Compelling, exotic, and suspenseful, Heart of Darkness is far more than just an adventure story. The novel explores deep into the dark regions of the hearts and souls of its characters and into the conflicts prevalent in more "primitive" cultures. It is also a striking picture of the moral deterioration that can result from prolonged isolation.
Marlow, the story's narrator, tells his friends of an experience in the British Congo where he once ran a river steamer for a trading company. He tells of the ivory traders' cruel exploitation of the natives there. Chief among these is a greedy and treacherous European named Kurtz, who has used savagery to obtain semi-divine power over the natives. While Marlow tries to get Kurtz back down the river, Kurtz tries to justify his actions, asserting that he has seen into the very heart of things.
Joseph Conrad (Józef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski) (1857-1924) was born in the Ukraine. He was raised by an uncle after his parents, ardent Polish patriots, died following their exile for anti-Russian activities. As a boy he educated himself by reading widely in Polish and French. At 21 he began serving on French merchant vessels, and for twenty years, he sailed the seven seas. He went to London for a rest and began writing. The romance and adventure of Conrad's own life form the basis for his incomparable sea novels. Today Conrad is generally regarded as one of the greatest writers of fiction in English, his third language. He once described his task as “by the power of the written word . . . to make you see.”
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