novels

Several people I am acquainted with have questioned my reading of "Heart of Darkness," using as argument the fact that they read it "in high school." Apparently, for these very well-read souls, if the book was in their high school reading list, then it should never be approached again. Well, both the poem of "El Cid" and the novel "Don Quijote" first revealed their wonders to me when I was in high school, and now that I have read them again (and "Don Quijote" complete this time), they have just proved to be timeless classics with something to tell a person of any age. "Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad, is a classic that, given its length, invites several readings, particularly if one goes beyond the "high school-depth" sadly evident in those acquaintances of mine. The different, dark, alien world of the Congo as barely seen through Marlow's eyes, juxtaposed with the author's subtle-but-powerful condemnation of a system that promotes exploitation of those seen as "inferior," is one of this novella's most important, and often missed, commentaries. Marlow is the English sailor who does not, and cannot, understand anything that is not English, from the nameless city across the Channel (Brussels, most probably), to the ghost-like figures that people his employer's offices, to the multi-coloured map that shows how Africa has been carved, to the multi-coloured Russian whose language Marlowe cannot recognize and believes is cypher, to the river itself, to the native inhabitants of the land he is invading. This trip up the Congo river that Marlow tells his shipmates about while on the Thames is a journey after a man's voice, his treasure of ivory, and his report on the natives. This man, Kurtz, is the one who will state "kill the brutes!" in his report, expressing the opinion of so many Europeans regarding most, and maybe all, non-European races.

"Heart of Darkness" can be read simply as an adventure, but there are several, better, adventure books that have better "hooks" and are, at the same time, more easily forgotten. This is an extraordinary short book by an extraordinary author. Do not deprive yourself of a magnificent, early 20th century masterpiece of literature, just because someone was not hooked by it, or because someone read it in high school and it just wouldn't do to read it again. The power of this book is not in its "easy" prose, because its prose is definitely not easy. It is not in an artificially complex prose, either. This second fault seems more the refuge of other writers, plenty of them modern ones, who have confused "good" with obscure, and "better" with unreadable. Conrad knows how to tell a story, and there is a method to this dark tale told by Marlow, a man much closer to Kurtz than he would like to admit. Since the reader is presented only with Marlow's account, the jump from the reader to Marlow to Kurtz and back to the reader is a troubling one. Here is Conrad's mastery. Read the book. If you have read it, try it again. It may surprise you what new revelations prowl its pages.

This 3rd Norton Critical edition is the best I have seen so far. The essays are all good, but Chinua Achebe's deserves special attention: the Nigerian author advocates not reading "Heart of Darkness" at all, a statement that, coming from a writer, is not just surprising, but deeply disturbing. I sincerely believe that this form of intentional ignorance, of voluntary censorship on the part of the reader, only serves to foment a generalized, public ignorance of the world around us.

Joseph Conrad was a naturalized Britist novelist of Polish descent. He took command of a steamship in Belgian Congo in 1890 and his experiences provided the backbone for "Heart of Darkness," resulting in an autobiographical component to the novel. The story is being told of Marlow who travels up the River Congo into the heart of the African Continent, at the height of European colonialism. Throughtout the perilous journey Marlow suffers a profound transformation on his outlook into human nature, plunging him into darkness. Being brought up as a middle-class European he holds pre-conceived views of the African continent and its inhabitants, describing the natives with condescension and contempt. Despite his prejudices he is not able to remain indifferent to the cruelty and horrors of colonization, the hypocrisy, the erosion of moral values, the brutality imposed by a "technically" advanced nation over a primitive one.
Marlow becomes obsessed by his goal to meet Kurtz, a mystical character who has become famous for his sucess in extracting an enormous amount of ivory, and who by the use of sheer brutality has gained respect and is revered as a god amongst the natives. Deep inside Marlow holds the hope that Kurtz will be able to give him a logical, morally accepted justification for the horrors he has seen. When the meeting does take place, Marlow finds Kurtz has become a savage himself, has lost ties to any respectable western moral standard, has plunged himself into insanity and "horor, horror!"
The prose is powerful, elaborate, exuberant and realistic, immersing the reader into a tropical atmosphere, with humidity, dampness, fog, heat, mystery and bewilderment. There is a ample use of symbolism conveying abstract and philosophical concepts. "Heart of Darkness" represents a bleak outlook of reality, much as most of Joseph Conrad's novels; at its most abstract level it represents the inability of human beings to understand the world beyond the self, of how civilization masks the inherited evil in human kind, of alienation and confusion. From a pragmatic point of view it fails to the extent that Marlow's position is ambiguous, he is eyewitness to horror but remains passive, unwilling to change the course of events, a fatalistic stand.
Undoubtedly, "Apocalypse Now" drew plot elements from "Heart of Darkeness," and so did Alvaro Mutis in his novel "La Nieve del Almirante." Good suggestions to complement the scope of "Heart of Darkeness" are "King's Leopold Ghost" by Adam Hochschild, and "The Poisonwood Bible," by Barbara Kingsolver.

This time is my third go at reading Heart of Darkness. The first and second time I was under the pressure of time and grades for high school and later college. As the book is short in length, both teachers only gave one or two days to read the book. At least for me, it's a dense book. The further into the story I get, the harder it is to read. It's as if the writing style mimics the growing darkness of the hinterland as Marlow gets closer to finding Kurtz. Kurtz, now, is, in my humble opinion, a let down. All through the book he's played up as this superhuman man who knows the wilds of Africa better than any one and is of such a character that he has devotees! Yet when he is finally found, he is but a husk of a man, insane from illness and is only in the story in person for a couple of pages. Even after Marlow has met him face to face, he continues to sing the man's praises! Somehow in that brief and uninspiring meeting Marlow is converted?