HEART OF DARKNESS
Joseph Conrad
Historical-Biographical
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Born 1857 in Polish Ukraine
English was his 3rd language
Died 1924
Father exiled to Siberia/mom dies/Joseph raised
by uncle in Krakow
• Became a seaman at 17 years of age
• Began writing in 1889 at 32 years old
• Boyhood dream of traveling to the Congo was
realized/provided outline for H of D
Moral-Philosophical
• Bridges Victorian values
• Rapid growth into cities/transition from rural
economy/abandonment of traditional rhythms of
rural life
• English superiority/age of certainty and national
pride
• Rapid change created pessimism for experience
with no meaning beyond itself
• Masses suffered greatly during this period of
growth
Africa in 1880
Africa 1885-1914
•Congo River is 2733
miles long
•Enormous
semicircle
•Dense forest
•World’s sixth longest
river
Things to Look For
• Adventure story-seafaring, river boating, trade and
exploration, imperialism and colonialism, finding
meaning to the mysteries of life
• Framed story told by am unseen narrator who describes
Charlie Marlow-still a sailor
• Imagery of light and dark
• Marlow is Conrad’s alter-ego
• Cultural irony
• Displacement of culture
• The horror or the human mind
• Appearance and reality
• Impossibility of innocence
• Moral Ambiguity
• Omens
Style
• Impressionist writer (impressionist painters—
Monet, Manet, Van Gogh and Renoir, et.al.)
– Intentionally ambiguous/reader has the responsibility
to determine meaning
– Action is described through the MC eyes while the
events are occurring
– Concerned with the “emotional landscape”—how the
landscape evokes emotional responses for characters
and readers
– Marlow reports what he sees
• Landscape is figurative
– Doesn’t push along the plot or explain things
Impressionists Painters
• They found many of their subjects in life
around them rather than in history, which
was then the accepted source of subject
matter. Instead of painting an ideal of
beauty that earlier artists had defined, the
impressionists tried to depict what they
saw at a given moment, capturing a fresh,
original vision that was hard for some
people to accept as beautiful.
Monet: Soliel Levant
Renoir: Girl with Watering Can
Achebe’s Thoughts on Conrad
• “Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing
racist”
• H of D is an “offensive and deplorable
book”
• It contributes to “the dehumanization of
Africa and Africans.”
The Journey
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Belgium
First station
Central station
Russian’s cabin
The gateposts
Is Man Good or Evil?
• In Kurtz, Marlow saw the inconceivable
mystery of a soul that knew no restraint,
no faith, and no fear. Why is this
dangerous? Why do people tend to fear a
person such as this?
• What does Joseph Conrad think?
What does the “Heart of Darkness”
mean to you?
• Two minute discourse with the person next
to you.