Alienation and Isolation in Conrad’s Novels

Abstract

The emotional conflict of man in the alienated situation is a recurrent theme in Conrad’s fiction. Internal conflicts and emotional experiences are the soul of his novels. One of the striking similarities between Conrad, Camus and Sartre is their emphasis on the loneliness and isolation, self-imposed or circumstantial, of their major characters and the anguish resulting from their isolation. Conrad’s life was filled with numerous episodes of exile, loneliness and isolation. As a child of four, he saw his father’s exile for political activities from Warsaw to Vologda, the distant Russian province. Almayer, Marlow, Kurtz, Willems, Decoud, Mrs. Decoud, Jim, Stein, Nostromo and many other key characters suffer under psychological or external crisis. This paper concentrates on the theme of isolation and alienation in the fictional venture of Joseph Conrad, specially produced from 1895 to 1905: the first and middle phase of Conrad’s literary career.