Historical Novel
This assignment introduces
you to the debate over the respective 'boundaries' between history
(factual/realistic) and literature (fictive/imaginative),and ways the
latter may illuminate or distort our understanding of the former. The
assigned novel is a fictional representation of colonialism in the
(Belgian) Congo. In that sense, the novelist in question, Conrad,
grappled with the same "problem" (historian) Collins and (journalist)
Hochscild sought to explain: the object of European imperialism
(colonialism) in Africa.
Guidelines:
Your essay should consist of two INTEGRAL sections: Introduction and 'THESIS'.
Section
I: Should be a general statement on the merits (advantages) and hazards
(disadvantages) of using historical novels as "aids" to understand
history - a maximum of one page and a half.
Section II: Using
Conrad's Heart of Darkness, as a case, pick ONE of TWO (maximum) issues
of historical significance treated by the novelist and explain how his
fictive situations simulate or correspond to factual (historical) ones:
racial attitudes, quest for "raw material", labour requisition, etc. Use
the authors of your two texts (Collins, Historical Problems of Imperial
Africa and Hochscild, King Leopold's Ghost) as 'witnesses' to
demonstrate your argument for or against the utility of Heart of
Darkness as an aid in understanding imperialism/colonialism. There is no
need for quotations from any source other than the novel - simply use
footnotes or endnotes to acknowledge the authors you called as
'witnesses'.
This essay should be 5 pages long, double spaced.
From me: I've attached an essay I wrote for this class so you can get an idea of my writing style and use of citations.
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