Heart of Darkness
Book Description
It is believed that Joseph Conrad based Heart of Darkness on his experience, in 1895, as a steamboat captain in the Congo, central Africa, although he does not name the location in the book. Conrad opens the book by giving a precise location for some of his characters - on board a small sailboat called the Nellie, anchored in the Thames Estuary, on the outskirts of London. Incidentally, the auth...
MoreIt is believed that Joseph Conrad based Heart of Darkness on his experience, in 1895, as a steamboat captain in the Congo, central Africa, although he does not name the location in the book. Conrad opens the book by giving a precise location for some of his characters - on board a small sailboat called the Nellie, anchored in the Thames Estuary, on the outskirts of London. Incidentally, the author was known to have sailed on a British yawl called Nellie in real life. It was written during what could be considered the golden age of colonialism, when explorers, adventurers and entrepreneurs from Britain, France and other European countries would travel to the deepest, darkest corners of the world in search of their fortune, or whatever else they were searching for. The book is considered by many to be one of the most important works of fiction ever written. On one level it is a tale of seafarers and the world of mystery, wonder and adventure they live in. Except Conrad's own long and difficult career as a seafarer meant that he was able to describe the sailor's world in such an authentic way that you really feel that by the end of the book you feel like you were on that very voyage he was recounting, and you lived through those experiences he was describing. It could also be said to be a tale of European missionary activity in what was then referred to as the Dark Continent. Indeed, there is speculation that Conrad's book infuses the story of the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who set out to find David Livingstone, a medical missionary based in Africa, and considered a national hero in Britain in the late 19th century. Heart of Darkness has been made into a celebrated and award-winning Hollywood film called Apocalypse Now!, by the director Francis Ford Copolla, who changed the setting from Africa to Asia and depicted American military power instead of the European colonial power alluded to in the book. Also it is a tale of entrepreneurialism, centred on the African ivory trade. Most enduringly, however, Heart of Darkness is an exploration of the human psyche, and, specifically, its capacity for evil. In describing the characters in the book, the actions they take and the events they are caught up in, Conrad explores the nature of human relationships, specifically the relationship between European colonialists and the African people whose lands they colonised.
You must be a member of JacketFlap to add a video to this page. Please
Log In or
Register.
View Joseph Conrad's profile