Product Description

Heart of Darkness is a chilling tale of horror which, as the author intended, is capable of many interpretations. Set in the Congo during the period of rapid colonial expansion in the 19th century, the story deals with the highly disturbing effects of economic, social and political exploitation of European and African societies and the cataclysmic behaviour this induced in some individuals.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49637 in Books
• Published on: 1995-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

David Leon Higdon, General Editor, Conradiana, 1973-1995
"offers a bold and intelligent introduction to the book’s aesthetic and philosophical challenges."

Harper’s Magazine
"evenhanded … it connects Conrad palpably to the European colonization of the continent."

Craig Keating, Langara College
"[This edition is] far better than anything else on the market today."

Customer Reviews

The darkness in men's hearts
With this novella Joseph Conrad brutally rips away the barriers that men build to hide themselves and exposes the evil that lurks in all men's hearts, waiting for an opportunity to get out.kurtz sails away into the dark continent full of ambition to build a bright shining society where men will be Gods. The result is unspeakable evil. What actually happens the reader never knows. They are just invited to look at the battered result of Kurtz's ambition. Marlowe returns and visits the now dead Kurt's fiancee, but is unable to tell her the truth about her beloved and makes up some romantic tale to spare her feelings. Nowadays Conrad is vulnerable to accusations of racism as he uses Africa to represent the dark continent. As always the politically correct have completely missed the pooint. The evil was in Kurtz, as it is in all men, not in Africa. And Conrad was exposing the wickednesss of colonolism which he was vehemently against, which anyone could find out if they read his works closely. In fact he was not a racist but years ahead of his time.

Brilliant
Heart of Darkness is Conrad's study of the potential for evil that we all possess; in some it bubbles closer to the surface than others and the removal of societal constraints can give it free reign; Kurtz is representative of such a person while Marlow acts as a counter-weight to him. The boat voyage along the river is a metaphor for this journey from the light of civilisation into darkness, and is superbly narrated by the main protagonist Marlow.
Heart of Darkness is a very short book (72 pages in this edition) but the breadth of its content is equivalent to some books ten times its length; this conciseness, and the particular narrative style are what give this book such a wonderful feel. I have to admit I struggled with the style on occasion especially were it flips from its mainly first-person narration to third-person without warning, but the whole effect is astounding.
I wish I had read this book 20+ years ago because I found that I was often relating both the style and events back to "Apocalypse Now", a wonderful film and not a great detractor, but I always find it unfortunate when the "film version" imposes itself onto the book so strongly.
Overall then an excellent book that everyone should read - it's not going to take up a large chunk of your life but will certainly add something to it.

A study of mans soul
It is well written. The idea of a storyteller in the story is not unique but very effective. We could ponder over the word darkness for quite some time. The best way to ponder is with Cliff's Notes. The only way that you could not give this book five stars is to not be objective. Personally I wanted him to get on with it. I guess I was a little impatient for the action and the conclusion. If it hadn't been for cliff notes I would have missed haft the things he was implying.

I missed this book somehow in school. The reason I started to read this book before actually I actually became immersed in it, was to see how close it came to the movie. No not the movie you are thinking of. "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death" (1988). The film was shot primarily in the avocado groves maintained by the University of California at Riverside (UCR), which the university uses for horticultural experiments. Adrienne Barbeau is Dr. Kurtz.
The horror.....the horror.....