Other editions of book Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State, in the heart of Africa, by the story's narrator Marlow. Marlow tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames, London, England. This setting provides the frame for Marlow's story of his obsession with the ivory trader Kurtz, which enables Conrad to create a parallel between London and Africa as places of darkness. Central to Conrad's work is the idea that there is little difference between so-called civilised people and those described as savages; Heart of Darkness raises important questions about imperialism and racism.

Prose that demands to be read aloud requires a special kind of narrator. For the Audible Signature Classics edition of Joseph Conrad's atmospheric masterpiece, Heart Of Darkness, we called upon four-time Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh.Branagh's performance is riveting because he reads as though he's telling a ghost story by a campfire, capturing the story's sense of claustrophobia, while hinting at the storyteller Marlow's own creeping madness. Heart Of Darkness follows Captain Marlow into the colonial Congo where he searches for a mysterious ivory trader, Kurtz, and discovers an evil that will haunt him forever.With this landmark work, Conrad is credited with bringing the novel into the twentieth century; we think Branagh brings it into the twenty-first.

Horror awaits Charlie Marlow, a seaman assigned by an ivory company to retrieve a cargo boat along with one of its employees, Mr. Kurtz, who is stranded deep in the heart of the Belgian Congo. Marlow's journey up the brooding dark river soon becomes a struggle to maintain his own sanity as he witnesses the brutalization of the natives by white traders and then discovers the enigmatic Mr. Kurtz. Kurtz, once a genius and the company's most successful representative, has become a savage; his compound is decorated by a row of human heads mounted on spears. It soon becomes clear that the demonic mastermind, liberated from the conventions of European culture, has traded his soul to become ruler of his own horrific dominion.Acclaimed to be one of the great, albeit disturbing, visionary works of western civilization, Joseph Conrad's haunting tale dramatizes the stark realities of Africa in the colonial period. Heart of Darkness reflects the physical and psychological tragedies that Conrad had experienced while working in the Belgian Congo in 1890. It is also the basis of Francis Ford Coppola's Academy Award–winning film Apocalypse Now.

When Charles Marlow accepts the captaincy of a steamship in the Congo, he witnesses the brutality with which the colonialists treat the African people. Setting off with a crew of cannibals, Marlow is tasked with transporting ivory downriver and rescuing a renowned ivory trader. On his journey Marlow encounters the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the Europeans' cruel treatment of the natives, and the darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. The Heart of Darkness was based on Joseph Conrad's experiences as a steamship captain in the Congo. Conrad interwove his observations of the darkness in mankind, man's potential for duplicity, and the struggle between good and evil in everyones soul. Widely regarded as a significant work of British literature, it was adapted by Orson Welles for the Mercury Theatre, and used as the basis for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.

"Heart of Darkness" is a small, but perhaps the most famous adventure story written by Joseph Conrad. The narrative is written on behalf of the sailor Marlowe, who tells the reader about his past adventures. In the African wilds, there is an illegally operating elephant bone mining company. While crossing the continent, Marlowe travels to one of its divisions. As he is getting closer to his destination, the main character hears more and more stories about some almighty Kurtz, an agent of the company, whom the locals mention with fear and hatred. What awaits Marlowe after meeting him?

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Heart Of Darkness. The story of the civilized, enlightened Mr. Kurtz who embarks on a harrowing "night journey" into the savage heart of Africa, only to find his dark and evil soul. The Secret Sharer. The saga of a young, inexperienced skipper forced to decide the fate of a fugitive sailor who killed a man in self-defense. As he faces his first moral test the skipper discovers a terrifying truth -- and comes face to face with the secret itself. Heart Of Darkness and The Secret Sharer draw on actual events and people that Conrad met or heard about during his many far-flung travels. In portraying men whose incredible journeys on land and at sea are also symbolic voyages into their own mysterious depths, these two masterful works give credence to Conrad's acclaim as a major psychological writer.

Heart of Darkness is considered one of the top 100 most well-written English novels of the 20th century, and as you begin reading through it, you will definitely have a clear glimpse as to why that is. Conrad uses this somewhat shorter, but no less insightful novel – when compared to many of his other works – to introduce readers to one of the central themes he engages in throughout his literary career: the fact that the “civilized” world and the world of the so-called savages of Africa is not all that different, the story forming a truly compelling parallel between the two. Heart of Darkness introduces Marlow, the narrator and main character of Conrad's story, who meets up with a few of his friends aboard Nellie, a boat anchored on the River Thames, in London. The story he recounts is mainly about Mr. Kurtz, a well-respected trading agent in charge of trading ivory brought from Africa. Kurtz's methods, far from being as respectable as his reputation, leave Marlow feeling contempt and even drawing the conclusion that Kurtz has “gone mad” as he hears of his plans in dealing with the African natives. From attacks on the steamboat, to beautiful native women and conflicts of opinion that may save or threaten the lives of many, the story has virtually everything readers can think of when envisioning a truly fulfilling and insightful novel. What's even more impressive, however, is Conrad's ability to animate his stories, events and characters into a well-orchestrated, believable plot that will keep you at the edge of your seat throughout the read, while joining the narrator in tackling the real life issues of racism, greed and imperialism. While Heart of Darkness is not necessarily among Conrad's longest or most comprehensive novels, it is certainly among the most insightful and overall best works that the Polish-British author had produced throughout his career, right alongside Nostromo, Lord Jim and The Secret Agent.