EUROPEAN TEMPEST: COLONIALISM AND MIGRATION IN “AMY FOSTER” BY JOSEPH CONRAD

Abstract

The literary motif of a tempest experienced at sea has permeated Western literature since antiquity, with Horace’s Ode I.14, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and Joseph Conrad’s Typhoon and Other Stories constituting major literary examples. Whereas both Horace’s and Shakespeare’s tempests may be situated within the broader context of the colonising attempts performed by the Roman and British empires, respectively, Conrad’s works feature several attempts of crossing wild sea while engaging with colonisation in an ambiguous manner, a manner that questions the morale of the colonising party rather than accepts the claims perpetuating the ideology of improvement. Examined against Adams’ notion of “colonial odysseys,” Conrad’s “Amy Foster” is here explored as a narrative thematising mass movements performed within rather than outside European space. As the story unfolds, the familiarity and inner coherence of European space disintegrate. It is argued that, initially framed within the colonial discourse, “Amy Foster” ultimately transforms into a tale of  failed migration and miscommunication rather than colonisation. The subsequent analysis is aimed at revealing that the narrative may be viewed as an anticipatory commentary upon mass movement processes that have grown ever more pronounced in the contemporary world.