Colonialism and Literature - Haggard's 'King Solomon's Mines and Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2003 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Literatur, Note: 2.0, Universität Leipzig, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: [...] Lots of authors reflected in their literary works the nation's concepts and development in various ways having in mind different aims the final piece of art was meant to achieve. Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness, published in 1902, expresses a changed attitude toward the British empire and its ideological ambitions after a general enthusiasm which finds its expression in imperial novels such as H.Rider Haggard's Solomon's Mines, published in 1885. Criticism started to gain ground and although a radical and direct opposition could not yet be found, a questioning and distancing from society's conventions was obvious. The late Victorian period is seen as the golden age, but also taking into account the following Edwardian period, its description as an age of crisis cannot be considered to be false. The empire had achieved the biggest expansion and colonies were economically exploited to maintain Britain's status as leading power. However, the nation was more and more confronted with rival European colonial powers an had to deal with an intensified competition for markets and raw materials. Apart from this threat from outside, England was concerned with problems within the nation caused by the rapid growth of industry and fractured class relations which seemed to be unbridgeable. Poverty was a present fact especially in London and were discussions about its conditions and the deprivation among the working class. Lots of people lived in slums and their living conditions were even compared to those of slaves. Both authors had had experiences as a part of British Empire in African colonies, a fact which influenced the realisation of their works. Haggard spent part of his life in South Africa and his novel King Solomon's Mines can be clearly described as an adventure story and, more important, as an imperial romance. It contains distinctive features underlining the empire's ideological framework. Conrad's novella which followed almost two decades later, differs to that in a lot of aspects, which is first and foremost due to a new development in the English society and the formation of the modernist movement. His work had a great influence on artists even several decades after its publication and describes a decisive subject of literary criticism.