Joseph Conrad regarded life as the pursuit of a dream which gives man a sense of purpose in life. The individual's attempt, through action and communication, to make this dream real to himself and to his fellow men constitutes the quest for identity in Conrad's works. Chapter I explores various aspects of the quest. Because life is a "destructive element", the individual must struggle to justify his existence and make his dream come true. To be successful in this struggle, man needs self-knowledge. This, in turn, requires a commitment to the community. The quest is, therefore, ethical rather than metaphysical. Chapter II is a study of the egoistic dream. The sense of superiority over the rest of mankind causes Jim, Heyst, and Kurtz to dissociate themselves from their fellow men. Consequently, they lack a clear sense of their moral responsibility and of the destructive tendencies in their own nature. Rather than help these individuals to find meaning in life, the egoistic dream becomes the cause of their failure. Chapter 111 concentrates upon the "saving illusion", a sense of self involving a moral commitment to the community. Through involvement, the individual becomes concerned with fulfilling his moral obligation, rather than vindicating an ideal of himself. Therefore, he seeks the self-knowledge which will enable him to guard against defeat. Obedience to the claims of love and conscience in Under Western Eyes, the sense of duty towards the ship in "The Secret Sharer", and the sense of solidarity in “The Nigger of the Narcissus” enable the protagonists in these stories to fulfil their obligation to the community. Finally, Chapter IV deals with Conrad's artistic endeavour as his quest for identity. Conrad's aim was to communicate his truth to the reader. The achievement of his artistic goal required self-knowledge which he, like his characters, acquired in the struggle of life. The hard realities of life become the "terms of his appeal". Conrad's vision of life evokes in his readers the sense of solidarity which testifies to the success of his quest for identity. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This thesis is divided into three parts: Chapter I, Chapter II, and the Appendices; each of these parts fulfills different purposes. Chapter I concerns itself with Abe Kobo's life and working environment. Although the argument that a man's life and his works should be kept separate, may be valid when we examine the works of an author of our own cultural-linguistic environment, such an examination of style, devoid of human experience would be meaningless when applied to the works of a man who is little known and whose culture still remains to be studied by most North Americans. This thesis, therefore-, examines both the man and his works. Furthermore, Japanese critics, as can be seen in the first part of Chapter I, would never consider separating the author's personality from his literary creations. Chapter I comes to the conclusion that a connection does exist between Abe and his heroes, albeit a much more subtle one than the typical one-to-one, author-hero relationship of Japanese confessional literature. Chapter II is an examination of seven of Abe's stories, four of which, "Oshimusume" [The Deaf Girl, 1949], "Inu" [The Dog, 1954], "Yume no heishi" [The Dream Soldier, 1957] and "Toki no gake" [The Cliff of Time, 1964], are translated and appended at the back of this thesis. Two of the remaining three, "Akai mayu" (Red Cocoon 1950, trans. John Nathan 1966), and Dendorokakariya" (Dendrocacalia 1949, trans. M. Jelinkova 1965), are available in English, though the remaining one "Kabe—S. Karuma shi no hanzai" [The Wall, The Crime of S. Karuma Esq., 1951], an extremely long short story remains to be translated. These three works represent not only stepping stones in Abe's career, they also testify to the painstaking experimentation in which Abe was engaged before abandoning the surrealist style of his early years. In the second part of Chapter II, the four translations mentioned above are examined in chronological order and are analyzed in detail to show Abe's change in style at about the time he wrote "Yume no heishi." Some facts concerning Abe's politics are also explained. Appendix I and II contain the four short stories in chronological order: first the translations and then the originals. Appendix III Is a list of Abe's original works, in order of publication. The corpus of this thesis, four translations, three stories in the original, several novels in translation, as well as the works of criticism consulted, should provide the basis for some tentative conclusions. First, Abe's style is not confessional, but descriptive and explanatory. Second, Abe abandoned the politically directed surrealism of his early days for a more subtle, documentary style. Third, Abe's heroes struggle with outside forces against which they are powerless; their defeat is intended to prove some failing present in all of us. It is hoped that the materials introduced, and the conclusions arrived at in this thesis will help to form the basis for more detailed research. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

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Master of Science

Th. 3e cycle--Paris 7, 1981.

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