Irony and the involvement of the reader in three of Joseph Conrad's short stories : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University

Abstract

As many critics have by now shown, the fiction of Joseph Conrad is particularly significant and interesting with regard to its irony. In their consideration of Conrad's irony most critics have concentrated their attention upon the novels, or upon those short stories generally acknowledged to be masterpieces - namely Heart of Darkness. Also their interest has, for the most part, been in the thematic issues that Conrad's irony involves; studying the work-ethic, romance, nihilism, and so on. This essay, also, is interested in Conrad's irony. However, here, the interest is in its rhetoric or aesthetic function, the way it involves the reader in a community of experience; and so although there is a thematic concern implicit in the approach the interest itself is not in themes. [From Introduction]