by Joseph Conrad
Originally published 1902
132 pages
I have to admit that this book was a struggle for me. Yes, it exposes universal truths about mankind. Yes, it is written by a man who didn't learn English until he was 21 years old and amazingly wrote this masterpiece of the English language. Yes, it is a classic. But I still struggled. The reasons for this I will get to later.
"Heart of Darkness" is told from the perspective of Marlow, a man about to travel the seas to work on a riverboat in Africa. The book is highly auto-biographical, based on Conrad's own experiences traveling as a seaman. The entire time that Marlow is in Africa, he continues to hear about this man named Kurtz who is respected and feared by all for his shrewd business tactics and ability to relate to the natives. But when Marlow finally meets Kurtz, he is not as he expected him to be.
The book is broken into three parts, the first two of which are slow-paced with the plot only really thickening in the last section. Conrad's writing style is descriptive, using long paragraphs that are easy to get lost in. I found myself having to reread the same few sentences over and over. Don't let the brevity of this story fool you. It is quite dense and definitely not easy reading.
I feel as though I missed out on most of the meaning in this book just because I was bogged down by trying to understand the plot and where it was going. I have heard that this is the sort of story you must read more than once to fully appreciate. Even though I didn't completely comprehend most of it, "Heart of Darkness" did leave me with a sadness for the people of Africa in the time period this was set. Colonialism robbed Africans of their rich heritage and resources with white men coming and taking everything as if it was inherently theirs. Conrad exposed something that must have been shocking at the time.
In the introduction, there is a quote from Conrad that struck me. I will leave you with this:
"Art itself may be defined as a single-minded attempt to render the highest kind of justice to the visible universe, by bringing to light the truth, manifold and one, underlying its every aspect."
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I read this book in high school... It's so confusing. Congrats on getting through it, I know for a fact most of my English Class did not haha
ReplyDeletehelo :)..lol im studying Heart of Darkness this year, o gosh its terrible! :O my class have got to do these essays on it atm and i am clueless to understanding the jist of the novel let alone analysing it :(..i just totally fall asleep when tryin to read it, none of the sentences follow on to each other :S or make sense :S
ReplyDeleteBUT..your blog has achaulry helped me understand it a bit better though :) thanks!
Sarah :) x