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Loading... Heart of Darkness and Other Tales (Oxford World's Classics) (edition 2008)by Joseph Conrad, Cedric Watts (Editor)1   SandDune | May 16, 2014 |    ) Nealmaro | Jul 28, 2023 |  ) Neal_Anderson | Oct 1, 2020 |  ) ellohull | Feb 10, 2016 | Heart of Darkness starts as a simple traveller's tale as the narrator Marlow relates the story of his travels to take control of a steamship on an unnamed African river (clearly the Congo) working for an unnamed colonial power (clearly Belgium). From his very first days in the territory Marlow hears tales of 'Mr Kurtz', an agent in the most remote district: a remarkable man according to everyone he meets, but the reason for this remarkability remains vague and shadowy. And as Marlow attempts to repair the steamship which he is to captain, which has been badly damaged, the name of Kurtz continues to haunt him as rumours abound of his activities. Marlow finds himself becoming more and more disillusioned with the brutality of the colonists, but as a mission is launched upriver to relieve Mr Kurtz, he discovers more horrors awaiting him as the ship proceeds towards Kurtz's station ... This is a book that has been considered at times as racist, condemned as such particularly by the writer Chinua Achebe. If you extract it from the end of the nineteenth century and drop it down at the beginning of the twenty-first without any consideration of the context in which it was written then it could well be considered racist. The language used and the opinions expressed are not those that would be used today. But I don't think that you can extract a book or a writer from their contexts, and there are clear indications in the text, as well as in Conrad's own life, that show him to have held relatively enlightened opinions and to be intensely opposed to the colonial experience in the Congo on which Heart of Darkness is based. There are so many connections in this book, so many ways in which it could be read, that I can see myself reading it again and again. Highly recommended. ( )1 SandDune | May 16, 2014 | I guess if you're really set on believing that this is a literary masterpiece, you have to give it either five stars or one: either to convince yourself it is, or to complain that it isn't. Just read it as a good little novella, and you'll enjoy it a lot more. And if you're really set on reading it as if all of humanity is ultimately completely f'ed, you also have to give it either five stars or one: either to underline, in ominous freshman terms, that it is; or to strenuously screech, in blathering self-help terms, that it isn't. If you suspect that at many times some of us are f'ed... well, I'm with you. Also, the other stories in this edition are decent, not great. 'An Outpost of Progress' is even more pessimistic and anti-imperialist than HoD, and funnier, especially if you've read Bouvard et Pecuchet. 'Karain' isn't so great. 'Youth,' even more than HoD, highlights Conrad's 'ability' to beat a theme to death. Not his greatest asset, that's for sure. (  ) stillatim | Dec 29, 2013 |  ) emmyson | Oct 9, 2013 | ) Snukes | Jun 14, 2013 | ) rores28 | Nov 6, 2011 | ) prehensel | Jun 5, 2009 | http://miasbooklist.blogspot.com/2006/12/heart-of-darkness-joseph-conrad.html ( ) moiraji | Feb 20, 2008 | ) sulkyblue | May 9, 2007 | While regarded by many as one of the great modern classics, i am one of the minority of readers who doesn't like this book. Perhaps that is because i was looking to closely for 'Apocalypse Now' links, but i found the prose turgid, and the insights laboured. ( ) ForrestFamily | Mar 27, 2006 |  judyb65 | Feb 4, 2007 | Some of these stories are available as free audiobooks from https://librivox.org/ ( )  captbirdseye | Mar 22, 2014 | |
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Heart of Darkness starts as a simple traveller's tale as the narrator Marlow relates the story of his travels to take control of a steamship on an unnamed African river (clearly the Congo) working for an unnamed colonial power (clearly Belgium). From his very first days in the territory Marlow hears tales of 'Mr Kurtz', an agent in the most remote district: a remarkable man according to everyone he meets, but the reason for this remarkability remains vague and shadowy. And as Marlow attempts to repair the steamship which he is to captain, which has been badly damaged, the name of Kurtz continues to haunt him as rumours abound of his activities. Marlow finds himself becoming more and more disillusioned with the brutality of the colonists, but as a mission is launched upriver to relieve Mr Kurtz, he discovers more horrors awaiting him as the ship proceeds towards Kurtz's station ...
This is a book that has been considered at times as racist, condemned as such particularly by the writer Chinua Achebe. If you extract it from the end of the nineteenth century and drop it down at the beginning of the twenty-first without any consideration of the context in which it was written then it could well be considered racist. The language used and the opinions expressed are not those that would be used today. But I don't think that you can extract a book or a writer from their contexts, and there are clear indications in the text, as well as in Conrad's own life, that show him to have held relatively enlightened opinions and to be intensely opposed to the colonial experience in the Congo on which Heart of Darkness is based.
There are so many connections in this book, so many ways in which it could be read, that I can see myself reading it again and again. Highly recommended. (