The Author-Narrator Nexus: A Meta-critical Study of Joseph Conrad's Selected Novels

Abstract

The present paper seeks to show the complex ways in which Conrad has exploited the authornarrator nexus in his treatment of thematic, character, and temporal representation in order to shape and modulate the authorial and narratorial points of view. The paper does this through a “meta-critical” analysis of four major novels, perhaps some of the most accomplished of Conrad’s texts. The paper ranges widely, in meta-critical fashion, over these primary texts (with greater emphasis here and there on one than the other). However, it also draws on Conrad’s non-fictional writings, such as letters and critical essays in effort to highlight Conrad's narrative involvement in his fiction as the secret author and narrator of his work.