Fiction on Revolution.docVIP

Fiction on Revolution 　　Moslem Zolfagharkhani1,* 　　1 Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Sabzevar Tarbiat Moallem University, Sabzevar, Iran. 　　* Corresponding author. 　　 　　Received 7 December 2011; accepted 30 January 2012. 　　Abstract 　　The present study aims at showing Joseph Conrad’s Under Western Eyes as the author’s major deep concern about revolution and revolutionaries. Indeed the book is his memoire of both his past life and his mother country. The novel focuses on Razumov the central character and his unwanted involvement in political activities. Hence two worlds are depicted, one is the individual world of Razumov the student and the other is the communal world of the revolutionists. Under Western Eyes is a site for Conrad’s sentiments and inner responses where one comes across his obsessions about man and his society. 　　Key words: Fiction; Joseph Conrad; Under Western Eyes; Revolution 　　Moslem Zolfagharkhani (2012). Fiction on Revolution. Studies in Literature and Language, 4(1), -0. Available from: URL: /index.php/sll/article/view/j.sll.1923156320120401.266 DOI: /10.3968/j.sll.1923156320120401.266 　　INTRODUCTION 　　Under Western Eyes appeared between the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, and it is Conrad’s last political novel after Nostromo and The Secret Agent. Joseph Conrad began his Under Western Eyes in 1908 and completed it by January 1910. The first version of the novel focused on Razumov the central character, and the author planned to come across the life and events of this St. Petersburg student in about 1904. In fact, like Lord Jim and Nostromo, Under Western Eyes was to be a short story, but Conrad, having strong and intense feelings about his subject, was compelled to create a massive historical and social document among his other works. In his note to the novel, Conrad emphasizes that “[It] has become already a sort of historical novel dealing with the p