
Homo Duplex: Joseph Conrad in a Global World - lermontov
https://literaryreview.co.uk/homo-duplex
======
ghostbrainalpha
>>Conrad’s world shimmers beneath the surface of our own. Today Internet
cables run along the seafloor beside the old telegraph wires. Conrad’s
characters whisper in the ears of new generations of antiglobalization
protestors and champions of free trade, liberal interventionists and radical
terrorists, social justice activists and xenophobic nativists. And there’s no
better emblem of globalization today than the container ship, which has made
transport so cheap that it’s more cost-efficient to catch a fish in Scotland,
send it to China to be filleted, then send it back to Europe for sale, than it
is to hire laborers in situ. Ninety percent of world trade travels by sea,
which makes ships and sailors more central to the world economy today than
ever before.

I don't understand how you can be "anti-globalist" and "pro free trade",
aren't those two things opposite?

~~~
pavlov
Yes, they’re opposites, like the two other categorizations in that sentence
(“liberal interventionists and radical terrorists, social justice activists
and xenophobic nativists”). The author is saying that the rich cast of
characters in Conrad’s novels has something for everyone.

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
Thank you, my reading comprehension skills were failing me big time today.

------
emodendroket
In my opinion this essay about Conrad is a bit more interesting and
insightful:
[http://kirbyk.net/hod/image.of.africa.html](http://kirbyk.net/hod/image.of.africa.html)

I wouldn't go so far as to say I agree with the assessment that Heart of
Darkness can't be a great work because of its flaws, but I think it answers
some of the questions the author of this piece claims to be puzzled about.

