Heart of Darkness
1899 • 121 pages
Ratings181
Average rating3.2
15
Ratings181
Average rating3.2
Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State, in the heart of Africa, by the story's narrator Charles Marlow. Marlow tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames. Joseph Conrad is one of the greatest English writers, and Heart of Darkness is considered his best. His readers are brought to face our psychological selves to answer, ‘Who is the true savage?’. Originally published in 1902, Heart of Darkness remains one of this century’s most enduring works of fiction. Written several years after Joseph Conrad’s grueling sojourn in the Belgian Congo, the novel is a complex meditation on colonialism, evil, and the thin line between civilization and barbarity.
Reviews with the most likes.
Couldn't make any sense of what was happening. The prose is awful.
Read 59/3:49 26%
If you're into poetic prose, colonialism, and gossip, this is your jam!
Not much happens. It's mostly people talking about how amazing Kurtz is and people talking about people talking about how amazing Kurtz is. But we're never really shown him being amazing. That's part of the point, I think, but everything seems hollow.
Conrad's prose is elegant and evocative, but there's not much plot or even character development to latch onto. Ultimately, I don't get it. Surely I'm missing something but I think the story is bland and mediocre.
If I'm being truly honest I hated this book to begin with. It seemed slow moving and nothing happened. However as I got into it and studied it a little more I understand what Conrad was trying to do. I mean he fails miserably, but I got it and it became a book I quite like.
