Discussion of Heart of Darkness
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Re: Discussion of Heart of Darkness
- Amyh_03
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I may have missed something, but from what I could tell most of this book was just the random ramblings of a racist who was traveling down a river and obsessing over some guy he's never met. I get that there is subtext about the attitudes of europeans towards black people at that time, but Marlow at no point sees the error in this. Although at points Marlow seems to be heading for some sort of realisation this is just Conrad dangling the carrot that we might get something worth wile out of this book before rudely snatching it from us. After I realised the whole racism thing was going nowhere I started to anticipate something deep and meaningful happening when Marlow and Kurtz finally met, but as it turns out thats as much of a non-event as the other 3/4 of the book.
I enjoyed the backdrop and the language (except for this bits where its glaringly obvious Conrad didn't learn the language until he was in his 20's) but as far as I could tell plot and story telling are non-existent in this book. All in all I found The Heart of Darkness to be one of the more overrated books I've read and a little bit of a was of a week
- creatseolink
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- jessicaj62593
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- AmericanBlotter
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- Fran
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And how susceptible humans are to being seduced by the exotic.AmericanBlotter wrote:The book is a play on how close for man the line is for good and evil. Sort of like they say the only difference between a cop and a crook is the badge. To me it would be a better short story it gets a little boring.
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- My Home by Clive James
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- Nathrad Sheare
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Anyway, loved the book. I got an edition containing a few of Conrad's short stories, which were also rather unnerving, wonderful. Joseph Conrad is one of my favorites and one of the best English authors I've ever read. I also liked his novel, Lord Jim. Anyone here read it? I, personally, liked the novella we're now discussing a little better, and so do the critics, with whom I agree when they call it a masterpiece, but the other is his most famous work. Try it out!
-Edgar Allan Poe
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- AMP76
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Psychological. If I had to summarize Heart of Darkness in one word, psychological. The main character, Marlow, narrated by another guy, is basically given free reign to explore his very own evil nature in the Congo. Without consequences. “The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary, men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” Channeling Faust, Marlow bargained his soul to witness what mortals should never see.
Which leads one to ask, who is the narrator and what exactly did he see? Is this entire story just a yarn told to pass the time while sailing? Or is the narrator implicit to the fall of Marlow’s soul? Is the narrator Marlow’s other self? I don’t think so. I think the narrator is an impassive observer, chronicling events and the downfall of a particular man. But it does lead one to wonder, what did the narrator think? Why has he chosen to retell the tale? Perhaps it is my own failing as a reader to have these questions. I understand that Heart of Darkness is considered a classic and perhaps I am just not getting it. At the same time, in my defense, I thought there was a lot of missing information in chronological events and important conversations and that Conrad made assumptions to his readers knowledge or else left quite a lot up to the imagination of the reader. I haven’t read anything else by Conrad, so I have nothing to compare it to. I am not saying this was a bad book, I am just not entirely certain that I enjoyed it. I enjoy the psychological Faust theme, but the lacking information and Conrad’s style left me vaguely confused. And what was additionally confusing to me was that my husband informed me Apocalypse Now (movie) was based on this book, and I am just not making the connection there at all.
- Nathrad Sheare
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I loved this novella. I haven't seen Apocalypse Now! and I probably won't. I've never had much of an interest in movies like that... But I think Conrad's prose is just great. He gives us a lot of detail and lets us see into man's deepest parts, the ones people didn't talk much about at the time the book was written. Fascinating stuff, I think. For good reason, I believe, he was offered knighthood in England after the publication of his novel, Lord Jim, though he turned it down.
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- AMP76
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Even though it is a small read, it engages the reader in dealing with complexities narrated by Marlow. Marlow is a conscious disguise as well as synonymous to Conrad who has ventured into the 'Heart of Darkness' before submitting as a writer about it
The most interesting and ambiguous part of the book is its metaphorical title.
I believe its the colonialists who have gone on missions to civilize the "savage" people are those who have hearts of darkness. They are alone in an unknown land, among people whose culture differs vastly from theirs and in order to conquer their loneliness the colonizers end up becoming the barbaric savages they had gone to civilize.