Product Description

Heart of Darkness has been considered for most of this century as a literary classic, and also as a powerful indictment of the evils of imperialism. It reflects the savage repressions carried out in the Congo by the Belgians in one of the largest acts of genocide committed up to that time. Conrad's narrator encounters at the end of the story a man named Kurtz, dying, insane, and guilty of unspeakable atrocities. First appearing as a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899, it was soon after published as a novella, in 1902 in the volume Youth: A Narrative; and Two Other Stories.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13039 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Joseph Conrad was born in the Ukraine in 1857 and grew up under Tsarist autocracy. In 1874 Conrad travelled to Marseilles, where he served in French merchant vessels before joining a British ship in 1878 as an apprentice. In 1886 he obtained British nationality. Eight years later he left the sea to devote himself to writing, publishing his first novel, Almayer's Folly, in 1895. The following year he settled in Kent, where he produced within fifteen years such modern classics as Youth, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes. He continued to write until his death in 1924.

Customer Reviews

Unbelievable!
I find it absolutely unbelievable that anyone could regard this novel as "dull"! And if novels shouldn't be depressing... well, don't bother with the rest of the Western canon. Maybe you need to try a little harder with the source novel than you do with the Hollywood film. (Consider this: if it's such an average read, why was Francic C. so inspired by it in the first place?)

Hard Going
I decided to read this book after reading the End of The Affair which I love especially the internal struggles of the main characters and from what I could remember of the film I thought this book may follow the same themes.

I loved the first page as it is set very closed to where I live so I found that interesting. Also I enjoyed his arrival and commencement of his new job but then I started to loose the plot a bit. It felt a bit like there were several pages missing from my book because it jumped so much from one scene to the next. For all that it is a small book it does take some reading to get through. I am glad I managed to get to the end but I am left a bit bewildered and am tempted to read it again in the future to see if it is easier to digest the second time around.

An unpleasant read
I found this a rather disappointing read, especially after all the favourable reviews and publicity surrounding the book. I found it wanting for a plot, and the writing style rather off-putting. I gained absolutely no pleasure from reading this book, and I certainly won't recommend it to anyone.