Conrad and the Carmelites: “Irreconcilable Differences” in “Amy Foster”

Joseph Conrad’s short story ‘Amy Foster’ published in 1901 has traditionally been critiqued through the prism of language and migration with a secular approach to the imagination. However, I want to interrogate this story from a theological perspective in order to provide a more balanced argument to an investigation into how Conrad links imagination with compassion, empathy and faith. To do this I will first summarise the arguments around scientific materialism, before reassessing ‘Amy Foster’ through a consideration of Conrad’s Catholic heritage and his connection to the Carmelite order. My argument is that although there persists an ambiguity around Conrad’s Christian beliefs, his knowledge of, and association with, the Carmelite order is implicitly referenced in ‘Amy Foster’ through descriptions of the landscape and food as well as references to the symbolism of the cross all grounded in Yanko’s own Carmelite connections. I would argue this creates a text which not only argues for a scientific consideration of the imagination, but a theological one too reflecting Conrad’s ambiguities around religion.