Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness, a novel by Joseph Conrad, was originally a three-part series in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine in 1899, and examines the horrors of Western colonialism. It is a story within a story, following a character named Charlie Marlow, who recounts his early life as a ferry boat captain to a group of men onboard an anchored ship. Although his job was to transport ivory downriver, Charlie develops an interest in investing an ivory procurement agent, Kurtz, who is employed by the government. Preceded by his reputation as a brilliant emissary of progress, Kurtz has now established himself as a god among the natives in “one of the darkest places on earth.” Although garnering an initially lacklustre reception, Conrad’s semiautobiographical tale has gone on to become one of the most widely analyzed works of English literature. Critics have not always treated Heart of Darkness favourably, rebuking its dehumanizing representation of colonized peoples and its dismissive treatment of women. Nonetheless, Heart of Darkness has endured, and today it stands as a Modernist masterpiece directly engaged with postcolonial realities.