Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Norton Critical Edition (4th ed). First pub. 1899, 506p.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
It’s taken me a long time to actually rea Heart of Darkness. I was supposed to read it in first year of university, but I skipped it and wrote my assignments on the other novels in the course. I now regret that decision, because Heart of Darkness is a great short novel that would probably have helped me out in my history degree as well as my English studies.
It is interesting to read Heart of Darkness as a text in light of colonisation and post-colonisation. You really get a glimpse into how people were thinking about the ‘exploration’ of ‘new worlds’. Be prepared for lots of mentions of ‘savages’, and archaic language that is now interpreted as offensive, but was accepted vocabulary at the time. It is interesting that at the end of the story, the white people come off as much worse characters than any of the ‘savages’ featured in the story.
I was expecting an adventure text from Heart of Darkness and instead I ended up receiving something more along the lines of a supernatural ghost story. This actually disappointed me – I love action and adventure. However, I think that it makes Heart of Darkness more accessible for many of today’s readers because we’re exposed to supernatural content in books all the time. I wonder what people of the time took from the supernatural element of the narrative.
Heart of Darkness was not my first Joseph Conrad, in fact I read and reviewed The Secret Agent last year for the Classics Club (link to review). I enjoyed the plot of The Secret Agent, and I would say that overall I enjoyed The Secret Agent more than I enjoyed Heart of Darkness. The writing style in The Secret Agent is different, not as descriptive or as full of allegory. The language in Heart of Darkness is certainly more lyrical and beautiful than The Secret Agent but to me, the language makes it harder to get at the story. I enjoyed reading passages of Heart of Darkness out loud, the language is beautiful – if you like accomplished writing, then Heart of Darkness is for you, if you like plot driven and simple prose, maybe try The Secret Agent first, like I did.
I will be picking up more of Conrad’s works, I did enjoy Heart of Darkness, and I’ve heard that Under Western Eyes is related to The Secret Agent, and responsive to Crime and Punishment, which sounds interesting.
Ranty Runt of a Reader 
That’s interesting to hear! I studied an African history unit this semester at uni and the lecturer mentioned this book a couple of times which has got me thinking about it again. I haven’t read it yet but I feel like it’s something that I should – from what you’ve said I actually think it’s a story I would enjoy! Great review!
You should definitely read it!
Heart of Darkness is on my own Classics Club list, so I’m glad to hear you think it’s a good one. I did try to listen to it as an audiobook once, but somehow the format didn’t work well for it – I never really got to grips with the story properly. I’m hoping it will work better on paper…
Yeah, I don’t think heart of darkness would lend itself to an audio format, but the language is beautiful!
In high school we had to read Heart of Darkness and watch Apocalypse Now (which is a Vietnam-based version). I was not into it and I don’t think I even finished the book. Now I would really like to try again as I think I would be able to appreciate Conrad’s artistry a bit more rather than just being repelled by his subject matter.