ABSTRACT
Under Western Eyes is probably the novel where Conrad explores the notions of community, hospitality and betrayal with greater depth. In Under Western Eyes, Conrad presents the characters of Haldin and Razumov as a contrasting pair, whose only point in common is the fact that both of them are students in St. Petersburg. In Under Western Eyes, Razumov will come to be painfully conscious of such an impossibility, as Haldin approaches him in search of an extension of his communal links. The story is used again by Jacques Derrida in his essay Of Hospitality in order to explore the aporias of the universal law of hospitality. A community is only truly possible, they claim, by jeopardizing individual identity. In the final part of the novel, Razumov confesses his betrayal of Haldin and thus shatters both his fragile status within the revolutionist community and within Haldin's family, destroying the imaginary visions projected on him.
