Postcolonial Reading of Joseph Conrad’s Lingard Trilogy

Abstract

Conrad's acclaimed works from his middle period have been thoroughly studied from several perspectives including postcolonialism whereas the novels from his early period were overlooked due to their so-called“uneven" quality. The most notable works among Conrad's early novels are hisLingard Trilogy- three of his early novels which are based on the recurring presence of the Captain Tom Lingard, the protagonist, and therelationship between Westerners and non-Westerners in a contact zone where both cultures meet. A postcolonial study of these novels can reveal Conrad's attempt to change the binary logic of his time which put the West in a position of power. Postcolonial elements in this trilogy can be studied by using Homi Bhabha's theories of stereotype, ambivalence, mimicry, hybridity, and othering to substantiate our claim that in Lingard Trilogy, Conrad's discourse was anti-racist and against the imperial logic of the nineteenth century, since he tried to change it in the Trilogy.