ABSTRACT
This excerpt addresses a feature of Conrad's writing which often strikes readers on first encounter, and is sometimes a barrier to appreciation: his use of an ornate and repetitive style to create a haze of mystery around events, places and even people. White sees the function of Conrad's stylistic obscurity as the preservation of 'aura', a concept drawn from the work of the German philosopher and cultural theorist Walter Benjamin. The 'aura' of a work of art is generated by a mystical sense of its authenticity, its historical uniqueness and its ritualistic function. However, according to Benjamin the aura is eroded by modern technology which allows the mechanical reproduction of images and art works. This has the effect of clearing the way for innovation. White cites a range of Benjamin's phrases characterizing and defining 'aura' and demonstrates their close applicability to Heart of Darkness. So White sees Conrad's obscurity of style as a resistance to modernity, arguing later in the chapter that Conrad belongs to the 'Romantic survival' within modernism (see p. 23). He supports this by comparing elements of Conrad's style to the prescriptions of Symbolist and Impressionist painting.
