Melodramatyczność w powieści Szaleństwo Almayera Josepha Conrada

Abstract

This paper focuses on the melodramatic features in Almayer’s Folly, the first part of The Malay Trilogy by Joseph Conrad, and their significance for the interpretation of the novel. The poetics of melodrama and opera is reflected in various aspects of Conrad’s prose, such as e.g. main plot construction, references to Verdi, characterisation of the protagonists. The melodrama and opera provide an important cultural frame of reference, which affects the narrative scope of the novel discussed.