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ZdzisławNajder
writers.14Whowereitsreaders?ThesubscribersweremostlymaleBritishers,dis-
persedallovertheworld;themajorityofcopieswasdistributedinthecoloniesand
dominions.Certainly,ConradsawcopiesoftheMagainthehotelsofSingaporeand
officers’messesinAustralia.Onecandescribethosereadersasthecolonialintelli-
gentsia.Or,usingasocio-culturalterm,asgentlemen.HippolyteTainewritesabout
themthattheyarefinanciallyindependent,haveadecenteducationinthehumanities
andgoodmanners,careabouttheirhonour,possessaknowledgeoftheworldac-
quiredwhiletravelling,andadopttheattitudeofresponsibilityforothers;bythe
sametokentheyregardthemselvesasnaturalmembersoftherulingclass.Thismod-
eldescriptionmayofcoursebecouchedindifferentterms,butIthinkinConrad’s
consciousnessthesubscribersoftheMagaremainedhisidealreaders–and“ideal”
doesnotmeanthattheywouldnothavebeenstartledbysomethingshewouldbe
saying,forinstancein“HeartofDarkness”.Astheirrepresentativeswemayconsider
doctorKennedyin“AmyFoster”andtheAssistantCommissionerinTheSecret
Agent.
Intellectually,tothesamegroupbelongscertainlyCharlesMarlow,thebestknown
andmostcharacteristicofConrad’snarrators,whoappearspreciselyinhisworks
publishedintheMaga.MarlowisversedinGreekmythology,knowsLatinproverbs
andancienthistory.AllusionstoShakespeareandDickenscometohimeasily.Such
continentallanguagesasGermanandItalianarenotalientohim,butaboveallhe
knowsFrenchwell.Tounderstandhim,hislisteners–aswellasthereadersofthe
storieshetells–havetopossesssimilarknowledgeandsemanticcapabilities.Marlow
ispresentedasbelongingtothesamemilieu,asthemembersofhisaudience,as“one
ofthem.”Marlow-the-narratormay,therefore,beconsideredasarepresentativeof
thereadersofhisown–inotherwords,Conrad’s–tales.Thus,Marlowthestory-
tellerisatthesametimeamodelimageoftheimplicitrecipientoftheworksoffic-
tioninwhichheisaprotagonist.Ithinkthatthemaincharacteristicsandthescopeof
semanticresourcesofthatimpliedreaderwillnotchangetilltheendofConrad’s
fictionalcareer,although–ofcourse–theidealreaderofChancediffersfromthe
idealreaderofUnderWesternEyes,andConrad’slatework,suchasTheRoverand
theunfinishedSuspense,withtheiractiongeographicallyandculturallyfarremoved
fromtheBritishIsles,woulddemandfromtheEnglishreadersomethingofanef-
fort.
IvesHervouet’simpressivelyerudite–andinspiteofthatnotcoveringtheentire
ground–bookon“theFrenchface”ofJosephConradlistsanamazingnumberof
Conrad’sborrowingsfromFrenchliterature.Fromparticularexpressionsandstylis-
ticmotifstowholescenes,sometimestakenwithhardlyachangefromtheiroriginal
andputwithintheEnglishtextandcontext.Andthisrefersnotonlytosuchworksas
Suspense,whoseactionisbasedtoalargeextentonthememoirsoftheComtesse
14DavidFinkelstein.TheHouseofBlackwood:Author-PublisherRelationsintheVictorianEra.
UniversityParkPenn.,2002.
