Understanding the transformation of an ordinary man into a perpetrator: An analysis of the character Kurtz in James Reich’s Prelude to "Heart of Darkness"

Details

Supervisors

Bragard, Véronique

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation germaniques

Abstract

The present dissertation deals with the complexity of the transformation of ordinary people into perpetrators. James Reich wrote a creative response to Conrad’s "Heart of Darkness" by entering the mind of one of its main characters, the perpetrator Kurtz. More and more literary works have indeed been written in the past years focusing on the perpetrator figure. For instance, in "Mistah Kurtz! A Prelude to Heart of Darkness", Reich imagines Kurtz’s traumatizing past and its influence on his behaviour in the Congo. He emphasizes in this book that perpetrators can also be considered as victims, and that they also suffer from trauma. He proves that the natives are not the only victims of the colonial enterprise. Colonialism had indeed deep consequences on the Europeans’ psychological and physical health. Reich moreover illustrates with the character of Kurtz that besides colonialism, the social environment of the person and past experiences have a deep influence on the transformation into a perpetrator.