Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness

About the Book

Widely regarded as one of the greatest English novels, Heart of Darkness follows Charles Marlow on his journey down the Congo River and into the heart of Africa.

The book moves fluidly between poignant psychological introspection and insidious horror as Marlow moves through an alien landscape. It has been the subject of considerable analysis and criticism for its treatment of British imperialism, particular with regards to colonialism and racism. It was the basis of the Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, and Robert Duvall.

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Praise for Heart of Darkness

This small novel is written with intense clarity - sentence for sentence it is still more unsettling than many unpleasant books that have been written since—Anne Enright

Conrad's narrative arsenal is awesome... Conrad deals in profundities if he deals in anything, but it is just his ability to clip his own wings in midflight, to puncture his ponderously magnificent dirigibles, that make him such an impressive literary performerSunday Times

Still the debate rages: is Conrad's novella an incisive critique of colonialism, or does it reinforce the very racist values it claims to unmask? Either way, his shrouded account of Marlow's journey into the "god-forsaken wilderness" of the Congo demands to be read. At its core lies the enigmatic, awesome Kurtz, and civilisation itself. "And this also," said Marlow suddenly, "has been one of the dark places of the earth"—Guardian

Conrad broadened the descriptive range of the English language (his glowing and luxuriant delight in words, the haunting decor of the tropics, all that maritime terminology) more than any of his contemporaries—Independent
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About the Author

Joseph Conrad
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 Kraków, 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, Heart of Darkness, and continued to write until his death in 1924. More by Joseph Conrad
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About the Author

Caryl Phillips
Caryl Phillips was born in St. Kitts, West Indies, and brought up in England. He is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction. His novel Dancing in the Dark won the 2006 PEN/Beyond Margins Award, and an earlier novel, A Distant Shore, won the 2004 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. His other awards include the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and currently lives in New York. More by Caryl Phillips
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