SOURCE: Epstein, Hugh. “‘Where He Is Not Wanted’: Impression and Articulation in ‘The Idiots’ and ‘Amy Foster.’” Conradiana: A Journal of Joseph Conrad Studies 23, no. 3 (1991): 217-32.

In the following essay, Epstein considers the ways in which writing conveys sensory experience in “The Idiots” and “Amy Foster.”

“A writing may be lost; a lie may be written; but what the eye has seen is truth and remains in the mind.”

Arsat's passionate declaration in “The Lagoon” is compelling in its simple testimony to the enduring truthfulness of impressions. And we all know that Conrad conceived of his task in writing as “before all, to make you see.” But what happens when impressions are, in fact writing? This article will consider how writing conveys sensory experience in two of Conrad's stories of “the bewildered, the simple, and the voiceless”;¹ and in the way in which his use of inarticulate protagonists...