| Summary: | Conrad's use of religious terminology has attracted
mainly archetypal criticism to date, and the validity
of this approach is tested in chapter one. An
assessment of Conrad's beliefs begins with a study of
the Polish and personal religious influences of his
childhood and continues in chapter four by showing
how, under the tuition of his guardian's letters, he
developed a kind of work ethic, to which he brought
the religious intensity of his father; initially towards
his life at sea, later towards his vocation as a writer.
Literature, in fact, is shown to be the crucial background,
not only to his attacks on Christianity but
also to the pessimism shown in his letters to R. B.
Cunninghame Graham in the late 1890s.
The following chapters study literal religious
references in Conrad's writings. Chapter five investigates
the sources of Conrad' s knowledge of Islam and
shows how his fictional Muslims expose the shortcomings
of their European counterparts. Critical views of his
use of Eastern religions (particularly Buddhism) are
analysed in chapter six and the usage itself scrutinised,
whilst chapter seven is concerned with Conrad's
treatment of Christianity and its failings.
In the final chapters, the figurative religious
language is studied. The terms "devil" and "soul" are
given secular interpretations, such as "excessive
egoism" (devil) and man’s "will" or "power of choice"
(soul). Generally, the figurative religious language
(including numerous biblical allusions) shows the
results of the inadequacies of literal religion in the
modern world by indicating man's obsessions for less
spiritual occupations such as his passions, his own
ego, his personal illusions, his vocation, his self conception
or the material and political pursuits of
society. Examples are drawn from the whole canon and
usually show such conduct to lead to disaster. In
this spiritual crisis, hope lies in such simple ideas
as fidelity, faith and love but these notions are
seldom attained.
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