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Heart Of Darkness

Heart Of Darkness

by Joseph Conrad

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | October 26, 1993 | Hardcover

Based on 7 ratings | Rate this | 4 reviews
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Heart of Darkness grew out of a journey Joseph Conrad took up the Congo River; the verisimilitude that the great novelist thereby brought to his most famous tale everywhere enhances its dense and shattering power.

Apparently a sailor's yarn, it is in fact a grim parody of the adventure story, in which the narrator, Marlow, travels deep into the heart of the Congo where he encounters the crazed idealist Kurtz and discovers that the relative values of the civilized and the primitive are not what they seem. Heart of Darkness is a model of economic storytelling, an indictment of the inner and outer turmoil caused by the European imperial misadventure, and a piercing account of the fragility of the human soul.
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Reviews of Heart Of Darkness

4 reviews from our community
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  • 6 months ago
    Good Description
    This book provided a vivid description. It is very hard because of the wording.
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  • 16 months ago
    Dark
    I've had this book on my book shelf for about three years now, every since my grandfather passed away and it's just been itching me to read it. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, I just felt I had to read it. It's one of those books your "suppose" to read. I find that the book stays true to the title. I think that's what bothers me the most about the book, but also makes it a book you should read, is the darkness. It's so unnerving and sad to say but present in today's society as it was when the book was written . . . cold . . . ruthless . . . human nature. . .
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  • 3 years ago
    'The horror, the horror'
    While I read Lord Jim about 5 years ago, Heart of Darkness isn't something I picked up until this Christmas break. A thought-provoking novel and at times difficult to read. As many people have said it truly is one of the essential reads of the 20th century. Some may get more out of this novel than others as an understanding of the history of the Congo during the era of Leopold II will give a better appreciation of Conrad's work. A good book overall. Also, Heart of Darkness has one of my favourite endings ever, ranking just below the encounter of Humbert and Quilty in Lolita.
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  • 5 years ago
    I read it because I felt I had to.
    I read it because I felt I had to. It was one of those books, and I have more than a few on my shelf now, that you simply get told again and again that these are VERY IMPORTANT BOOKS, and YOU MUST READ them. I thought it was good and all, and I made it to the end, but I didn't leave with any new understanding. Except maybe for that passage about the Thames in Roman times. ...Which has something to do with the title of the book, the Heart of Darkness, warning against hubris in a strange land, but also warning that success isn't all it's cracked up to be. Soon after I read this, I rented Apocalypse Now, and that clarified things a little bit, at least in my mind, about what it means to "win" a war.
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– More About This Product –

Heart Of Darkness

Heart Of Darkness

by Joseph Conrad

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From the Publisher

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Heart of Darkness grew out of a journey Joseph Conrad took up the Congo River; the verisimilitude that the great novelist thereby brought to his most famous tale everywhere enhances its dense and shattering power.

Apparently a sailor's yarn, it is in fact a grim parody of the adventure story, in which the narrator, Marlow, travels deep into the heart of the Congo where he encounters the crazed idealist Kurtz and discovers that the relative values of the civilized and the primitive are not what they seem. Heart of Darkness is a model of economic storytelling, an indictment of the inner and outer turmoil caused by the European imperial misadventure, and a piercing account of the fragility of the human soul.

From the Jacket

In Conrad''s haunting tale, Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey in search of the enigmatic Kurtz. Travelling to the heart of the African continent, he discovers how Kurtz has gained his position of power and influence over the local people. Marlow''s struggle to fathom his experience involves him in a radical questioning of not only his own nature and values but the nature and values of his society.

About the Book

"Heart of Darkness grew out of a journey Joseph Conrad took up the Congo River; the verisimilitude that the great novelist thereby brought to his most famous tale everywhere enhances its dense and shattering power.
Apparently a sailor's yarn, it is in fact a grim parody of the adventure story, in which the narrator, Marlow, travels deep into the heart of the Congo where he encounters the crazed idealist Kurtz and discovers that the relative values of the civilized and the primitive are not what they seem. "Heart of Darkness is a model of economic storytelling, an indictment of the inner and outer turmoil caused by the European imperial misadventure, and a piercing account of the fragility of the human soul.

Format: Hardcover

Dimensions: 144 Pages, 5.12 × 8.27 × 0.39 in

Published: October 26, 1993

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Language: English

The following ISBNs are associated with this title:

ISBN - 10: 0679428011

ISBN - 13: 9780679428015

From Our Editors

In Conrad's haunting tale, Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey in search of the enigmatic Kurtz. Travelling to the heart of the African continent, he discovers how Kurtz has gained his position of power and influence over the local people. Marlow's struggle to fathom his experience involves him in a radical questioning of not only his own nature and values but the nature and values of his society.

About the Author

Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, in 1857. After both of his parents died of tuberculosis, Conrad went to live with his uncle in Switzerland. After attending school in Krak-w he joined the French and then the British merchant marines, sailing to exotic destinations like the West Indies and the Congo, which would later become the backdrops for some of his fiction. In 1894 he settled down in England and began his literary career. In 1902 Conrad published his most famous work, The Heart of Darkness, and continued to write until his death in 1924.
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