Borders, Nation-States, and Empire

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Abstract

The essay addresses different takes on the idea of the border across a range of Conrad's works. It has two parts 'Borders' and ,Nations'. In the first part, the essay considers borders as liminal spaces rather than as frontiers. it examines 'Amy Foster', 'The Secret Sharer' and 'The Shadow-Line' from this perspective. The second part, 'Nations' discusses Nostromo in terms of various forms of nation-formation and the various versions of 'the nation these imply. It explores various versions of nationalism in the novel and shows how Nostromo registers the twentieth-century paradigm shift from nation-states to transnational corporations and the borderless flows of capital. The essay concludes with Conrad's exploration of community in his late novel, The Rover.
Original languageEnglish
Article number5
Pages (from-to)48-66
Number of pages19
JournalThe Conradian
Volume43
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 6 May 2018
EventJoseph Conrad 'Twixt Land and Sea - University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland
Duration: 17 Nov 201719 Nov 2017

Keywords

  • Joseph Conrad
  • borders
  • Nation-state
  • nationalism
  • the community
  • Amy Foster
  • The Secret Sharer
  • The Shadow-line
  • The Rover
  • Nostromo
  • Under Western Eyes
  • Empire
  • Hardt and Negri
  • nation formation

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