Conrad in the Anthropocene: Steps to an Ecology of Catastrophe

After the Miocene and the Pliocene, the Pleistocene and the Holocene, scientists suggest that we are now entering a geological era in which man is having a direct impact on the ecosystem of the earth: the Anthropocene. This article suggests that a writer who spent nearly two decades of his life at sea and experienced first-hand catastrophic “typhoons,” “end-of-the-world” storms, and the “mountainous waves” these storms generate, is well-positioned to help take some steps toward an ecology of human actions and reactions in the context of catastrophes that are not only fictional, but now haunt the real world as well. My wager is that Conrad’s nautical fictions in general, and disaster narratives such as Typhoon, The Shadow-Line and “The Secret Sharer” in particular, should be reread today from a mimetic perspective that is at least double. It is not simply that Conrad represents catastrophic scenarios that appear increasingly realistic today (mimesis as realistic representation), but rather, that he use the “mirror of the sea” to reflect on the ways humans are implicated in an ecology of mimetic actions and reactions that require an education in non-linear thinking in order to be perceived, diagnosed, and effectively countered (mimesis as systemic patho-logy). In the process, he also encourages us to rethink agency, (will to) power, and ethics across the human/nonhuman binary along materialist, systemic, and relational lines that both echo and supplement recent theoretical developments in ecocriticism, environmental studies, and new materialism from a mimetic and, thus, literary perspective.

ISBN:978-1-138-71012-2

Publication year:2019

Accessibility:Closed