Ominous Creatures: Foreshadowing and Intertextuality in Joseph Conrad’s Shorter Fiction

Abstract

In a number of short stories and novellas during one period of his writing Joseph Conrad specifically used apparently unrelated but dramatic animal imagery, detached from but foreshadowing the development of the subsequent events in each narrative. There may be a number of reasons for this type of foreshadowing and for its effect in his shorter fiction which are explored. Intertextuality has been noted between the stories of Joseph Conrad and H. G. Wells. Here additional examples are found between the works of these authors, men who were good friends but later had conflicting views about writing and life, and between their own and other authors’ works.