Heart without ‘ the ’
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Xinxin Zhao
Abstract
As one of the most intensely studied literary works, Heart of Darkness has been inviting diversified and conflicting readings for more than one hundred years. Politically or culturally oriented readings are overwhelmingly abundant and often contradict each other. In an effort to incorporate textual evidence as comprehensively and unbiasedly as possible, this paper will pay more attention to how the story is told than to what the story tells. This paper concentrates on the narrative frame. By comparing inner and outer narrative frames, I show that the eavesdropping scene (the inner frame) is a diagrammatic icon of the overall story (the outer frame). A point-by-point resemblance can be constructed between these two frames, in which a quasi-storytelling is set up in a dark world full of voices with rare communication between speakers and listeners. In both frames, Kurtz’s voice, which is embedded within voices of others, can be heard, but “that man” (p. 37) is not fully identified formally and the mysteries surrounding Kurtz are never clearly revealed. The frames are proliferated only to accentuate its hollow core. The inner meaning is pointed at but cannot be pinned down.
Abstract
As one of the most intensely studied literary works, Heart of Darkness has been inviting diversified and conflicting readings for more than one hundred years. Politically or culturally oriented readings are overwhelmingly abundant and often contradict each other. In an effort to incorporate textual evidence as comprehensively and unbiasedly as possible, this paper will pay more attention to how the story is told than to what the story tells. This paper concentrates on the narrative frame. By comparing inner and outer narrative frames, I show that the eavesdropping scene (the inner frame) is a diagrammatic icon of the overall story (the outer frame). A point-by-point resemblance can be constructed between these two frames, in which a quasi-storytelling is set up in a dark world full of voices with rare communication between speakers and listeners. In both frames, Kurtz’s voice, which is embedded within voices of others, can be heard, but “that man” (p. 37) is not fully identified formally and the mysteries surrounding Kurtz are never clearly revealed. The frames are proliferated only to accentuate its hollow core. The inner meaning is pointed at but cannot be pinned down.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- Introduction ix
-
Part I. Iconicity in language
- Modality-specificity of iconicity 3
- The relationship between iconicity and systematicity in Korean ideophones 21
- Iconicity of Telugu ideophones and full word reduplications 39
- Morphosyntactic integration of ideophones in Japanese and Korean 57
- Pathways of de-iconization 75
- System-internal and system-external phonic expressivity 105
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Part II. Iconicity in literature
- On the expressive and iconic value of enjambment from Homer to Milton 125
- Language that thinks us 137
- Levels of iconicity in classical and modern English-language haiku 153
- Salman Rushdie’s iconic syntax and its translation into French 167
- Heart without ‘ the ’ 183
- Crisscrossing James Joyce’s Ulysses 199
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Part III. Iconicity in visual media
- Show me how you feel 213
- In the kingdom of shadows 231
- Iconicity in branding 245
- Resemblance metaphors and embodiment as iconic markers in medical understanding and communication by non-experts 265
-
Part IV. Iconicity in semiotic analysis
- The cognitive function of iconicity 293
- The iconic, indexical, and symbolic in language 307
- INDEX 327
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- Introduction ix
-
Part I. Iconicity in language
- Modality-specificity of iconicity 3
- The relationship between iconicity and systematicity in Korean ideophones 21
- Iconicity of Telugu ideophones and full word reduplications 39
- Morphosyntactic integration of ideophones in Japanese and Korean 57
- Pathways of de-iconization 75
- System-internal and system-external phonic expressivity 105
-
Part II. Iconicity in literature
- On the expressive and iconic value of enjambment from Homer to Milton 125
- Language that thinks us 137
- Levels of iconicity in classical and modern English-language haiku 153
- Salman Rushdie’s iconic syntax and its translation into French 167
- Heart without ‘ the ’ 183
- Crisscrossing James Joyce’s Ulysses 199
-
Part III. Iconicity in visual media
- Show me how you feel 213
- In the kingdom of shadows 231
- Iconicity in branding 245
- Resemblance metaphors and embodiment as iconic markers in medical understanding and communication by non-experts 265
-
Part IV. Iconicity in semiotic analysis
- The cognitive function of iconicity 293
- The iconic, indexical, and symbolic in language 307
- INDEX 327
