Classic
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
Summary
The seaman Marlow recounts his journey up a great African river in service of an ivory trading company, toward the remote station of Mr. Kurtz, an agent whose eloquence and idealism have collapsed into horror. Conrad renders the voyage as a descent into the moral darkness of European colonialism, culminating in Kurtz's famous dying words. The novella's dense, ambiguous prose made it a foundational text of modernism and a lightning rod for debates about how it represents Africa.
”
Historical Context & Significance
Conrad drew on his own 1890 journey up the Congo River, publishing the story serially in 1899. Chinua Achebe's famous critique of its portrayal of Africans reshaped how the book is taught, while its influence extends from T. S. Eliot to Apocalypse Now.