Published : 2021-12-30

A colonial theatrum mundi in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and Alessandro Spina’s “Il giovane maronita”

Un theatrum mundi coloniale in “Cuore di tenebra” di Joseph Conrad e “Il giovane maronita” di Alessandro Spina

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to perform a comparative analysis of “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad and “Il giovane maronita” by Alessandro Spina, a Syrian-Italian author, applying the topos of theatrum mundi. In their works, both Conrad and Spina seem to portray life in the heart of colonial Africa and Italian colonialism in Libya as acting on the stage of the theater of the world. Both writers also emphasize the transformation of the tragic colonial life of marionette characters into a kind of descent into hell, focusing on visual and acoustic aspects of the theatrical reality. The use of silence in Conrad’s novel may be compared to mime theater, while the numerous voices in Spina’s novel resemble operatic arias, mentioned expressis verbis in the analyzed work. Marlow’s narrative voice, which in “Heart of Darkness” plays the role of a Greek chorus, strongly contrasts with the silence of the natives and the Bakhtinian polyphony of “Il giovane maronita”. Both Conrad and Spina, exploring geopolitical reality and using metatheatrical techniques, unanimously condemn European colonialism.

Keywords:

Joseph Conrad, colonialism, world theater



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Mstowska, J. (2021). A colonial theatrum mundi in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and Alessandro Spina’s “Il giovane maronita”: Un theatrum mundi coloniale in “Cuore di tenebra” di Joseph Conrad e “Il giovane maronita” di Alessandro Spina. Fides, Ratio Et Patria. Studia Toruńskie, (15), 165–178. https://doi.org/10.56583/frp.635

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