Heart of Darkness and Other Tales (Oxford World's Classics)

“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.” “We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. At night sometimes the roll of drums behind the curtain of trees would run up the river and remain sustained faintly, as if hovering in the air high over our heads, till the first break of day. Whether it meant war, peace, or prayer we could not tell. “We were wanderers on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. 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 foliage. The steamer toiled on the edge of an incomprehensible frenzy. Were the prehistoric men cursing us, praying to us or welcoming us - who could tell?” “It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror and an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision, a cry that was no more than a breath - The horror! The horror!” “I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other, to devour their infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly dreams. Their bearing was offensive to me like outrageous flauntings of folly in the face of a danger it is unable to comprehend.” “The tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombrely under an overcast sky and seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.” ************* Imagine this, you are a native Polish speaker and write one of the most influencial novels in the English language, replete with references to ancient and modern history while being a sea captain to far flung parts of the globe. Well, that’s what Joseph Conrad did in this 1899 novella, ‘Heart of Darkness’ adapted into the Francis Ford Coppola film ‘Apocalypse Now’ in 1979. I rarely do this but I recommend getting the Oxford World Classics edition of the book for its frequent and in depth footnotes. Without these it is likely that many of the allusions would have flown over my head. Being of such an age the text is in the public domain and would also surely suffice. There is something in this tale that exudes a legend. The story starts out with the captain Marlow expounding on his previous voyages in the far east and his desire to steam up the Congo, while he sits on the River Thames awaiting the tide to go out. Very quickly it is understood that Marlow is in fact Conrad by clues he left in the text, when plying a steamboat up the river. A prior captain had been murdered by locals over a simple barter deal that had went wrong. Marlow arrives in Brussels to sign up for his captaincy with King Leopold II as Conrad had done in 1890. He leaves onboard a passenger steamer to the West African coast noting the folly of men of war along the way shooting at the shore. If one wishes to hear a tale of human bondage one need look no further than this. Marlow’s first encounter with the Congo Free State reveals an indentured servitude system with native people in a state of moral and physical collapse. Kurtz is described as the overseer of an upcountry ivory trading station. When Marlow arrives at the central station his steamer has been sunk, probably due to some sort of local sabotage. The station manager inspires neither fear nor respect. Marlow speaks of their papier mache Mephistopheles as a false devils. The steamboat is wrecked and unreparable while he waits for weeks due to a lack of rivets. White Europeans trod the land on the backs of black donkeys. Aside from the rapacious trading quest they see themselves on a mission to enlighten the benighted denizens of the forest. Steaming upriver while watching for stone beds and tree logs Marlow keeps an eye out for deadwood to feed the boat’s furnace. Time to collect some ivory and rubber for the King of Belgium. On board were a crew of cannibals: “fine fellows in their place, and after all they didn’t eat each other before my face”. When Marlow’s African ship steerman is murdered by a tribe of onshore archers the passengers and crew members are offended by the unceromonial disposal of his remains. Kurtz appears prematurely as a phantom inside of Marlow’s mind. Kurtz is about to be met and has evolved into an indigenous king, gathering a clan of African and European fealties. His station has been decorated by human heads upon poles. Marlow encounters a ragged young captain on the edge of the Kurtz compound who is entranced by the enigmatic man. Kurtz is compared to an idol whose ravenous appetites are irresistible and charismatic to those he’s assembled around him, but is ill and needs to be carried on a litter. Although prolific in his harvesting of ivory he has stiired up troubles in the region and had ordered the attack on Marlow’s ship. From the forest comes an ominous beating of drums and bonfires blazing in the blackness. He pursues Kurtz onshore through the grass and bush while encountering an anteloped horned witch doctor along the way. It is a terrifying vision of a late Victorian African colony written in powerful prose with a shocking ending.

The book contains four stories: "An Outpost of Progress", "Karain", "Youth", and "Heart of Darkness". I was interested in "Heart of Darkness" because of its relationship to the movie "Apocalypse Now". Of the stories in the book, I found "Youth" and "Karain" the most interesting. However, they were all worth reading. The Kindle edition is nice because of the ability to look up the definitions of the somewhat obscure terms used by Conrad. Overall I'd recommend this edition of the "Heart of Darkness"

Conrad is prose poetry, especially in Heart of Darkness. This edition is annotated with an introduction. It is perhaps the best edition of Heart of Darkness for its simple and straightforward analysis and notes. Unlike most Penguin Classics, this Oxford Classics has no misprints as all the many Oxford editions...accurate texts free of errors.

Heart of Darkness is a classic novel that was an almost direct assault on (English) trading company methods and the greater concept of Imperialism, itself. Conrad constructs his novel with many sets of 3, channeling the three parts of Dante's Inferno / The Divine Comedy, and tells it in a "chinese box" fashion, featuring a set of stories within stories. The novel begins on board the Nellie on the Thames River, with Marlow beginning to tell his own story to his mariner companions. With great attention to the sea, personification of the jungle, and the greater idea of human restraint corresponding to its environment, Marlow recounts his memories of traveling down the Congo River under a Belgian Trading Company and the examples of humanity he encounters there. His prime example is a figure named Kurtz, who, although intelligent, musically gifted, and persuasive, loses all of his restraint along with himself in the heart of the Africa, leaving a lasting image of him being, "hollow to the core." Kurtz only realizes the evils and extreme wrongs that took place in Africa at the moment before his death, exclaiming, "The horror, the horror!" Was he (and/or Conrad) referring to Kurtz's own deeds, the Company's futility and exploitation, or the very subject of Imperialism itself? You can be the judge after reading this intriguing novel. The Kindle book is easy to use and saves your place, as well as allowing you to highlight, bookmark, and makes notes, but the one issue I had was with quick reference to the notes featured at the end of the text. There wasn't a user-friendly way to go back and forth between the notes and the text without losing your place in the book after digging up the correct note that corresponds to the page you're on. They would have been much more useful if this hadn't been so inconvenient.

Depressing but brilliant. Conrad is a master. Worth reading once in your life....Conrad is far superior to writers today. While his vision is bleak and disturbing, this is a book that you will not forget.

Great book

I was really excited to read this because of Conrad's legendary status as an author and the fact this book was the basis for the Heart Of Darkness film. However, I found it to read for leisure not as thrilling or as dark and twisted as I had heard it would be. Conrad's writing is unbelievably detailed and interwoven with countless metaphors that make the book sound like a dream-like state. It did not convey as much wretchedness about the Congo as I had anticipated from reviews, but rather just showed the cultural difference between a European sailor and the natives of the Congo. Questionably ignorant, the way that Conrad phrases his understanding seems akin to someone who both does not understand the primitive nature of racism and also someone who does not value anyone differently. It's just a book, albeit a short one, that did not click for me and I'm unsure if it was because of too much hype or it just wasn't for me. I'm glad I read it though to check one off the list.

Daughter needed for an AP English class. Arrived in same condition as listed on the sales posting.