Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
Book Read on 27 / 9 / 2006
Wow. I just finished “Heart of Darkness” (#67) by Joseph Conrad. Incredible. I think I have read it a few times, but this is certainly the first time that I have “gotten it”. Sailors are sitting on a ship moored in the river Thames and one of them says: “And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth.”
This begins a kind of ghost story.
Prima facie it appears to be a simple story. Guy 1 goes up an African river to get Guy 2. Guy 2 dies on the way down the river and Guy 1 takes Guy 2's stuff to his intended bride.
That's it really.
This story is stretched, without a lot of effort, into an epic.
It is about colonialism, the nature of existence and the decay of the world. Dust. It is about trying to “civilize” people and the barbarity (horror) of being.
I had a hard time reading the last 10 pages because it was causing me some kind of pain in my chest. It is a very intense book. This book deserves to be higher up the list.
Oh and back to the ghost story. Part of the reason it is a ghost story is that the narrator is haunted by Kurtz's prescence in his life for the rest of his. This book is now one of my favorites.
Reviewer: William Koplitz
5 out of 5