHURCH AND A COMEDY OF COPES

KING RICHARD III

The occasion of the re-burial of the lately re-discovered remains of King Richard III, and their re-interment in the Anglican Cathedral of Leicester,a City 1 1/2 hours North of London and 1 hour South of Birmingham, might well  have caused His Majesty's rather pained look in the above image. 

 Leicester is in the region known as East Midlands.As you will no doubt have read, following his death on 22nd August ,1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field, his remains were interred in the Greyfriars (Franciscan) Priory  church in Leicester. This was destroyed during the Protestant Deformation.The King's remains were thought irretrievably lost until in 2012, they were discovered during the archaeological excavation under a Municipal Car Park.


There were several highly-dedicated enthusiasts who pursued the quest to locate the King's remains. The skeleton was not hard to identify superficially, given his moderately deformed back - which is clearly visible in the spine and rib structure , and the wounds evidenced in damage to the remains. Following this initial assessment, his last remaining descendant was located and DNA samples from him and the skeleton , proved conclusively that these were indeed the remains of King Richard III of England. And this, nearing  500 years after his death. Marvellous sensational grist for the Media mill!


But immediately the question arose : what to do next?  It was finally decided to re-inter the body, this time in Leicester Anglican Cathedral .


WHAT TO DO WITH A CATHOLIC KING?

But Catholics were quick to point out that His Majesty was born and raised and , lived and died a devout Catholic. There were no Anglicans in his time and no "Anglican Church". Evidence of His Majesty's Catholic Devotion is ample : his Will provides for many , many Chantry Priests to offer Holy Mass daily for the repose of his soul, and there also survives his beautifully illuminated personal Prayer Book, a   Book of the Hours replete with Catholic prayers and devotions.

 Ah! But those are not relevant considerations said the authorities - English King, English Anglican Church set-up by Parliament and Headed by the current Monarch  - he is OURS and will be buried in an Anglican Cathedral. As a concession , the Service of interment was to become an "ecumenical" affair along with several Mohammedan clerics, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal  Vincent Nichols would attend . His Eminence did attend and was seated in the front row whilst the Mohammedans were somewhat further back.

Leicester Anglican Cathedral a stolen Catholic Parish Church

WHY LEICESTER?

Leicester Cathedral was chosen because Bosworth Field was in Leicestershire.The Cathedral is not one of the great former Catholic Cathedrals stolen at the time of the Deformation, but rather a large former Catholic parish church stolen at that time.  It was initially built around A.D. 1000 and enlarged over the centuries in some odd ways ,which make it look in some internal views, more like a Pavilion. In Victorian times the church was renovated  and the results appear less than happy.There is a considerable amount of timber structures in evidence internally, and these look rather more modern and even cheap.  In   1927 it was given the status of Cathedral by the Anglican Church.

  The interior of the Cathedral

EVIL AND GOOD

Richard III had suffered a longtime " bad press".  This resulted from popular belief in his lifetime that he was responsible for the deaths of the "Princes in the Tower"  to clear the way for his accession , Further rumours were put about that he had his wife killed. There can also be little doub that in his times, his deformity would have induced much prejudice and presumption of evil. 

Most of the after death image making can be laid at the feet of William Shakespeare who portrayed the decisive  conflict between Richard III and the ultimately successful  Henry Tudor as the struggle between quintessential evil and shining and glorious virtue. However , we need to  remember that Shakespeare was adept at intermingling fiction and fact for the sake of a good story. We also need to remember that he was writing in the reign of   a Tudor Monarch at all times - so prudence might have dictated his decision to join in the "spin" on the reputation of the last Plantagenet King.  There seems to be a growing movement to rehabilitate the memory of Richard III.

Military Ritual

THE RE-INTERMENT CEREMONIES

The Television coverage  in an hour long documentary was fairly extensive. In  some respects, the arrangements were entirely satisfactory : the actual tomb seems quite impressive in the modern manner,as was the Military Ritual of bringing in the Coffin and lowering it into the floor, which was well done. The Catholic actor Dominic Cumberbatch (of Sherlock fame) read a poem  - very well of course given his training and superb voice.

The Religious Ritual was something else. The Principal Cleric was Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby an Evangelical who is obviously ill at ease in Liturgical settings. It was the usual Anglican "comedy of copes" conveying the impression of a gathering of  some mysterious sect. Whenever Archbishop Welby had to look at the prayers in the Ritual held up before him, he made a labored point of screwing -up his face , peering long and hard at the book  - much as one might do staring at an IKEA set of assembly instructions. The choice of music and the choir itself was more insipid than solemn, Even the Coronation Anthem "Zadok the Priest" which Anglicans love to scream out, got a rather delicate rendition. (Zadok , for those interested, was the Jewish Priest who anointed King Solomon! -another little touch of traditional self-aggrandisement on the part of the Monarchy.)  All in all it was a bit embarrassing to watch.

Cardinal Nichols was spared any part in the liturgical events. Though he did seem to get to make some sort of a statement, though at what stage of the proceedings was not clear  at least to me. There had been a lot of editing of the video coverage.

CARDINAL NICHOLS FRONT ROW SEAT 

KING RICHARD III'S TOMB

SCANDAL

The decision to deny the late Catholic King burial in a Catholic Church , with a solemn Requiem Mass said for the repose of his soul is a scandal.

This is doubly so, when we consider his intention in his Will to have Holy Masses continually said for the repose of his soul.Here he could not have one said even at his Interment! And, to add insult to injury, he was being interred in a church stolen from his Catholic Church  by the successors of the very people who desecrated the church and his original tomb at Greyfriars Priory.

The action was a shoddy piece of grandstanding at the expense of integrity and justice and true religion. And it gives the lie entirely to the much vaunted "ecumenism" of our day. Rather, cynicism ruled on this occasion.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

AFRICA FOURTEENTH STOP MAURITANIA

MAP OF MAURITANIA

AFRICA

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

MAURITANIA

Oh What a lovely place! 90% is Sahara Desert, it is an "Islamic Republic", 4% of the population are formally slaves, Female genital mutilation is practised and child labor is the norm. Where else would you want to live?

Now i wrote the foregoing about three weeks ago. And it is true that other things have intruded, but , if I am totally honest I would have to admit that The information summarised in the above paragraph really put me off writing about Mauretania.  But I can't spend the rest of my days peering over the border into wretched Mauretania - no, I shall have to mentally go on in!


Bounded by Western Sahara and Algeria in the North, Mali in the East, and South and also by Senegal in the South , Mauritania has for its Western border the Atlantic Ocean.

The country is an Islamic Republic  with a population of approx. 3,500,000 including as we have said 140,000 official slaves - 4% of the population. Languages used include Arabic, French and a version of +Berber.+ The Motto of the country is : " Honor, Fraternity , Justice" - slaves are exempted from these tiresome privileges , as are genitally-mutilated women and child laborers.

The name Mauritania has its origins in the ancient Roman Province of Mauretania Tingitana which occupied most of present day Morocco and survived as a Berber Kingdom until the 7th Century A.D. From around A..D.1000 Arab invaders maintained continual pressure on the country and finally in a thirty years war from 1644 to 1674 Yemeni Arabs crushed the Berber peoples and assumed control. However in the late 19th Century, French forces from Senegal in the South integrated Mauritania into French territory. French rule brought an end to historic legal slavery in the country. But in 1960 the country was again given its independence.Slavery was restored. Its victims are largely sub-Saharan Africans. 

Severe drought in the 1970s- even by Mauritanian standards led to immense civil unrest.As many as 70,000 sub-Saharan African Mauritanians were expelled from the country at the time. A bloodless coup took place in July , 1978 .This has opened the way for a long period of internal instability with coups and counter coups becoming the routine way of life. Slavery has been banned and then re-introduced.

The last of the coups was in 2008, but the political climate remains unhealthy despite elections held.

Now I know where Mauritania is ...but I feel none the better for it!