Heart Of Darkness
(Joseph Conrad)
Conrad?s Heart of Darkness follows the journey of a young Captain employed by the East India Trading Company to search for a predecessor ?lost? in The Congo. Captain Marlowe and his crew encounter many obstacles in their quest and are exposed to the inhumanities at the heart of Colonial occupation of Africa. When they eventually reach their target (Captain Kurtz) they discover a dying man who has been completely ?corrupted? by his experience in the Congo. They discover that Kurtz has elevated himself to a God-like position, ruling over a community of worshipping natives and living a life of brutality and excess. Kurtz appears almost as a cult-hero, feared and adored by his legion of followers. However despite his power Kurtz is traumatised by what he has seen and done in Africa, and his death-bed cry of ?the horror? is indicative of his final mental state.Conrad?s novel is short but contains an almost overwhelming density of language and imagery. It is a considerable achievement, particularly given the fact that Conrad wrote it in English, not his preferred Polish. Heart of darkness has remained a controversial work, and has endured much criticism from both European and African perspectives. To some, this work is derrogatory towards the people of Africa, as the natives are described in an almost animalistic fashion throughout much of the text. To others, the novel is a fierce attack on colonialism; those who take this view arguing that the ?dehumanisation? of the natives is a technique employed by Conrad to highlight the cruelty of the Europeans. Regardless of its racial context, the book provides an unnervingly detailed account of the mental journey encountered by Marlowe and his crew. It delves deep into the internal workings of the human mind and asks many moral and even theological questions of the reader. Heart of Darkness is a profound and challenging existentialist piece that continues to inspire students, authors, playwrights and film-makers to this day.
Resumos Relacionados
- Heart Of Darkness
- Heart Of Darkness (1902)
- Heart Of Darkness (1902)
- Heart Of Darkness
- Coeur D'obscurité
|
|
