Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions) Reviews

• How To Make a 75 Page Story Into a 400 Page Book

  
  By A3N3GNVHFZZ6N1 on 2002-12-07
  I would like to address myself specifically to the Norton Critical Edition of this book. The difficulty that many readers face when they pick up a classic, pre-twentieth century novel is that they are not conversant with the history of the times in which it was written. Heart of Darkness can be enjoyed purely as a well written novella, but then you miss so much of what Conrad is trying to say not only regarding the thin veneer of man's social persona (ala Lord of the Flies) but about the evils of 19th century imperialism. What is the story of Colonialism? Do Conrad's derogatory remarks about Blacks make him a bigot? What were Conrad's overall views on life? What were Conrad's personal experiences in the Congo? What did readers think of Heart of Darkness when it was written, and what do the critics think of it today?

  The Norton Critical Edition gives you 325 extra pages of material written by Conrad and others that provide answers to the above questions. You don't have to read all of these many articles, of course, but a good sampling of them will make your immersion in this famous story all the more enjoyable and meaningful.

  This is a story that everyone should read, and the Norton Critical Edition provides the best format for the reading experience.
  
  

• Into the dark

  
  By A2K4RNOAD5J3WB on 2001-06-19
  Several people I am acquainted with have questioned my reading of "Heart of Darkness," using as argument the fact that they read it "in high school." Apparently, for these very well-read souls, if the book was in their high school reading list, then it should never be approached again. Well, both the poem of "El Cid" and the novel "Don Quijote" first revealed their wonders to me when I was in high school, and now that I have read them again (and "Don Quijote" complete this time), they have just proved to be timeless classics with something to tell a person of any age. "Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad, is a classic that, given its length, invites several readings, particularly if one goes beyond the "high school-depth" sadly evident in those acquaintances of mine. The different, dark, alien world of the Congo as barely seen through Marlow's eyes, juxtaposed with the author's subtle-but-powerful condemnation of a system that promotes exploitation of those seen as "inferior," is one of this novella's most important, and often missed, commentaries. Marlow is the English sailor who does not, and cannot, understand anything that is not English, from the nameless city across the Channel (Brussels, most probably), to the ghost-like figures that people his employer's offices, to the multi-coloured map that shows how Africa has been carved, to the multi-coloured Russian whose language Marlowe cannot recognize and believes is cypher, to the river itself, to the native inhabitants of the land he is invading. This trip up the Congo river that Marlow tells his shipmates about while on the Thames is a journey after a man's voice, his treasure of ivory, and his report on the natives. This man, Kurtz, is the one who will state "kill the brutes!" in his report, expressing the opinion of so many Europeans regarding most, and maybe all, non-European races.

  "Heart of Darkness" can be read simply as an adventure, but there are several, better, adventure books that have better "hooks" and are, at the same time, more easily forgotten. This is an extraordinary short book by an extraordinary author. Do not deprive yourself of a magnificent, early 20th century masterpiece of literature, just because someone was not hooked by it, or because someone read it in high school and it just wouldn't do to read it again. The power of this book is not in its "easy" prose, because its prose is definitely not easy. It is not in an artificially complex prose, either. This second fault seems more the refuge of other writers, plenty of them modern ones, who have confused "good" with obscure, and "better" with unreadable. Conrad knows how to tell a story, and there is a method to this dark tale told by Marlow, a man much closer to Kurtz than he would like to admit. Since the reader is presented only with Marlow's account, the jump from the reader to Marlow to Kurtz and back to the reader is a troubling one. Here is Conrad's mastery. Read the book. If you have read it, try it again. It may surprise you what new revelations prowl its pages.

  This 3rd Norton Critical edition is the best I have seen so far. The essays are all good, but Chinua Achebe's deserves special attention: the Nigerian author advocates not reading "Heart of Darkness" at all, a statement that, coming from a writer, is not just surprising, but deeply disturbing. I sincerely believe that this form of intentional ignorance, of voluntary censorship on the part of the reader, only serves to foment a generalized, public ignorance of the world around us.
  
  

• Powerful stuff

  
  By A1TYWD85XHI6BU on 2000-02-02
  I'd always heard that "Apocalypse Now" drew plot elements from "Heart of Darkness", but didn't realize just how closely it was based. After HOD, it will be fun to watch that movie again.

  Sentence by sentence, this book resonates with the sound of classic literature. I'm a fan of eloquent wordsmithery, and Conrad was a master. Having read this independently, I probably didn't pick up on all of the symbolism or social commentary about European colonialism. However, the essential themes are clear and persuasively shown: the corruption of power and the potential in humankind for regression to savagery when social inhibitions are absent - much like "Lord of the Flies", which another reviewer astutely noted. Beyond the meanings, I think it works very well as a dark adventure narrative, building premonitions of disaster as Marlow journeys deeper into the continent and closer to the mythical Kurtz. My only criticism echoes many previous reviews: the encounter with a weakened Kurtz is anticlimactic and leaves the reader hungry for demonstrations of the great man's warped charisma.
  
  

• A book you won't forget in a hurry

  
  By A1HO9J4DCQDGP9 on 2000-05-04
  I was once one of those students forced to read this book at school. I was dragged kicking and screaming to its pages and read it only because I did not want to flunk my class. I was riveted from the first page, right up to the last paragraph. It is quite simply Conrad's finest book, (yes, I read his other books after this one.) The story is simple enough, a young Englishman, Marlow goes out to Africa to seek his fortune. He is at first idealistic, and full of himself. However he quickly realises that Africa is full of petty bureaucrats who have no idea how to make use of this dark jewel they have acquired. Like Colonists before them, they proceed to ravage and plunder the land of its natural resources. Enter Kurtz, an Ivory Trader who has gone Native. He has become a Renegade, living with his Black mistress in the heart of Africa's interior; systematically turning his back on his supposed civilised self. Marlow meets him after an eventful trip up the Congo and finds himself curiously attracted to this strange man who is dying, and obviously going insane. Kurtz in turn is an embarrassment to his employers who would rather see him dead than returned to "civilization." Of course this is unspoken, and the hypocrisy of human natures sticks out like a sore thumb in this novel, especially as Kurtz is one of the best Ivory Traders on the Congo route. Marlow struggles to understand Kurtz and what makes him tick, but he only touches the surface of a man who can live in neither the Black or White world comfortably. He has been corrupted by both worlds and therefore he is cursed. Heart of Darkness has many facets; it is a story about Imperialism, racism, and the darkness of human nature. Conrad purposely leaves the ending open to interpretation. What is the "horror" that Kurtz whispers with his dying breath, is it Africa herself with the depths that have yet to be uncovered, or is it the human psyche with all its viciousness as it greedily crushes a land and people into submission? This is a book that will make you think, make you want to it re-read again and again in case you have missed anything. There are also some genuinely funny moments in the book such as the Doctor who measures skulls for a hobby and the pompous Trading Post clerk who teaches his Black maid to starch his clothes. This edition, (Dover Thrift) is well worth getting as well, as it is cheap and cheerful and it definitely won't break the bank money wise.
  
  

• The title has become a cliche; the book is as fresh as ever

  
  By A3FMWWUXCT9X90 on 2000-01-28
  No-one seriously interested in English literature can afford not to read this book. As a central device, the parallel journey into the heart of Africa and the dark centre of the human experience, remains as powerful as ever. The writing in the opening pages, depicting the men and the Thames and the wide possibilities that rise with every outgoing tide, remain as evocative as anything in English. Conrad's subject is barbarity, a theme as relevant now as then. His dark view of the colonial instinct also stands as a warning at this very hour. With "Lord Jim" a thicker, but in many ways easier book to read, Conrad poses the great existential question that was to dominate personal politics throughout the 20th Century, the taking of personal responsibility, the search for personal redemption - as one character puts it: "How to be - Ach! How to be?" With "Heart of Darkness" he articulates what Michael Ignatieff has described as "the seductiveness of moral disgust." Faced with the darkness around him, the character Kurtz advises "exterminate the brutes." His final, dread epiphany, his message from the heart of his own darkness "The Horror! The Horror!" is as chilling now as it was a century ago - a century that has seen more horror than even Conrad could have imagined.
  
  
• Nevermind the meaning, the story line is unparalleled.
  By A2OJ02CI2PTFWH on 1998-07-28
  There can be long debate about the hidden meanings, etc. in Heart of Darkness. And, of course, if one pays even a scintilla of attention. one's mind will no doubt be provoked by this deep, mysterious and moving tale. For example, there could be (I'm sure there has already been) a century long debate on the exact meaning of the title. However, besides the import of its moral/human/instinctive/spritual teachings, Heart of Darkness is often overlooked for the sheer excitement and anticipation the words cause. This is, to put it bluntly, a terriffic story. I was so anticipating the meeting between Marlow and Kurtz that I could barely stand it. And the visual imagery is astonishing. I will never forget the stakes with heads of savages. One must wonder how familiar Conrad was with the story of Vlad the Impaler (Dracula)!! Of course, it is the importance of the work that has made its immutable mark on literature. Any reader will surely be able to recognize his or her ! own instinctive/unconscious capabilities (desires, perhaps?) when they read this book. Who among us can wholly deny that we would not have behaved like Kurtz when left unrestrained by our society and placed in a position where it was not difficult to make a relatively unchallenged rise to power? Perhaps imperialism, left unchecked, is human nature, and our nature, our instinct is to civilize those different from us by way of any means feasible, which, with "savages" or the "uncivilized", is violence, fear or terror. Do a quick check of history, and you will find this to be true. The Heart of Darkness may in fact be the heart of man, a metaphor for the instinctive nature of man.
  
  
• Great Book
  By A1H46AGSH6ELQO on 2001-11-07
  Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is quite possibly the best book that I have ever read. I have read many books based on cultural differences and the effects on the people involved. Heart of Darkness explores the mind of an educated European as he travels to Africa. It is the story of a man named Marlow. Conrad has created a complex narrator in Marlow, a man who is not all good or all bad. He travels to Africa with a vague belief of the goodness behind the imperialist venture, but what he finds is totally opposite. He despises the destruction, greed, chaos, and inhumanity that he sees in Africa and begins to identify, through sympathy, with the "savage" natives, but he refuses to do anything to help them. He cannot rise above his European thinking that somehow the white man is superior. He returns from the Congo to Belgium and does nothing except to perpetrate the myth of the goodness behind European imperialism when he lies to Kurtz's Intended. At least the lies have a pure motive, in that, save the distraught fiancé.
  The novel has two separate settings. One, the frame narrative, is the setting for the telling of the tale on a cruising yawl (sailing vessel) or yacht on the Thames River near London, England. The second setting is that of the actual tale. In it, the protagonist travels to Brussels, the capital city of Belgium and home to the ivory company. Then to the Belgium Congo in Africa, with its dark, snaking, and mysterious river (in contrast to the tranquil Thames), and then back to Brussels.
  As a person, Marlow is a thirty-two year old seaman who has traveled extensively. His experience on the Congo River is a departure for him, for his travels are usually in salt waters. As a narrator, Marlow is unreliable in the sense that he is not an objective teller of the story, but is instead emotionally conflicted about the events and people within his tale. He is also a figure who is alienated from the mainstream. Unlike most Europeans who bought into the justifications for imperialism and saw it as a righteous cause, Marlow saw that it was nothing but greed. However, Marlow's ability to distance himself from the dominant thinking of the time does not fully free him from that kind of thinking. In the end, he accepts the injustice of imperialism by supporting the lies, which justify it.
  Heart of Darkness is structured as a journey of discovery, both externally in the jungle, and internally in Marlow's own mind. The deeper he penetrates into the heart of the jungle, the deeper he delves within himself; by the climax, when Kurtz has been revealed for the disgrace he is, Marlow has also learned something about himself. And he returns to civilization with this new knowledge.
  Marlow doesn't tell his tale straight through from beginning to end; he'll skip from an early event to a late event and back again. Thus, we get several pages about Kurtz- Marlow's impressions and evaluation of his behavior- close to the end of Chapter II, but Kurtz himself doesn't appear on the scene until some way into Chapter III.
  Conrad has created the character of Kurtz out of all the contradictions and madness of imperialism. Like Marlow, he is of European descent and is described as half-French and half- English. He is also described as a universal genius that is a great writer, painter, poet, orator, musician, and politician. Also like Marlow, Kurtz comes to Africa with noble intentions of doing good things for the Dark Continent. He believes that each station of the ivory company, for which he is an agent, should help the natives to a better way of life, but good (the light truth) and evil (the dark truth) split Kurtz's soul. Unfortunately, in the end he crosses over to live totally by the dark truth.
  On the level of words, Kurtz expounds on the ideals of altruism, progress, enlightenment, and kindliness in the European presence in Africa. On the level of actions, he ruthlessly kills Africans, steals their natural resources in order to forward his own goals for rising in the company and in the world, and presents himself as a deity to be worshipped by the natives. Marlow says Kurtz is insane mainly for the reason that he embodies this contradiction, but Kurtz has also been horribly neglected by the Manager and deprived of food and supplies for months, a situation that would drive any normal man to insanity. Whether Kurtz is actually insane at the time of his death is left open to speculation. Perhaps Marlow names him as insane simply because he has great difficulty dealing with the reality of the man.
  Some of the other minor, but important characters are: the Russian fool, the Intended, Director of Companies, Lawyer, Accountant, and the unnamed narrator. The Russian fool is a man known by his clothes with many colorful patches making him look much like a harlequin. He works with Kurtz who proves to be poor company for him. The Russian fool is an important foil to Kurtz, to help us understand his standards and goals. This in turn helps us understand Marlow more fully. The Intended is Kurtz's bride to be who at the end of the book still thinks that Kurtz was the great man that she remembered him to be and Marlow doesn't have the heart to tell her otherwise. The Director of Companies is a nameless captain on board the Nellie, one of Marlow's listeners. The Lawyer, Accountant, and unnamed narrator are nameless men on board Nellie. They are the listeners of Marlow's story. These men merely help to make the story possible and create dialogue outside of the story.
  
  
• Skilled
  By A13EUSV15UDAUG on 2001-01-26
  English majors are justly fond of Conrad, who packs his stories with subtlety, symbolism, parallels, and rich imagery. "Heart of Darkness" is a brief and strangely absorbing read. Its plot is simple enough on the surface, about a sailor who guides a steamer up the Congo in search of a vaunted ivory trader. But beneath the surface, in a palpable atmosphere of unease, lie the book's complicated themes. This isn't just a condemnation of European activity in Africa, but a glimpse at the evil within every man. In some ways this book is a precursor to "Lord of the Flies" and other twentieth century books of despair, and yet Conrad does not leave the reader without hope. In skilful, mystical passages about light and dark, black and white, tall and short, jungle and sepulchre, Conrad gives us much food for thought about the nature of humankind and the possibilities for both good and evil. I see this book more as a warning than a simple cry of despair - though it pays ample attention to "the horror" of it all.
  
  
• Who knows our own Hearts of Darkness?
  By A1HO9J4DCQDGP9 on 2003-04-13
  I was once one of those students forced to read this book at school. I was dragged kicking and screaming to its pages and read it only because I did not want to flunk my English Literature class. I was riveted from the first page, right up to the last paragraph. It is quite simply Conrad's finest book, (yes, I read his other books after this one.) However be aware, this is not everyone's cup of tea. There will be some people who will read this book and think, "Oh God, you have to be kidding!" However if you can get passed this mentality then you are in for a real literary treat.

  The story is simple enough, a young Englishman; Marlow (this character appears in Conrad's story "Youth") goes out to Africa to seek his fortune. He is at first idealistic, and full of himself. However he quickly realises that Africa is full of petty bureaucrats who have no idea how to make use of this dark jewel they have acquired. Like Colonists before them, they proceed to ravage and plunder the land of its natural resources. Enter Kurtz, an Ivory Trader who has gone Native. He has become a Renegade, living with his Black mistress in the heart of Africa's interior; systematically turning his back on his supposed civilised self.

  Marlow meets Kurtz after an eventful trip up the Congo and finds himself curiously attracted to this strange man who is [very ill], and obviously going insane. Kurtz in turn is an embarrassment to his employers who would rather see him dead than returned to "civilization." Of course this is unspoken, and the hypocrisy of human natures sticks out like a sore thumb in this novel, especially as Kurtz is one of the best Ivory Traders on the Congo route.

  Marlow struggles to understand Kurtz and what makes him tick, but he only touches the surface of a man who can live in neither the Black or White world comfortably. He has been [harmed] by both worlds and therefore he is cursed. Heart of Darkness has many facets; it is a story about Imperialism, racism, and the darkness of human nature. Conrad purposely leaves the ending open to interpretation. ...

  This is a book that will make you think, make you want to it re-read again and again in case you have missed anything. There are also some genuinely funny moments in the book such as the Doctor who measures skulls for a hobby and the pompous Trading Post clerk who teaches his Black maid to starch his clothes. This edition, (Dover Thrift) is well worth getting as well, as it is [inexpensive] and cheerful and it definitely won't break the bank money wise.
  
  

• Too Abstract for My Taste in Pleasure Reading
  By A3TKGM2JJJC1I3 on 2004-01-24
  I never got through this in college though it was assigned. Then I tried again to read it several months ago and just could not get past the prose; however, when I went back to find specific examples of sentence fragments and awkward prose, I did not find them. When I really studied each line, it made sense and did not seem so awkward. I ended up setting the book aside and read something else that did not require as much effort ... like David Copperfield. Personally, I think that that alone speaks volumes about this work.

  I have now read this story out of sheer determination. Slowing my reading pace to be able to absorb each sentence, I find many of the descriptions quite vivid and beautiful though I still resent the awkwardness of the prose and the fragmented and spliced sentences (which I did find this time around). For example of a common type of splice, "Once a white man in an unbuttoned uniform, camping on the path with an armed escort of lank Zanzibaris, very hospitable and festive - not to say drunk. Was looking after the upkeep of the road he declared." Fragments and long lists of items are common in descriptions: "A rocky cliff appeared, mounds of turned up earth by the shore, houses on a hill, others with iron roofs, amongst a waste of excavations, or hanging to the declivity." In one of the beginning scenes he describes two women, one fat and one thin, but when he comes back to them they are the old one and the young one. Then towards the end one of them is described as the one with the cat. An example of what I would call awkward prose is: [In reference to the statement that women live in a world all of their own making unfettered by reality]. "Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over."

  I was really disappointed with what I got for the effort with this story. There is not terribly much story. Marlowe recounts the story of his trip up the near virgin Congo to retrieve Mr. Kurtz, an agent in the trading company who is surrounded by mystery for both those that merely hear of his exploits and those who live around him. Meeting Kurtz and determining the status of his mental condition is the crux and climax of the story. That really is about it. The whole drama to the book is to be drawn by the contrast of "civilized" and "primeval" and a study of the characters. This may be okay in a classroom where many people can collectively infer traits from the characters after several hours of discussion but is too abstract for my tastes in pleasure reading.
  
  

• Hints ending in a deep sigh.
  By A27CFNHYZG6WS8 on 2001-11-12
  'Heart of Darkness', the tale of a European seaman journeying up an African river, is a Chinese box of Chinese whispers. What perhaps strikes the first-time reader (like myself) first is the unbridgeable conflict between the work's apparent aim - the exposure of the barbaric reality behind the enlightenment propaganda of Imperialist bureaucracies - and its effect, a baffling nebulousness; this is matched by conflict between the prodigious exactness of Conrad's prose, and the vague thoughts, images, feelings, events it asks us to imagine.

  this sense of intangibility results primarily from the narration itself - Marlow's tale of the search for Kurtz is related to the reader by an intermediary narrator; it is told by a disembodied voice on a boat-trip one Thames night. Marlow's story is itself full of further removes, fragments of information pieced from stories, hints, unreliable statements and testimonies, paintings, myths, ciphers on books. the plot and its mechanics are always abstracted - the tangible trip up a geographical river becomes a journey back in time stripped of place-names or datemarks; an ambush takes place in a blinding fog; throughout, Marlow's ideas, equivocations, euphemisms, evasions and philosophical ruminations over what happens (specifically, what Kurtz has done) takes precedence over any concrete detail. The language constantly evokes dreams, nightmares, shades, phantoms - inanimate objects (such as abandoned machinery) become signs of desolating death, more articulate than the dead humans in similar positions.

  'Heart' is usually seen as the first masterpiece of the 20th century and one of the key modernist texts, but, for me, its effect was similar to a much older literary genre, the Gothic, the 'horror, horror' story. The elaborate framing narrative devices; the emphasis on physical and mental deterioration; the doppelganger motif (Marlow and Kurtz echo each other throughout, not least as disembodied voices bewitching their listeners on boats), the intimations of the Satanic and 'I Walked with a Zombie' sacrifices-in-the-bush atmosphere; the move from 'enlightened, time-bound civilisation to barbaric, timeless primitivism; from a social order to a boundless nightmare. The African landscape is shaped by references to key Western texts of the supernatural, from Virgil to Dante to Perrault.

  Conrad follows his master Henry James' lead here, using verbal precision to articulate an unidentified and unidentifiable black hole, and 'Heart' is, along with 'the Turn of the Screw', the scariest, dread-freezing book I have ever read. Like the Gothic, therefore, Conrad is not simply concerned with the unpalatable realities of a particular political system, but the individual unfathomabilities that allow them to happen; if we feel this somehow cheats the critique by obscuring it, than, a century of 'the horror' later, can we say we are any more articulate than Marlow?

  (Of all the editions of 'Heart' available, I would recommend two, both, curiously, published by Penguin in 1995. that by John Lyon, returns the novella to its original book-form, as the second of a trilogy including 'Youth' and 'The end of the tether'; his introduction brilliantly analyses the formal minutae of Conrad's art, its structures and details, the way the difficult demands it makes on the reader provoke the story's themes, effect and meaning.

  That by Robert Hampson, which reproduces Conrad's 'Congo Diary' of the 1890 trip that partly inspired the novella, places 'Heart' in its original context, the culmination of 19th century European expansion in Africa, with its attendant justifications and anxieties, including among the many prototypes for Kurtz, H M Stanley (of '...and Livingstone' fame), an aggressive, murderous, capitalistic imperialist. he convincingly defends 'Heart', a text much vilified by post-colonial and feminist critics from charges of collusive racism and misogyny, reminding us not to confuse a writer with his hero, demonstrating the devices employed by Conrad to distanciate the two).
  
  

• Complicated, Ambiguous, but Unarguably Interesting
  By A3RV1AW365XNW2 on 2002-05-04
  A good amount of what you may have heard about Heart of Darkness is true: yes, the novel was the inspiration for the movie Apocalypse Now, yes it is tremendously dense, and yes several reads are probably necessary to even approach a unified view of the novel's theme and structure. Conrad's loosely plotted story of a sailor's trip into Africa and into the savage heart of human darkness is confusing, complicated, but thought provoking.

  My experience with Heart of Darkness was frustrating, but ultimately I enjoyed the novel. Conrad certainly takes an interesting view to Colonialism, avoiding (albeit because of his own biases) too much of a sympathetic view of the African's situation. However, he is quick and harsh in his condemnation of European society.

  Stylistically, Conrad is seen as one of the master's of the English language - I feel that he can and should be seen as a genius. The novel is short (more accurately it is a novella) but layered with meaning. The symbolism, although at times obvious, is well integrated into the story and keeps the reader's mind moving. The narrator, who is only partially reliable, adds a whole new layer of complexity to the story. And of course, the enigmatic purpose of his trip - a dark hunt for an ivory trader gone bad - is fairly interesting.

  However, a reader expecting a concise moral at the end will be sorely disappointed: much contemporary criticism of the novel questions Conrad's effective use of theme. The novella clearly indicts every man; however, Conrad seems to offer no alternative to darkness and evil; at least in my reading experience I found the book to bring out the negative in life without any constructive remarks. Of course, the novella is confusing enough to allow for many different perspectives.

  In addition, Conrad's diction can be intimidating (keep a dictionary near by), and a reader will defiantly benefit from a discussion of the book and its themes with a friend. However, patience and rereading will defiantly pay off. If nothing else, the bragging rights of having made it through Heart of Darkness may make it worth the read.

  Heart of Darkness, at times beautifully written, at times confusingly put together, will defiantly challenge you - the thematic reward however may not equal the time put into it. I recommend approaching the book as a puzzle to be solved, not as an answer to your most compelling questions about life. In the end, Heart of Darkness feels like an amazing technical performance but with ironically no heart - like watching a graceful dancer just "going through the moves".
  
  

• A Book Worth Reading!
  By A17NWMYKJOAS83 on 1999-11-25
  The Author Originally from Poland, and known as Josef Konrad Korzeniowski, Joseph Conrad knew very little English until he began learning it at age 20. At age 38 he published the first of his many novels, and he displayed in each a rare mastery of his adopted language. A member of the British Merchants Navy, he worked his way from mere deckhand, to captain. While serving, he traveled widely, and entered the African Congo in 1890. It is thought that much of Heart of Darkness is based upon his experiences while there. His Message His overall message might be summed up in the cliché, Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It might also be summed up in the assertion that man's social environment is perhaps kingpin in either deterring or allowing release of the innate evil capable of flowing from his nature. The book addresses the themes of oppression and freedom, power and powerlessness, corruption and virtue, nature and nurture, in ways that are creative and profound. Overall, this book is deep. It's message only fully hit me after considerable private musing. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad explores human nature in a most ironic fashion. He does this by narrating an oral story as told by a seafaring man about an explorer-merchant who enters into the African Congo with the best of intentions of bringing light and commerce. But there in the Heart of Darkness, without any external restraint, would emerge the explorer-merchant's own heart of darkness...and the horrors that would ultimately flow from it. Is Conrad's book, at least in part, an autobiographical warning disguised as fiction? There is a strong universality and timelessness to the themes addressed in Heart of Darkness, and an extreme richness of meaning in the text. This coupled with the life of Joseph Conrad himself, in so profoundly addressing his issues of English literacy, makes this truly outstanding reading.
  
  
• Classic Literature
  By A69XYT04Q8FW9 on 2003-11-11
  Several negative reviews of Heart of Darkness seem to have been written by bitter high school students. In sum, their sentiment is: "Don't read this book if you don't like good stories."

  Huh?

  It should be more like, "Don't read this if you aren't willing to study it." These "students" must understand that a superficial reading of a novel will NEVER yield anything useful. Plot is not the only way to judge the merits of a story. What defines a classic is not always what happens, but how the events are told to us.

  Conrad's writing is not complex and vague by accident. The reviewer who remarked that it takes Marlow several convoluted sentences to describe the river misses the point that Marlow is not the kind of narrator who can describe something precisely. It is more like an impressionist painting. Conrad's style recreates those blurred images we all have when we try to recollect an experience. It is a representation not of what all men know, but what an individual sees.

  ***SPOILER IN NEXT PARAGRAPH***

  Marlow is "unsteady" on purpose. We are supposed to question whether he necessarily is against imperialism. This book cannot be said to be strictly anti-imperialistic, since Marlow lies at the end to preserve Kurtz's reputation. Contradictions in Marlow's character are Conrad's consious doing.

  Contrary to popular belief, good novels DO require close readings and analysis to be understood. Authors don't just want to write a good story: they want their story to spark discussion of the plot, themes, AND narrative technique. Conrad didn't include all those adjectives as filler.

  If any of these reviewers go on to study literature at a university, I'm sure they will one day be embarassed that they made their ignorance public. I know I've come off as pretentious, but this literature does not deserve to be brushed aside because it is complex. Rather, it demands a close analysis. Judge the novel only after you truly understand it.
  
  

• A True Classic
  By A15ZZDKRKP7L4R on 2004-03-21
  I was exposed to Conrad when I took a course in Modern Fiction as an undergraduate, 20 years ago. I took the course as an elective to fill a lit requirement. It was one of the best courses I've ever taken, and of all the tremendous books that were assigned, this was my favorite. I have read this at least 1/2 dozen times in my life. I WAS glad, however, that I had a literary scholar walk through this one. I doubt I would have appreciated it as much had I not. I would therefore recommend the critical edition if you're reading this on your own. Modern Fiction - the literary period from circa 1900 to the mid-fifty's, is not everyone's cup of tea and can understand the negative reviews. The best of these works are dense, relative to today's standards but worthwhile - at least to me. Simply, they don't make'em like this anymore.

  After reading Heart of Darkness, take another look at Apocalypse Now, the best film adaptation of a novel - ever.

  Dark, hypnotic, surreal - Heart of Darkness stands alone as a unique classic of american literature.
  
  

• Only For Enthusiasts
  By AGNU65Q3GWWEZ on 2000-02-14
  I had to read Heart of Darkness in my senior years at High School, and I admit that I found it very difficult to get through - the story seems to focus more on the thoughts of the main character, Marlow, and not on the events of the novel. Not that the events of the novel are really that exciting. A steamboat travels up through the Congo in Africa in search of a man, the mysterious Mr. Kurtz, who has set himself up as a kind of tribal leader. Basically, Marlow goes up the river, finds Kurtz who then dies, and then goes back down the river. If the narration were more descriptive and eventful, this book would be a lot more interesting. It does contain some wonderful commentaries on civilisation, and the savages of Africa and the flaws of their society. For this reason, this book would only be for English enthusiasts, or those interested in the commentaries of man and his existence.
  
  
• A chilling look into our dark side
  By on 2001-06-08
  Many people call this novella, published in 1902, the first real book of the 20th century, in that it deals with loss of innocence, moral ambiguity, exploration of the subconscious - all issues that factored prominently into the past hundred years.

  In college I tried to read "Heart of Darkness," but couldn't make it through, despite its small size. Conrad's thick prose just put me to sleep. But I recently read "King Leopold's Ghost," a gut-wrenching book about the exploitation of the Congo around the turn of the century. With that book as factual background, I took another shot at "Heart of Darkness," and this time I tore through it.

  The book works at a purely surface level, as an exotic adventure, but it's even more powerful when read as a symbolic journey - either to the core of an individual psyche or to the mysterious heart of the human condition. And what Marlow, the narrator, discovers there is enough to convince him that truly letting go - as Kurtz did - is to become immersed in a spiritual darkness that cannot be explained or escaped.

  "Apocalypse Now" (based loosely on "Heart of Darkness") introduced me to the phrase "The horror! The horror!" - but reading it in Condrad's book was far more chilling.
  
  

• Inherited evil
  By A1QC2BOU3AL7L8 on 2002-09-12
  Joseph Conrad was a naturalized Britist novelist of Polish descent. He took command of a steamship in Belgian Congo in 1890 and his experiences provided the backbone for "Heart of Darkness," resulting in an autobiographical component to the novel. The story is being told of Marlow who travels up the River Congo into the heart of the African Continent, at the height of European colonialism. Throughtout the perilous journey Marlow suffers a profound transformation on his outlook into human nature, plunging him into darkness. Being brought up as a middle-class European he holds pre-conceived views of the African continent and its inhabitants, describing the natives with condescension and contempt. Despite his prejudices he is not able to remain indifferent to the cruelty and horrors of colonization, the hypocrisy, the erosion of moral values, the brutality imposed by a "technically" advanced nation over a primitive one.
  Marlow becomes obsessed by his goal to meet Kurtz, a mystical character who has become famous for his sucess in extracting an enormous amount of ivory, and who by the use of sheer brutality has gained respect and is revered as a god amongst the natives. Deep inside Marlow holds the hope that Kurtz will be able to give him a logical, morally accepted justification for the horrors he has seen. When the meeting does take place, Marlow finds Kurtz has become a savage himself, has lost ties to any respectable western moral standard, has plunged himself into insanity and "horor, horror!"
  The prose is powerful, elaborate, exuberant and realistic, immersing the reader into a tropical atmosphere, with humidity, dampness, fog, heat, mystery and bewilderment. There is a ample use of symbolism conveying abstract and philosophical concepts. "Heart of Darkness" represents a bleak outlook of reality, much as most of Joseph Conrad's novels; at its most abstract level it represents the inability of human beings to understand the world beyond the self, of how civilization masks the inherited evil in human kind, of alienation and confusion. From a pragmatic point of view it fails to the extent that Marlow's position is ambiguous, he is eyewitness to horror but remains passive, unwilling to change the course of events, a fatalistic stand.
  Undoubtedly, "Apocalypse Now" drew plot elements from "Heart of Darkeness," and so did Alvaro Mutis in his novel "La Nieve del Almirante." Good suggestions to complement the scope of "Heart of Darkeness" are "King's Leopold Ghost" by Adam Hochschild, and "The Poisonwood Bible," by Barbara Kingsolver.
  
  
• A convoluted load of bollocks!
  By on 1999-09-27
  If your idea of a good time is reading a book that feels like it's entirely exposition (eschewing such literary novelties as, say, rising action, or a real climax), then "Heart of Darkness" is for you and stay away from me! The gist of the book is that white people who think they're civilized are actually far more savage than the "barbarians" they try to "civilize." I could've got the same lesson by listening to a Midnight Oil song and gotten on with my life, rather than wading through this detail-drenched, pompously "symbolic" waste of time.

  I'm not one of those people who insists that a book contain a sex scene or violent act every few pages to keep my attention, but NOTHING HAPPENS in this whole book! We're supposed to be supremely affected by it all. Life's too short for this kind of bombast. -Chris Willie Williams
  
  

• Heart Of Darkness
  By AHP99P75A293B on 2002-02-28
  Heart of Darkness is a novella that really needs to be read more than just once to fully appreciate Conrad's style of writing. The story is an account of one man's simultaneous journey into the darkness of a river as well as into the shadows of a madman's mind. There is a very brilliant flow of foreshadowing that Conrad brings to his writing that provides the reader with accounts of the time period and the horrible events to come. Through Conrad's illuminating writing style we slowly see how the narrator begins to understand the madness or darkness that surrounds him.

  I recommend this particular version of the novella because it contains a variety of essays, which discusses some of the main issues in the reading and historical information. Issues like racism and colonialism are discussed throughout many essays. It also contains essays on the movie inspired by the book Apocalypse Now, which is set against the background of the Vietnam War. I recommend reading Heart of Darkness and then viewing Apocalypse Now, especially in DVD format which contains an interesting directors commentary.
  
  

• note to students
  By A2V6RKMMCHOMP0 on 2005-07-05
  I was assigned this book as summer reading for my senior AP Lit. class. Here are a few observations I made that might be useful to other students...
  
  1. Overall, it's a good read. It's short (brevity is beautiful), FULL of suspence, and very interesting. If you're thinking of skipping it and relying on Sparky or Cliff, please reconsider. Conrad's prose is deep and beautiful. The descriptions of "Patches," the amiable Russian whose clothes are so patched they resemble the multicolor map of colonized Africa, are brilliant.
  
  2. That said, using a study guide alongside your reading is probably a good idea. Conrad is terribly subtle. I usually pick things up immediately, but I was a bit confused at the end. Online SparkNotes were somewhat helpful.
  
  3. I bought the Penguin Classics edition with an introduction and notes by Robert Hampson. The notes were helpful, but I thought the introduction was less than spectacular. As I said, I wanted to clarify a few things about Conrad's themes and characters, and Hampson didn't answer my questions. So either try a different edition with better analysis and criticism (Norton Critical perhaps) or get a companion study guide.
  
  4. Our class is reading Heart of Darkness together with Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Even if that novel (which is very good, by the way) isn't on your list, you'll likely be asked in some way to respond to Achebe's criticism of Conrad. Penguin actually dealt fairly well with the Achebe issue and provided a response; however, I imagine Norton deals with it equally well if not better. It might be worth your while to pick up a book that you know covers that issue.
  
  
• Fascinating, yet torturous and morally bankrupt
  By A28JM876B2SXQ2 on 2000-03-20
  By now in my life of reading, I've come to accept that many of the world's "great works of fiction" are more concerned with carefully examining some moral concept than telling a story and making a point. Heart of Darkess is just such a work. As Verlyn Klinkenborg says in his introduction, "physical and moral suffering is the very substance of this book." There is no point being made directly... Only obliquely, I suppose, the point is: morality is ambiguous.

  Charlie Marlow, the narrator and principal actor in the tale, tells us of his riverborne journey into the depths of some remote African wilderness. A journey into the "heart of darkness." A dark place it is, too. His purpose is to come face-to-face with a man named Kurtz, who has gone into the darkness as something of a prodigal newcomer, but has become enveloped and blackened by the savage wilderness he came to tame.

  If I can divine any direct purpose, it's to examine the moral edge between civilization and savagery. The two realms are so inherently contradictory, that the forces pushing against the edges are likely to be stronger than almost any man. Even great men. The most 'remarkable man' in the tale is Kurtz, and he is clearly weaker than these edge forces. They contort him into something of an über-savage, while his civilized soul recognizes the abomination of it all. His dying words sum it up: "the horror, the horror."

  My personal trouble with the novel is that it only goes so far as to examine, but never resolve. In Klinkenborg's words, "Heart of Darkness presents you with a series of moral conundrums which continue to feel like conundrums even after you've finished the book. It's greatness...lies in the torturous irresolution...of the moral dilemmas raised one after another... That irresolution is the essense of Conrad's artistic vision. 'The only legitimate basis of creative work', he exmplained in a letter... 'lies in the courageous recognition of all the irreconcilable antagonisms that make our life so engimatic, so burdensome, so fascinating, so dangerous, so full of hope.'"

  In the end, Conrad is taking the nihilistic position that there is no resolution. No answers, only conundrums. He has done a very good job of breathing life into this position, and constructing a world where there is no ground for moral truths. For the purpose of seeing this view, the tale is worth reading. As a guide to charting one's own morality, Heart of Darkness is lazy at best, and insidiously corrupt at worst.
  
  

• A bedtime story of a different color
  By A62X8SAEVD5R5 on 1999-12-16
  Under a darkening sky, a group of sailors in the Thames delta listens to a story about Africa, a steamboat journey, and the strange, broken director of an ivory-post in the Belgian Congo. It is a captivating premise, executed with tremndous force by Joseph Conrad in 'Heart of Darkness', a novella which holds its own against the giants of modern literature. In Conrad's hands, colonial Africa is a surreal backdrop, its population, conquerers and landscape reduced to icons and elements - the chemistry here is hardly tangible. While 'Heart of Darkness' could easily have descended into social commentary, striking out at the ills of colonialism, Conrad is in pursuit of something less tangible than human evil - this novella chases the nature of evil itself.

  Mr. Kurtz, the narrative focal point of 'Heart of Darkness', remains only a rumor until the last quarter of the text; Marlow, hypnotized by tales of his exploits, ventures deeper into the Congo to find him. Marlow is no explorer, however. Riding a steamboat piloted by others, its course dictated by the turn of the river, Marlow is forced into a sort of numbed complacency. The final meeting between Marlow and Kurtz is mesmerizing. A sickley, damaged phantom, Mr. Kurtz ruthlessly presides over a clan of native slave laborers. Kurtz is a casualty of the jungle - so removed from the all things familiar, he has succumbed to evil, unwittingly, unhappily.

  To Conrad, evil is what fills voids; it replaces lonliness, confusion, and fear. The inner Congo is an alien wasteland to westerners Marlow and Kurtz. By the time Kurtz utters his famous swan song, 'the horror... the horror,' it is clear that he is only a shadow of Marlow. Marlow, once so familiar to the reader, has become empty as well.

  This is a magnificent piece of fiction. Conrad's prose, admitedly, pay far less attention to narrative than to impressionistic poetry. But what incredible poetry it is. The rusted machines, the tall grass, Marlow's haunting vision of Kurrtz devouring the world, the woman weaving in the chair, and the darkness... the immeasuarble, infintely empty heart of darkness, gathering in the clouds, engulfing the horizon...
  
  

• Dull but descriptive over-rated novella
  By AD0J5KK4WQXNS on 2004-01-09
  Heart of Darkness by Conrad is a very short novella that is masterfully descriptive of its characters and locations but also happens to be incredibly uneventful and surprisingly lifeless for a book that attempts to bring us a unique vision of an Africa-come-trade fair.

  In short, this journey into the heart of darkness should have been a little more engaging but just happens to pass from one page to next without any drama, suspense, intrigue or mystery. Sure Conrad can describe his locations, characters and their thoughts beautifully when he renders them onto the page but this novella just misses anything that might interest us, leaving each descriptive paragraph marred by dislocated reasons for being there at all. There are areas of this jungle that scream to be penetrated but are alas forgotten about or just left behind. As a story it also fails to stay coherent at the best of the times and even after repeat readings makes little or no sense.

  Conrad is leaving much up to our imagination but also frankly leaves gaps too big to be considered a structured plot. It is more like the ramblings of a drunken old sea worthy fool who between swigs of the ale forgets why he was talking in the first place, but at least continues along in a descriptive babbling that helps you make it to the last page.

  In short this story would have been better told by someone else who was there. It seems like the writer is struggling at the best of times to want to write it which probably explains its length as a novella. I am sure Conrad just got this one over and done with so that he could move onto a better piece of literature. It seems like a completed piece of work just for the sake of completing it.

  It is no wonder that many students will nod off during this one. You can not blame their youth for this snooze-fest. It is plain and simply boring and there is much better period novels out there that deal with similar themes. I am sure swapping this one for something from Patrick O'Brian "Master and Commander" would make the class room more attentive.
  
  

• A Perfect Novel
  By A57L74GHKJ1GE on 2000-06-18
  "The Heart of Darkness" is arguably my favorite novel of all time (tied with Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises"). Thrilling in every way, this is the only book that seeped into me. Never before has an author created a mood so perfectly that you actually FEEL the darkness. Written masterfully as a person retelling a story someone else was telling, the book has a reality on both levels that in unbelievable. You NEED to read this book! It's short and gripping so it shouldn't take too long. You might not be a changed person when you're through, but you will be awed by Conrad's brilliance. (Even if you hate the book, it's undeniable.)
  
  
• OH MY GOD THIS BOOK WAS BORING
  By A1BLGKAOJMLL9I on 2000-07-18
  It seems that all of the previous reviews that gave bad ratings were from students whom were forced to read this horrible novel. The narration of Marlow was unrealistic and dreadfully boring. Seriously: it's a seaman telling a story off the top of his mind, yet he incorporates extreme detail and excessive figurative language that just bogs you down. Oh, so detail is great, but how great is it if you have to analyze each individual word just to find some point in this nonsense. I think young students would benefit from the theme of this story (not that I found one), but the style of presenting it just makes you want to burn this book (not a bad idea, it's only $1.00! ). A very well written novel? Well, Conrad surely knows how to make a student's learning experience miserable. Five stars for boredom. One star for everything else.
  
  
• Wild Man River
  By A27MSJH4529GRK on 2002-01-17
  This is a tale of a boat trip up the Congo, although nowhere in the book is the actual name of that river or the Belgian colony that emerged on its banks ever used. The writer, Joseph Conrad, was probably more interesting than any of his characters. Although writing about stiff-upper-lip types and managing to be more English than the English, he was actually born in a country that was undergoing its own form of colonization in those days, that is Poland. Going to sea, Conrad experienced many adventures around the globe, providing him with the rich stock of stories that were to win him acceptance from the English reading public.

  Most people now come across this book as part of some college course condemning colonialism. At least that's how I came across it. Others might know it as the prototype for Francis Ford Coppola's amazing movie "Apocalypse Now."

  Although an enthralling read, it is also a strangely vacuous book and, as a consequence, extremely well-named, as Kurtz, the central character, remains a dark enigma at the heart of the story to the end. We never really get to know who he is. Sent by the Belgian colonial authorities upriver, Kurtz has 'gone native' and our narrator is sent after him to investigate.

  This format allows the narrator to drop-feed us information about Kurtz during the long river voyage, giving us pieces of a jigsaw that is never completed. As we read we are nevertheless tantalized by the prospect of meeting the man who has scrawled "Exterminate all the brutes" on his report for the "International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs," participated in "unspeakable rites," and established his authority among the natives through the uncivilized practice of impaling heads on poles.

  Is this a true picture of colonialism? During his life as a sailor, the writer visited the Belgian Congo so the details ring true. Also the objective, descriptive, and rather emotionally detached style of the narrator proves convincing. Nevertheless there is something rather mechanical about this picture. Conrad presents economic exploitation or vicious greed as the dominant if not the only force in this view of colonialism. Perhaps in the case of the Belgian Congo, a particularly brutal colonial system, this is justified, but those college students being fed this novel as representative of colonialism in general should be more wary.

  To our modern materialistic sensibilities, it makes perfect sense that colonialism should be so greed-driven, but there were also more altruistic motives at work such as the desire to 'save,' 'educate,' and 'civilize' the natives. Conrad treats these with a healthy dose of cynicism. The philanthropic motives, sincerely believed by many in the home country, such as Marlow's Aunt, become in the face of the ruthless greed and brutality existing in the Congo no more than empty jargon, ironically spoked to justify the terrible cruelties inflicted on the natives for the benefit of the Company. But quite often these motives were actually sincere and brought great improvements to the natives, in many cases actually giving them the tools with which they later won their independence.

  Although condemning their exploiters, Conrad has little real understanding of the natives who always remain mysterious and unfathomable:

  "The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us - who could tell? We glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse."

  In this there is a lack of true sympathy, which however reassures us that he is not exaggerating or sentimentalizing the plight of the Africans. Colonialism was certainly not a blessing; maybe it wasn't a mixed blessing, but it might have been a mixed curse. Anyway, however you choose to view it, it undoubtedly had a profound impact on the economy, environment, culture, and identity of native peoples. We get little of this from Conrad and his "unfathomable savages."
  
  

• Conrad Takes On Two Sides Of Man
  By A1NT7ED5TATUAM on 2006-03-12
  The two Joseph Conrad novellas "Heart Of Darkness" and "The Secret Sharer" make for an interesting juxtaposition in this Signet Classic edition, not only because they are great stories but because of their interesting dialogue on the nature of man.
  
  In "Heart Of Darkness," we follow our narrator, Marlow, as he leads a boat up the Congo to bring back an ivory seller named Kurtz, seeing along the way example after example of how cruelly the colonial powers treat the native population. Worse follows when Marlow finally reaches Kurtz, discovering a former idealist turned pirate who simply kills what he can and takes what he wants until jungle fever claims him.
  
  Most people read "Heart Of Darkness" after seeing "Apocalypse Now," the Francis Ford Coppola movie based on the tale. It's startling how many elements of Conrad's story made the final cut, including a crazy Russian in the book who raves about how Kurtz has "expanded his mind" in such a way that makes you wonder if Conrad somehow foresaw Dennis Hopper. The modern nature of Conrad's writing seemed to anticipate the cinema of today. "Heart of Darkness" was certainly a favorite of auteurs; Orson Welles thought of making it into a movie before deciding instead on "Citizen Kane."
  
  "Heart Of Darkness's" arrival to the present day hasn't been all favorable. It's out of favor with many academics because of passages like this, about the native population:
  
  "It was unearthly, and the men were - No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it - the suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity - like yours - the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar."
  
  Not pleasant reading for the 21st century, but keep in mind this is the narrator talking, not Conrad. Conrad is playing a subtle game with the reader, stoking notions of racial superiority as a means of illuminating the wanton viciousness of the white colonists, who advanced civilization has made crueler and coarser than the blacks they enslave. The first time you read "Heart of Darkness" you worry for Marlow traveling in the company of a group of man-eating grass beaters. The second time, you realize that those black tribesmen are the only cannibals in the book who control their appetite.
  
  No question Conrad was a supreme pessimist when it came to human nature, which is why "The Secret Sharer" is such a welcome contrast. The narrator here is a captain on a ship, very young and held in suspicion by his crew, who finds himself harboring a fugitive, wanted for murder on another vessel.
  
  The captain brings him to his cabin, where the two become joined in their act of secrecy, sweating out possible discovery from the captain's crew. In time, they become like two children having a whispered conversation after midnight during a sleepover, brothers almost. As the bond deepens, the captain notices a modest resemblance between them.
  
  Sure, there's the requisite ambiguity, but if "Heart of Darkness" is all about the dark side of human nature, and of course it is, "The Secret Sharer" in a quieter way presents us with Conrad's notion of what makes life worth living, the ability of people to look out for one another and serve as shoulders to lean upon. Plus it has ample examples of Conrad's sea writing, which is really quite good.
  
  
• An Adventure Masterpiece of Profound Depth
  By A2V1121177OVJ on 2007-09-23
  Note: I made some Mormon reader angry over my reviews of books written by Mormons out to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews.
  
  This review of the "Heart of Darkness" is pretty good if I do say so myself. Note the wonderful lines you get to read out of two novels. It was a bit of trouble to find them. I hope you enjoy them.
  
  Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.
  
  Don't be put off by the word "masterpiece." The "Heart of Darkness" is a great adventure story, but so much more. You will find yourself plumbing its depths as Conrad describes a voyage up the Congo on an old steamer. Conrad's language is magnificent, and to be savored.
  
  In modern times, Cormac McCarthy (see Blood Meridian) has recast Conrad's powerful style and made it his own. The following comparison reveals a lot about both writers.
  
  "The Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad:
  
  
  "We could have fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance, to be subdued at the cost of profound anguish and of excessive toil. But suddenly, as we struggled round a bend, there would be a glimpse of rush walls, of peaked grass-roofs, a burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, , of eyes rolling, under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage. The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy. The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us--who could tell" we were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse. We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember because we were travelling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone, leaving hardly a sign--and no memories."
  
  "Blood Meridian," by Cormac McCathy:
  
  "That night they rode through a region electric and wild where strange shapes of soft blue fire ran over the metal of the hoses' trappings and the wagonwheels rolled in hoops of fire and little shapes of pale blue light came to perch in the ears of the horses and in the beards of the men. All night sheetlightning quaked and sourceless to the west beyond the midnight thunderheads, making a bluish day of the distant desert, the mountains on the sudden skyline stark and black and lived like a land of some other order out there whose true geology was not stone but fear. The thunder moved up from the southwest and lightning lit the desert all about them, blue and barren, great clanging reaches ordered out of the absolute night like some demon kingdom summoned up or changeling land that come the day would leave them neither trace nor smoke nor ruin more than any troubling dream."
  
  
  
  
• Apocalypse Now
  By A2QJLWESRQ680F on 2000-01-12
  I found this book very interesting to read. I also found it very frightening as it leads into trust and emotions. It enters both these areas quite deeply.

  I found it strange at first as I wasn't use to reading a book that contained so many quotes but I found this an interesting part of the book.

  The book leads to a lot of thinking as there are constantly images that Conrad describes loosely so your own mind thinks about them more.

  Having read this book, I watched Apocalypse Now and realised the large similarities that there are between the book and film.

  I also liked the book as it is a realtively short novel. If only all books were as gripping & thought-provoking.
  
  

• Things Fall Apart: A Novel
• Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)
• The Stranger
• Frankenstein (Signet Classics)
• Crime and Punishment (Enriched Classics)