"Whirr" is King: International Capital and the Paradox of Consciousness in Typhoon

Abstract

Much critical reception of Typhoon—which pits ship's captain inca- pable of figurative speech against wind that disintegrate(s) linguistic economy of his vessel into shreds and fragments of for- lorn shouting—has focused on its remarkable, and perhaps prototypi- cally modernist, insight into twentieth century's theoretical interest in contingency of linguistic sign (Conrad 31). As Sooyoung Chon notes, story can be read as a parable about art wherein Captain MacWhirr's effort to (...) civilized order on ship in crisis reflects how imaginative language (of) good narrative struggles to maintain contact with humane and real that lie at elusive heart of what endeavors to convey (34-5). Similarly, for Joseph Kolupke, Typhoon is about a ship of state, political microcosm whose pragmatic leader arrests the natural drift to nihilism and anarchy in universe (in which) there is no transcen- dental signifier (81-3). Such interpretations are well deserved, for text clearly demon- strates Conrad's effort to draw an extended parallel between great storm encountered by unimaginative and literal Captain MacWhirr and turbulent, knowledge-threatening slippage between utterance and understanding (Typhoon 19). After all, at height of storm at sea, fierce swirling winds fragment dialogue (at times stealing speech at moment of utterance), leave crew whirled great distance from their central voice of authority, and cause first mate to consider the very thought of action utterly vain until he hears