Summary

Chinua Achebe’s animus against the creator of Heart of Darkness did not simply end with the charge of racism but extended to anti-Semitism and xenophobia as well. The term “xenophobia”, which is imbricated in the dialectics of race and language, features strongly in the current politics of diaspora and identity. Conventional scholarship on Conrad’s short fiction “Amy Foster” has followed two predominant strands, namely, the extreme loneliness of Yanko Goorall, the central protagonist of this seemingly mis-titled story, and his inability to communicate in a foreign land. This article, from the hermeneutic space afforded by postcoloniality, postulates the construct of “race”, as understood in the nineteenth century, as a major catalyst in the breakdown in the marriage of Yanko and Amy. It holds to the view that the tragedy of the former is not so much the outcome of a lack of communication between a castaway and his local English wife, but is predetermined in the face of an ethnocentric, if not rampantly “racist” insular, parochial community. The article concludes that the story is Conrad’s study of the racist recesses of the human psyche which manifest in discrimination against the other. Displaced geographically, culturally and linguistically, Yanko (like Conrad himself) is a metonymic inscription of alterity, whose attempts to reclaim his linguistic and cultural identity end in tragedy.

概括

奇努阿·阿契贝对黑暗之心创造者的敌意不仅以种族主义指控告终，而且还扩展到反犹太主义和仇外心理。“仇外心理”一词涉及种族和语言的辩证法，在当前的侨民和身份政治中占有重要地位。康拉德的短篇小说《艾米·福斯特》的传统学术研究主要有两个方面，即这个看似错误标题的故事的主角扬科·古拉尔的极度孤独，以及他无法在异国进行交流。这篇文章从后殖民主义提供的解释学空间出发，假设 19 世纪所理解的“种族”结构是扬科和艾米婚姻破裂的主要催化剂。它坚持认为，前者的悲剧与其说是漂流者与他当地的英国妻子之间缺乏沟通的结果，而是在面对一个以种族为中心，如果不是猖獗的“种族主义”孤立的、狭隘的、狭隘的社区。文章的结论是，这个故事是康拉德对人类心理的种族主义隐秘之处的研究，这些隐秘体现在对他人的歧视中。在地理、文化和语言上流离失所，扬科（就像康拉德本人）是他异性的转喻铭文，他试图恢复自己的语言和文化身份以悲剧告终。文章的结论是，这个故事是康拉德对人类心理的种族主义隐秘之处的研究，这些隐秘体现在对他人的歧视中。在地理、文化和语言上流离失所，扬科（就像康拉德本人）是他异性的转喻铭文，他试图恢复自己的语言和文化身份以悲剧告终。文章的结论是，这个故事是康拉德对人类心理的种族主义隐秘之处的研究，这些隐秘体现在对他人的歧视中。在地理、文化和语言上流离失所，扬科（就像康拉德本人）是他异性的转喻铭文，他试图恢复自己的语言和文化身份以悲剧告终。