Rating: 
Summary: "The horror! The horror!"
Review: That's exactly what the first 50 pages are like. If you can get over the repetitive, redundant, and trite, albeit well-written prose that incessantly and needlessly describes to no end the Congo River and the ship, then the last 22 pages are worth the sacrifice. During the beginning, there is little or no character development. In fact, I was hoping someone or something would jump out of "the heart of darkness" and kill them all - they were unendearing and useless simpletons. Having said that, Conrad punches through the uqiquitous, lugubrious(a word he used entirely too much), morose, and morbid fog that permeates the heart of darkness on the Congo as well as the metaphorical heart of darkness residing in the inscrutable and mysterious Mr. Kurtz to provide a meaningful and strong finale. Worth the buck.
Rating: 
Summary: In every sense, a nightmare.
Review: There is one reason to read this book, and that is if you want to experience a waking nightmare.Conrad's book is the simple story of a man witnessing mad horror, writ large and scary. The prose itself is not worthwhile; much like a dream, it wages a losing battle with coherency, and ultimately is almost unreadable. However, as Marlow maundered on and on about The Darkness, The Gloom, and so on and so forth, Conrad somehow managed to instill a sense of mad, fearful anticipation me. There is no reason to be afraid, and every once in a while I would stop, blink, and realize the preceding text was stupid. However, reading each word, I couldn't *help* but agree with Marlow that something *felt* terribly wrong. The very idea of writing which can force a reader to experience subtle changes in disposition would be worth 3 and a half stars to me, but like so many nightmares, this book bubbles and builds, and finally never goes anywhere. I finished it about the same as I left it, with no real care to keep the memories, and continued on to other dreams.
Rating: 
Summary: bad book
Review: horrible horrible book too complicated very stange sense of literature
Rating: 
Summary: Inherited evil
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Something's Missing, But ...
Review: "The Horror, The Horror." With those words, Conrad summarizes the plunge into the moral abyss taken when a man with almost no societal restraints pursues self-aggrandizement and wealth. Conrad's prose is wrapped in steamy mist, fetid air, and bone-aching misery, enveloping the reader as he awaits the appearance of the mysterious Kurtz. As others have noted, Kurtz' arrival quickly becomes anti-climactic - perhaps because Conrad believed his lead-up held such moral weight that readers would simply graft it onto Kurtz; perhaps, because Conrad wanted to underscore the depravity of the man through understatement. If either was Conrad's thinking, the approach didn't work especially well for me. "The Horror, The Horror" - an almost Gothic form of storytelling - simply didn't tap into the life lessons Kurtz must have experienced, so we are forced to pump the practices of Colonialism (and, perhaps, Cannibalism) into Kurtz' character to discern them. At best, however, it's a guessing game. Much has been made of the fact that "Apocalypse Now" derives its story line and moral framework from Conrad's novel. Yet, it is another great work of cinema, "Citizen Kane", that demonstrates how an author can take his central figure's dying word ("Rosebud") and employ it as the springboard for a compelling exposition on a charismatic figure's fall from grace. Welles never left us hanging; Conrad does. Four stars for a (then-) courageous skewering of Colonialism, plus deft writing.
Rating:
Summary: Short but powerful
Review: I just had a few brief comments. Conrad is one of the few novelists, such as Melville, Tolstoy, Dostoevski, Stern and Swift, whose work really impresses me. Partly this is because of the power and depth of his prose and his themes, and partly because English wasn't even his native language--he even learned it as an adult on shipboard. Heart of Darkness is one of his shortest, although greatest works in this sense, and after having read it in high school, I recently reacquainted myself with it after 30 years. I was just as impressed as I was back then. Truly a great book by one of history's greatest authors.
Rating:
Summary: Follow the River to....
Review: The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad's is a tale of a journey to the very depths of the African jungle during the British colonial period. Four men sit aboard ship on the Thames waiting for the tide to go out and their journey to begin. While waiting, Marlow seated cross legged against the mizzenmast begins his tale his journey into the heart of darkness, "And this also has been one of the dark places on earth." As he continues his tale by saying that "The conquest of the earth...is not a pretty thing when you look at it too much. As a young man Marlow was intrigued by the dark spaces on maps representing the unexplored interiors of continents. With the help of an aunt he was assigned a ship to captain on the great river of Africa. While sailing along the African coast he felt drawn to the dark interior. Arriving at the station he meets the manager and learns from him of a manager up river named Kurtz who is able to extract amazing amounts of ivory from the heart of the continent. Marlow's task will be to repair his damaged ship and voyage up river to Kurtz's station. Conrad makes the excursion up river arduous. It is oppressive and difficult to reach the very core of the continent. The river is dark and gloomy, hanging with vines shrouded in fog. On the shores there are great dangers, with the boat representing a safe sanctuary in a dangerous and heathen existence. With Conrad's style the reader struggles up river with Marlow to get to Kurtz and the heart of the darkness. While traveling there, the reader is drawn to it and hypnotized. The journey to find the horror at the shadowed center of the soul is a difficult one indeed. Travel with Marlow to find if there is redemption to be found for those who chose to voyage there.
Rating:
Summary: Conrad's search for meaning
Review: This exactly and literally is what "Heart of Darkness" is all about, the search for meaning. We search for meaning as we read the story of Marlow who is searching for meaning in his search for Kurtz...who, guess what, has been involved in his own search for meaning. Much is, or should be, obvious here. Conrad is depicting the horror of colonization. Some readers got lost here and thought he was defending colonization, but careful reading proves the opposite. Racism is also crucified here, but some readers miss that. The big difficulty is the prolific use of the word "nigger" which had a significantly different connotation in the time that Conrad wrote than it does now. The connotation had changed drastically, and the reader should be aware of the difference between the 19th century English connotation and the 20th century American connotation. The writing is deeply textured. Conrad goes into exquisite detail and for those who flow into his description, the story becomes more absolutely real and intense. This book is rewarding to those who have the patience. It's a shame that it's required reading in high school. Most high schoolers haven't had the living experiences that would help them understand the point of the story.
Rating:
Summary: Appearance or reality?
Review: Joseph Conrad's novella, "Heart of Darkness," certainly includes some of the most complex symbolism of works written in the English language; despite its relative brevity, the story works on multiple levels and addresses countless themes. Yet no one seems to be able to agree on precisely what those themes are, nor whether or not Conrad was successful at conveying them.
Occasionally one will hear a reader comment, "I just didn't get it." True - and perfectly legitimate. Almost no one understands "Heart of Darkness" on the first read; but the advantage of its short length is that the reader can quite easily sit down and finish the book in about 3 hours of dedicated reading. Which means, the novella is much more accessible than one feels upon first read.
But even reading on one's own is insufficient for literature of this caliber; as with all great stories, "Heart of Darkness" is full of themes and ideas that are so broad in scope, that it is entirely necessary to discuss them with others who have read the work as well. Literature is not meant to lie on the page, inert, and Conrad's story is a prime example of this fact. It is only in discussion that one can truly delve into the mysteries of "Heart of Darkness."
The symbolism and color of this novella are elusive, true - but not incomprehensible. It is to the reader's benefit to purchase two copies of this story; one to remain unmarked, a clean copy, and one to write all over and highlight. (For this second copy, most readers will be delighted by the Norton Critical edition of the book, which not only includes the entire text, and cut lines from the manuscript, but hundreds of pages of essays and criticism which is most helpful.)
Though this book appears, on the surface, to be nearly insurmountable, discussion and multiple readings will reveal an immense artistry which is both haunting and beautiful; Conrad's themes are entirely relevant today as we go about our lives. A question to consider while reading the novella - if there were no consequences, if society did not exert restraint, then how would I act? What would I do differently? What would I become?
The reality might just be a bit dimmer than the reader had given pause to discover.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible and close to definitive
Review: I recommend for those readers that are interested in this Conrad work the Penguin library edition for reading of the story itself, and then this book for the information it contains. This Norton Critical Edition is astonishing in the wealth of its resource. Of course, for those who found Apocalypse Now an important film, this book also provides additional, extremely relevant and worthwhile information. I have noticed, that another reader has also recommended "Exterminate All the Brutes" which borrows its title from Conrad's story. I join in recommending that book as well. All of these combined do not add up to a final word on the subjects they open for discussion, but provide even broader vistas for further thought on the subjects. These materials as works of art deserve viewing in spite of "the horror".
|
