Heart of Darkness

By: Conrad, Joseph

Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad about a narrated voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State in the Heart of Africa. Charles Marlow, the narrator, tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames. This setting provides the frame for Marlow's story of his obsession with the successful ivory trader Kurtz. Conrad offers parallels between London ("the greatest town on earth") and Africa as places of darkness.Central to Conrad's work is the idea that there is little difference between "civilised people" and those described as "savages." Heart of Darkness implicitly comments on imperialism and racism.Originally issued as a three-part serial story in Blackwood's Magazine to celebrate the thousandth edition of the magazine, Heart of Darkness has been widely re-published and translated into many languages. It provided the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness 67th on their list of the 100 best novels in English of the twentieth century

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B08RQJGRBW
• ISBN13: 9798588360753
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 124 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A study of man

Heart of Darkness is well written. The concept of a storyteller within the story isn't unique, but it works very well. We could spend quite some time thinking about the word darkness. The best way to understand it is with Cliff's Notes. I wanted him to get on with it. I guess I was a little impatient for the action and the ending. If it hadn't been for Cliff Notes, I would have missed half of what he was implying. A merchant company is missing an agent named Kurtz, and Marlow must find him. Traveling through tougher environments than expected, he might have discovered what he was looking for. Like many epic stories, the physical distance or direction isn't as important as the change it causes in a person’s soul. Joseph Campble described this type of journey well. I somehow missed this book in school. I initially started reading it before I got fully into it to see how much it resembled the movie. No, not the movie you're thinking of—"Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death" (1988). The film was primarily shot in the avocado groves maintained by the University of California, Riverside (UCR), which the university uses for horticultural research. Adrienne Barbeau plays Dr. Kurtz. The horror... the horror... So, you will want to see the movie “Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death” (1989) with Adrienne Barbeau as Dr. Kurtz. Alternatively, consider the adaptation “Apocalypse Now” (1979), in which Marlon Brando portrays Colonel Kurtz.