Heart of Darkness has been considered for most of this century as a literary classic, and also as a powerful indictment of the evils of imperialism. It reflects the savage repressions carried out in the Congo by the Belgians in one of the largest acts of genocide committed up to that time. Conrad's narrator encounters at the end of the story a man named Kurtz, dying, insane, and guilty of unspeakable atrocities.
Heart of Darkness
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Review
'As powerful a condemnation of imperialism as has ever been written' --The Observer
'Once experienced, it is hard to let Heart of Darkness go. A masterpiece of surprise, of expression and psychological nuance, of fury at colonial expansion and of how men make the least of life... endlessly readable and worthy of rereading' --The Telegraph --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
'Once experienced, it is hard to let Heart of Darkness go. A masterpiece of surprise, of expression and psychological nuance, of fury at colonial expansion and of how men make the least of life... endlessly readable and worthy of rereading' --The Telegraph --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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'One of the most compelling and influential works of English literature in the last century' - Independent
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
57 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Some readers seem to have difficulty with this short novel. It's certainly not easy reading (Conrad never is, though I love his prose style), but is a challenging, thought-provoking and highly absorbing character study. The journey is as much into a mind breaking down as it is a physical journey down the Congo River. I found it richly rewarding (both the 1st time and when I read it again recently). It probably says more, in a short space, than any other novel about human existence, civilization and human excesses (with the possible exception of "The Fall" by Albert Camus). Powerful stuff - if you like a strong poison then try it (and then check out Conrad's great full-length novels: "Lord Jim", "Nostromo" and "Under Western Eyes").
163 of 173 people found the following review helpful
By Gerund
Format:Kindle Edition
This review is specifically about the Kindle edition of The Heart of Darkness, and more specifically:
# Publisher: Public Domain Books (9 Jan 2006)
# Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
# ASIN: B000JQU7A8
Reviews between editions seem to be frequently amalgamated and so it is important to note this is about the free (at time of writing) version.
Please also note that this review is about the 'edition', not the actual story itself and is therefore no reflection on Conrad's writing.
Having made myself clear on what I am reviewing (hopefully!) then my opinion is this:
Download some samples of other versions and pay some small amount for a better text. I struggled with half of this version before resorting to the actual book that I already owned. There are two major problems:
1. The style of writing and the protagonist Marlow's delivery makes very frequent use of dashes (en or em rules). This Kindle edition uses double hyphens, viz --, with no spaces, as in 'There were cases of them down at the coast--cases--piled up--burst--split!', which makes reading awkward and detracts from the narrative style.
2. Carriage returns are used frequently in error and seemingly at random. It is possible to identify new paragraphs as they are correctly indented but, having a line finishing after the first word for example, implies the end of a paragraph. However, the non-indented start of the next line shows that the text was meant to be continuous. Checking several examples with the Penguin text edition shows that these frequent carriage returns are, indeed, in error.
This edition is not recommended for reading on the Kindle.
# Publisher: Public Domain Books (9 Jan 2006)
# Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
# ASIN: B000JQU7A8
Reviews between editions seem to be frequently amalgamated and so it is important to note this is about the free (at time of writing) version.
Please also note that this review is about the 'edition', not the actual story itself and is therefore no reflection on Conrad's writing.
Having made myself clear on what I am reviewing (hopefully!) then my opinion is this:
Download some samples of other versions and pay some small amount for a better text. I struggled with half of this version before resorting to the actual book that I already owned. There are two major problems:
1. The style of writing and the protagonist Marlow's delivery makes very frequent use of dashes (en or em rules). This Kindle edition uses double hyphens, viz --, with no spaces, as in 'There were cases of them down at the coast--cases--piled up--burst--split!', which makes reading awkward and detracts from the narrative style.
2. Carriage returns are used frequently in error and seemingly at random. It is possible to identify new paragraphs as they are correctly indented but, having a line finishing after the first word for example, implies the end of a paragraph. However, the non-indented start of the next line shows that the text was meant to be continuous. Checking several examples with the Penguin text edition shows that these frequent carriage returns are, indeed, in error.
This edition is not recommended for reading on the Kindle.
104 of 111 people found the following review helpful
By phil451
Format:Paperback
With this novella Joseph Conrad brutally rips away the barriers that men build to hide themselves and exposes the evil that lurks in all men's hearts, waiting for an opportunity to get out.kurtz sails away into the dark continent full of ambition to build a bright shining society where men will be Gods. The result is unspeakable evil. What actually happens the reader never knows. They are just invited to look at the battered result of Kurtz's ambition. Marlowe returns and visits the now dead Kurt's fiancee, but is unable to tell her the truth about her beloved and makes up some romantic tale to spare her feelings. Nowadays Conrad is vulnerable to accusations of racism as he uses Africa to represent the dark continent. As always the politically correct have completely missed the pooint. The evil was in Kurtz, as it is in all men, not in Africa. And Conrad was exposing the wickednesss of colonolism which he was vehemently against, which anyone could find out if they read his works closely. In fact he was not a racist but years ahead of his time.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The horror...
I have read "In the footsteps of Mr Kurtz" by Michella Wong and I have always been curious to find out how Mobutu was compared to that figure. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Ya Kil
4.0 out of 5 stars
a classic
This has been reviewed by many more qualified than I.
Having seen apocalypse now first it was interesting to recognise elements from the original.
Warning. Read more
Having seen apocalypse now first it was interesting to recognise elements from the original.
Warning. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Dr. Patrick M. Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Apocalypse Then
The genuine article, hard to read without referencing back to Apocalypse Now, but worth persevering with. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Trevor Stafford
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not the easiest of reads but a Classic
Requires some concentration, and I found myself having to reread some sections.
Not for you if you like to speed read. Read more
Not for you if you like to speed read. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Local
1.0 out of 5 stars
nonsense
more baffling than thd film.a nothing of read.if i hadnt seen the film i wouldnt have had a clue. avoid as it is a classic, classic nonsense
Published 1 month ago by Gregory Butler
4.0 out of 5 stars
DARK.
Great book. Read this long after seeing Apocalypse Now wanting to find out where the film came from. Very good.
Published 1 month ago by william simon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Its great to find that you can get most of the classics for free on the Kindle. I have been working my way through them. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Shane Stewart
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb piece of prose
i haven't finished the book yet, but Conrad's prose is as superb as everyone says. I'll update once I've finished
Published 1 month ago by ANTHONY K DOUGLAS
5.0 out of 5 stars
Came in minutes by Amazon
Although this is considered a classic, I struggled to read it, it rambled quite a lot. However, the characters were well described,
Published 1 month ago by Kate
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boring
Probably is a good book, but I only read 10 pages for AS Level English Literature and hated the subject.
Published 1 month ago by Niall Connell
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