Under Western Eyes (novel)

Under Western Eyes
Author Joseph Conrad
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Novel
Publication date
1911
Media type Print (hardback & paperback)
Preceded by The Secret Sharer
Followed by Freya of the Seven Isles

Under Western Eyes (1911) is a novel by Joseph Conrad. The novel takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Geneva, Switzerland, and is viewed as Conrad's response to the themes explored in Crime and Punishment; Conrad was reputed to have detested Dostoevsky. It is also, some say, Conrad's response to his own early life; his father was a famous revolutionary imprisoned by the Russians, but, instead of following in his father's footsteps, at the age of sixteen Conrad left his native land forever.[1]:89[2] Indeed, while writing Under Western Eyes, Conrad suffered a weeks-long breakdown during which he conversed with the novel's characters in Polish.[1]:244

This novel is considered to be one of Conrad's major works and is close in subject matter to The Secret Agent. It is full of cynicism and conflict about the historical failures of revolutionary movements and ideals. Conrad remarks in this book, as well as others, on the irrationality of life, the opacity of character,[3] the unfairness with which suffering is inflicted upon the innocent and poor, and the careless disregard for the lives of those with whom we share existence.

The book's first audience read it after the failed Russian Revolution of 1905. A second audience read it after the Russian Revolutions of 1917, which changed the reader's perception of the author's insight.

Writing to Edward Garnett in 1911, Conrad said « ...in this book I am concerned with nothing but ideas, to the exclusion of everything else ».[4]

Plot summary

Part First

The narrator, an English teacher of languages living in Geneva, is narrating the personal record of Kyrilo Sidorovitch Razumov. Razumov is a student in the University of St. Petersburg in the early 1910s. Razumov never knew his parents and has no family ties. He is trusted by his fellow students, many of whom hold revolutionary views, but Razumov takes no clear position on any of the great questions of his time because he considers all of Russia his family. (A better view, perhaps, would be to say that Razumov has no family to fall back on, feels isolated from his contemporaries, takes no interest in the "great issues" of the day, and merely seeks a middle-class secure position within the Czarist system - thus, very ironically, he sees "all Russia" as his "family.")

Mr. de P—, the brutal Minister of State, is assassinated by a team of two, but the bombs used also claim the lives of his footman, the first assassin and a number of bystanders.

Razumov enters his rooms to find Victor Haldin, a fellow student. Haldin tells Razumov that he was the one who murdered Mr. de P—, but that he and his accomplice did not make a proper escape plan. He requests Razumov's help because he trusts him, even though he realises that they do not quite belong in the same camp. Razumov agrees to help, if only to get Haldin out of his flat. Haldin tasks him with finding Ziemianitch, who was supposed to help Haldin escape.

Haldin’s request launches Razumov into a deep identity crisis. He feels that his life will be destroyed by the authorities simply because of his association with Haldin. Consequently he becomes intensely aware of his social isolation and lack of family ties. Harbouring no sympathy for Haldin's actions or his ideals, Razumov is brought closer to conservatism out of the simple fear to survive. He seeks out Ziemianitch and, when he finds him, drunk and incapacitated, beats him. Afterwards he makes up his mind to betray Haldin to save his own life and turns to his university sponsor, Prince K. They go to the chief of police, General T—. Then a trap is laid for Haldin.

Razumov returns to his apartment and attempts to explain his predicament to Haldin while concealing the fact that he has just betrayed him. Haldin leaves and, later that night, is caught. Razumov is distressed for days after Haldin's capture. Finally, he receives a summons to the police headquarters and meets Privy Councillor Mikulin. In a scene reminiscent of Crime and Punishment, Razumov is highly paranoid that Mikulin suspects him of being a revolutionary. Mikulin reveals that Haldin was interrogated, sentenced and hanged the same day without implicating Razumov. Mikulin also reveals that he supervised a search of Razumov’s quarters and is interested in Razumov’s future plans.

Part Second

The narrative shifts to Haldin's sister, Natalia, and their mother, Mrs Haldin, who live in Switzerland after Haldin persuaded them to sell their house in Russia and move. Having lived in Zurich for a while, they then settle in Geneva, which has a vibrant Russian community. There, they wait for Haldin. Natalia has been friendly with the narrator for some time from whom she receives English lessons.

One day, the narrator chances upon the news of Haldin's arrest and execution in an English newspaper, and tells Natalia and her mother. Natalia takes the news stoically but her mother is deeply distressed. Peter Ivanovitch, a leader in the revolutionary movement, having learnt of Haldin's execution, meets with Natalia and attempts to recruit her, but Natalia is sceptical and noncommittal. He also tells her that Razumov is about to arrive in Geneva, which excites Natalia, as Haldin had described him in glowing terms in his letters.

Natalia is invited to the Chateau Borel, a big, neglected house that Madame de S— rents from the widow of an Italian banker, and meets Tekla, the abused companion of Madame de S— and secretary to Peter Ivanovitch. Tekla recounts her life story. Afterwards, they come upon Peter Ivanovitch and Razumov. Peter Ivanovitch leaves and Natalia introduces herself to Razumov, who feel compassion for her. Tekla, like most of the characters whom Razumov encounters, misinterprets his taciturn cynicism - which is in fact motivated by his hatred for the entire situation he has fallen into - as the expression of a true revolutionist, and pledges her help to him, even to the point of leaving Madame de S- and Peter Ivanovitch.

Part Third

The narrative shifts back to a few weeks earlier and describes how Razumov arrived in Geneva, having first stayed in Zurich for three days with Sophia Antonovna, the right hand of Peter Ivanovitch. Razumov did not further seek Peter Ivanovitch after their first meeting but instead took long walks with Natalia, where she took him into her confidence and asked about her brother's last hours, to which Razumov gave no definite answer. Razumov is abrasive towards the narrator, who detects a deep distress under Razumov's exterior. He is invited to the Chateau Borel, where he is received on friendly terms, as Madame de S— and Peter Ivanovitch think that he was a collaborator of Haldin. In fact, Razumov has gone to Geneva, working as a spy for the Russian government.

His taciturnity and reserve are interpreted by each character in their own way. The revolutionaries reveal some of their plans to Razumov and he is given his first assignment: to bring Natalia to Peter Ivanovitch so he can convert her, as Peter Ivanovitch cherishes female followers above everything else.

Razumov then meets Sophia Antonovna and comes to see her as his most dangerous adversary because of her single-mindedness and perception. Suppressing his distress, he manages to deceive her. Sophia Antonovna reveals that Ziemianitch hanged himself soon after Haldin's execution, which makes the revolutionaries believe that he was the one who betrayed Haldin.

Part Fourth

The narrative shifts back to Razumov's initial interview with Mikulin. Mikulin admits having read Razumov's private notes but reassures him that he is not suspicious of him. After telling Razumov that some of the best Russian minds ultimately returned to them (referring to Dostoevsky, Gogol and Aksakov), he lets him go. Razumov spends the next few weeks in an increasing state of malaise where he alienates his fellow students and professors. In the meantime, Mikulin has received a promotion and sees an opportunity to use Razumov. He summons him to further interviews where he recruits him, with the blessings of Prince K., to act as a secret agent for the Czarist authorities of the Russian Empire.

The narrative shifts to Geneva, where Razumov is writing his first report to Mikulin. On his way to the post office, the narrator comes upon him, but Razumov takes no notice of him. The narrator goes to Natalia's flat, only to learn that Natalia must find Razumov urgently and bring him to her distraught mother, as she needs to meet the only friend of Haldin that she knows. The professor and Natalia go to the Cosmopolitan Hotel to ask Peter Ivanovitch where Razumov stays. There, they find the revolutionaries preparing an insurgency in the Baltic provinces. They visit Razumov's lodgings but do not find him. They then return to Natalia's quarters where Razumov has unexpectedly visited her mother. After a long conversation with Natalia in which Razumov makes several obscure and cryptic remarks, and Natalia asks how her brother spent his last hours, Razumov implies that he was the one who betrayed him.

Razumov retires to his quarters where he writes his record. He explains to Natalia that he fell in love with her as soon as she took him into her confidence, that he had never been shown any kind of love before, and that he felt he had betrayed himself by betraying her brother.

He mails the record to Natalia and goes to the house of Julius Laspara where a social gathering of revolutionaries is taking place. Razumov declares to the crowd that Ziemianitch was innocent and explains his motives only partially, but confesses that he was the one who betrayed Haldin. Some revolutionaries, led by Necator, attack him and smash his eardrums. A deaf Razumov is crushed by a tramcar and crippled. Tekla finds him and stays by his side at the hospital.

A few months pass and Mrs Haldin has died. Natalia has returned to Russia to devote herself to charity work after giving Razumov's record to the narrator. Tekla has taken the invalid Razumov to the Russian countryside, where she looks after him.

Major characters

Minor characters

Publication history

The novel was initially published in 1911, when the failed revolution of 1905 in Russia was history. Conrad started work on the novel soon after his fiftieth birthday. In this version "Razumov", the story that would become Under Western Eyes, over the next two years, was intended to extend and rework ideas in the plot of The Secret Agent.[6] When Conrad finally delivered the completed manuscript to his agent at the end of January 1910, the occasion itself proved explosive and led to a breach in relation that lasted two years. J.B. Pinker, to whom Conrad was very heavily in debt, seems to have lost patience with his author's pace of work and precipitated a quarrel. Shortly after a heated exchange, Conrad collapsed, his doctor diagnosing "a complete nervous breakdown" that had "been coming for months".[7]

Describing her husband's breakdown, Jessie Conrad wrote: "he lives mixed up in the scenes and hold converse with the characters" of Under Western Eyes. Elsewhere she recalls how Conrad, in delirium, "spoke all the time in Polish, but for a few fierce sentences against poor J.B. Pinker" [8] His delusions apparently included symptoms of persecution mania.[9]

In 1920, Conrad wrote an Author's Note for this novel, reflecting on its changed perception due to events of history, specifically the Russian Revolution of 1917. He said "It must be admitted that by the mere force of circumstances Under Western Eyes has become already a sort of historical novel dealing with the past."[10]

The novel is fundamentally connected to Russian history. Its first audience read it against the backdrop of the failed Revolution of 1905 and in the shadow of the movements and impulses that would take shape as the revolutions of 1917. Despite Conrad's protestations that Dostoyevsky was "too Russian for me" and that Russian literature generally was "repugnant to me hereditarily and individually",[11] critics have long discerned the influence of Crime and Punishment on this work.[12]

Narration

Conrad's use of an unreliable narrator is particularly interesting. The "teacher of languages" claims to be translating Razumov's private journal as well as narrating what he himself has witnessed, but his account of his sources of information is unconvincing from the beginning. He tries to establish his reliability by saying that he lacks the imagination to have made the story up but immediately undercuts his claim to be telling a true story by asserting that words are the enemy of reality.

The device of the diary is reminiscent of the manuscript in James's The Turn of the Screw where the governess's story comes from a manuscript of obscure origin. As in James's story, there is no reason to think that Razumov's diary, if it ever existed, was an objective account or that its purported translator has presented it accurately. There is only an account by Conrad, an adopted Englishman who suffered under Russian tyranny, of an English language teacher's reaction to a story about Russian revolutionaries that the language teacher may or may not have, wholly or partly, made up, but Conrad certainly did so. That ambiguous narration, especially given the book's title, invites the reader to consider the novel as story about Russia and Russians but also about an Englishman's reaction to Russia and Russians.

Conrad's decision to use the complex narrative form found in Under Western Eyes was, apparently, based on the following considerations: 1) the story concerns the sociopolitical conditions of Russia, which Conrad felt were intrinsically baffling to the “western” reader (i.e., western Europe and North America), thus ruling out a first person narrative by Razumov, 2) therefore, some form of filter or interpretive device was needed. The natural choice of third-person omniscient was likely rejected as it lacks the immediacy of first-person needed for this type of tale. Conrad's solution was to use a “once-removed” first-person narrative: an English “teacher of languages”, fluent in Russian, translates Razumov's diary, and directly meets several of the character's (e.g. the ladies Haldin, etc.), thus crafting the book. By this same device however Conrad is permitted to interject a certain level of ambiguity/guesswork and even mistakes by the narrator, thus underscoring the misunderstanding which Conrad felt necessarily thought would ensue when westerner's attempted to comprehend the repressive Czarist regime.

References

  1. 1 2 Gary Adelman (2001). Retelling Dostoyevsky. Bucknell University Press (Rosemont Publishing & Printing). ISBN 0-8387-5473-2.
  2. A. Michael Matin; Joseph Conrad (2003). "Introduction". Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction. Barnes & Noble Classics. p. xxvii. ISBN 9781593080211.
  3. Yann Tholoniat (2007). Calculated outbursts: exploding the concept of character in Joseph Conrad's Under Western Eyes. Hommage à Sylvère Monod. Montpellier: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée. pp. 443–460.
  4. Michael John DiSanto, Under Conrad's Eyes: The Novel as Criticism, p132, citing The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, vol IV, p489
  5. Baldwin, Debra Romanick (June 22, 2000). "Politics, Martyrdom and the Legend of Saint Thekla in 'Under Western Eyes'". Conradiana. High Beam Research. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  6. The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, vol. III, p.513.
  7. The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, vol. IV, p.321, note 1.
  8. Jessie Conrad (November 3, 2006) [1935]. Joseph Conrad and his Circle. E. P. Dutton & Co. p. 143.
  9. Najder, Zdzislaw; Halina Carroll-Najder (November 15, 2007). Joseph Conrad: A Life (Studies in English and American Literature and Culture). Camden House. p. 140.
  10. Conrad, Joseph (1920). "Under Western Eyes". Author's Note.
  11. The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, vol. V, p.70, vol. VII, p.615
  12. Norman Sherry, ed. (1973). Conrad: The Critical Heritage. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 234.
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