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Heart of Darkness (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

by Joseph Conrad (Author) "The Nellie,1 a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest ..." (more)

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Product details

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Penguin Classics (2 Aug 2007)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0141441674
ISBN-13: 978-0141441672
Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12 x 1.4 cm

Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 14,609 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories:
#2 in Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Conrad, Joseph
#10 in Books > Fiction > World > African
#49 in Books > Fiction > World > American > Classics

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Product Description

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. First appearing as a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899, it was soon after published as a novella, in 1902 in the volume Youth: A Narrative; and Two Other Stories.

About the Author

Joseph Conrad was born in the Ukraine in 1857 and grew up under Tsarist autocracy. In 1874 Conrad travelled to Marseilles, where he served in French merchant vessels before joining a British ship in 1878 as an apprentice. In 1886 he obtained British nationality. Eight years later he left the sea to devote himself to writing, publishing his first novel, Almayer's Folly, in 1895. The following year he settled in Kent, where he produced within fifteen years such modern classics as Youth, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes. He continued to write until his death in 1924.

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The Nellie,1 a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

Average Customer Review

3.3 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dense and difficult, ultimately rewarding., 25 Jul 2006

By	Bruno - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heart Of Darkness : (Paperback)

I'm sure many readers will, like me, find this a difficult read, the prose almost as dense and impenetrable as the jungle that Marlowe travels down in order to find his truth. Still, having only read it through once, I did get enough out of it to believe that further study will reveal some profound light in the heart of darkness. At only 100 odd pages, it does seem to have been designed by the author to be returned to again and again, small enough to swallow, but needing longer to fully digest.

Some passages are genuinely quite unnerving, with a sense successfully conveyed of a man who has cut away the veneer of civilisation, looked into the soul of humanity, and seen something truly disturbing. In short, this book is about nihilism, about the flimsy and shifting world of language that alone seperates humanity from the other animals (but only in a delusory sense). The power of Kurtz is almost wholly cast by his words, a potency maintained even whilst barely existing as a decaying, dying body. The story juxtaposes the power of language, through the dense tale spun by Marlowe of the mythical but ultimately physically insubstantial Kurtz, with the raw natural savagery of the African jungle and its muscular and visceral inhabitants. Language is what seperates the human from the animal, but in the heart of darkness, language, and through it civilisation, is revealed to be a false god created ultimately to serve animal passions.

Moreover, the novel contains the message that when man tries to shed his 'civilising' light on those judged to be savages, he merely succeeds in laying bare the moral emptiness of his own soul. Something to think about and to fruitfully connect with the war in Iraq, just as others did with Vietnam.

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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Genuine Classic., 21 May 2003

By	Matt (MIDDLEWICH, CHESHIRE United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heart Of Darkness : (Paperback)

Right from the opening paragraph it is obvious that this book is going to be special. Conrad's Russian background gives his use of language a robust economical style, and he often conjures powerful vivid images in two or three words. The world around the character, in particular the jungle, seems to be more than just a backdrop. People enter the jungle and are swallowed up as if it is a living malignant force, but as you progress you realise that it is the Europeans who are the real source of darkness. Conrad's style of writing has real impact on the surface, but it is only when you delve deeper than the surface that you realise what Conrad is really writing about. I would go as far as saying that this is a must read for anyone interested in literature. Few writers ever attain such skill with the English language and it was not even Conrad's first language.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the greatest masterpieces of literature, 6 April 2008

By	G Pelloni "gpelloni" (Cottingham, East Yorkshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

an illuminating, profound, tragic trip at the heart of human nature. it is a book to be read and pondered. it is not easy reading (though it can grip your attention from beginning to end and you can read it a single afternoon) but it is highly rewarding reading.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Heart of Darkness
`Heart of darkness' is probably Joseph Conrad's most well know novel and it makes for short but powerful reading. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Spider Monkey

1.0 out of 5 stars The Heart of Confusion
What is it with me and classics? I am beginning to get a little bit distressed by this now. Apart from Brideshead Revisited none of the ones I have tried this year have set my... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Simon Savidge "savidgeread...

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable!
I find it absolutely unbelievable that anyone could regard this novel as "dull"! And if novels shouldn't be depressing... Read more

Published 14 months ago by G. P. Akerman

2.0 out of 5 stars Hard Going
I decided to read this book after reading the End of The Affair which I love especially the internal struggles of the main characters and from what I could remember of the film I... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Trickle Tree

1.0 out of 5 stars An unpleasant read
I found this a rather disappointing read, especially after all the favourable reviews and publicity surrounding the book. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Mr. Ayodeji Odelusi

1.0 out of 5 stars Dull and undeserving of its high reputation
I found this very dull all through and, despite its high literary reputation, it did not evoke any chords in me. Read more

Published 20 months ago by John Hopper

1.0 out of 5 stars 'The Emperor's New Clothes', no less...
Arriving at this page, inspired, enthused by Coppola's cinematic masterpiece 'Apocalypse Now'? Or maybe from the documentary 'Hearts of Darkness - A Filmmaker's Apocalypse'? Read more

Published 21 months ago by Andrew W

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Heart
I first read Heart of Darkness in my teens. Thirty years on, it has chilled to the bone, again.

Published 23 months ago by Denis Ponsonby

3.0 out of 5 stars An uphill struggle
I'd wanted to read this book for years but only got around to it this year. I confess, I wanted to do so more as a fan of 'Apocalypse Now' than as a literary buff. Read more

Published on 4 Sep 2007 by Dr. S. T. Walker

3.0 out of 5 stars The Engine Of Life Basks In The Recesses Of Inverted Light
Conrad's Heart Of Darkness is not an easy read. The text is dense and ornamental - suffering from frequent procrastination - but the substance and subject matter compelled me to... Read more

Published on 29 Jan 2007 by S. Lewis

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