Les représentations de l'espace dans les romans de Joseph Conrad
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Paris 3Disciplines:
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Abstract EN:
This dissetation studies three categories of novels by joseph conrad : those in which water is the main element (the nigger of the narcissus, typhoon), those in which water and land are opposed or complementary (lord juim, heart of darkness, nostromo, victory), and one in which land is the essential element (the secret agent). Their study reveals how conrad's dixrion isd centered around the dread of invevitable chaos due to the epistemological upheavals of the period. The period. The novelist desperately endeavours to master chaos in organizing space (either represented or textual space) : thus, he creates a "spatial form" in his fiction, associates space with an intricate pattern of symbolical values (macrocosm or microcosm), and eventually tries to master space through the medium of the characters, narrators or even through language itself.
Abstract FR:
A travers l'etude de trois categories de romans de joseph conrad, ceux dont l'eau est la structure principale (the nigger of the narcissus, typhoon), ceux ou eau et terre s'affrontent ou se completent (lord jim, henri of darknessn, nostromo, victory), et celui ou la terre predomine (the secret agent), il est possible de montrer comment la fiction conradienne renvoie l'image d'un monde chaotique, temoin des bouleversements epistemologiques de la fin du dix-neuvieme siecle. Le romancier tente desesperement de le maitriser en organisant l'espace (represente, representationnel, textuel) : mise en place d'un espace textuel de la fiction, symbolisme de l'espace represente (qu'il s'agisse du macrocosme ou d'espaces plus reduits) appropriation de l'espace par les personnages, les narrateurs ou par le langage lui-meme.