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Heart of Darkness (1902)

by Joseph Conrad

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
19,095296146 (3.57)2 / 1070
Heart of Darkness is Joseph Conrad's disturbing novella recounted by the itinerant captain Marlow sent to find and bring home the shadowy and inscrutable Captain Kurtz. Marlow and his men follow a river deep into a jungle, the "Heart of Darkness" of Africa looking for Kurtz, an unhinged leader of an isolated trading station. This highly symbolic psychological drama was the founding myth for Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 movie Apocalypse Now.… (more)
▾LibraryThing Recommendations
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▾Member recommendations
  1. 201
    King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild (baobab, chrisharpe)
  2. 100
    The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (baobab, WSB7)
    WSB7: Both about "colonialisms" abuses in the Congo, among other themes.
  3. 81
    The Quiet American by Graham Greene (browner56)
    browner56: Powerful, suspenseful fictional accounts of the intended and unintended consequences of colonial rule
  4. 92
    Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (SanctiSpiritus)
  5. 61
    Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (gust)
  6. 51
    State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (DetailMuse)
    DetailMuse: Includes a quest for a Kurtz-like character.
  7. 30
    Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company by Multatuli (Trifolia)
    Trifolia: Both books focus on the ugly sides of colonialism.
  8. 20
    The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa (gust)
  9. 20
    Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa by Jason Stearns (Anonymous user)
  10. 20
    The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary (ursula)
  11. 20
    Exterminate All the Brutes by Sven Lindqvist (Polaris-)
  12. 20
    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (Sylak)
    Sylak: Delving the depths of human savagery and corruption.
  13. 20
    Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg (aulsmith)
    aulsmith: Silverberg was inspired by Conrad's story to write Downward to Earth and makes some interesting comments on the themes that Conrad explores.
  14. 20
    The Sea Wolf by Jack London (wvlibrarydude)
  15. 20
    The African Queen by C. S. Forester (Cecilturtle)
  16. 53
    Congo: The Epic History of a People by David Van Reybrouck (gust, Jozefus)
    Jozefus: Bekroond werk over de geschiedenis van Congo, dat door The Independent een "masterpiece" genoemd werd.
  17. 10
    Fly Away Peter by David Malouf (lucyknows)
    lucyknows: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad may be paired with Fly Away Peter by David Malouf as both authors show human nature to be hollow to the core.
  18. 10
    The Beach by Alex Garland (TomWaitsTables)
  19. 21
    The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard (amanda4242)
  20. 10
    Headhunter by Timothy Findley (chrisharpe)
    chrisharpe: "Headhunter" is a clever and well written fantasy on the theme of Kurtz.

(see all 28 recommendations)

▾Lists
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Africa (4)
1890s (13)
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▾Member reviews
English (261)  Spanish (8)  Catalan (6)  Italian (4)  German (3)  Swedish (3)  Dutch (2)  French (2)  Tagalog (1)  Danish (1)  Galician (1)  Finnish (1)  All languages (293)
date ▼ | votes
Showing 1-5 of 261 (next | show all)
Meh. ( )
  imlee | Jul 7, 2020 |
Meh. ( )
  leezeebee | Jul 6, 2020 |
I had a yucky feeling and a mistrust of my fellow man for weeks after reading it. This book did not make me a better person, I recommend avoiding it. ( )
  bread2u | Jul 1, 2020 |
Ugly little book
full of vile, ugly people
butchering for teeth. ( )
  Eggpants | Jun 25, 2020 |
Conrad is always hard going and always, always worth the effort in the end. ( )
1 vote Tara_Calaby | Jun 22, 2020 |
date ▼ | votes
Showing 1-5 of 261 (next | show all)
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▾Published reviews
▾Other authors

» Add other authors (271 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Conrad, Joseph—primary authorall editionsconfirmed
Branagh, KennethNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Butcher, TimIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kish, MattIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kivivuori, KristiinaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
O'Prey, PaulIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pirè, LucianaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vancells i Flotats, MontserratTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Watts, CedricEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Westerdijk, S.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Westerdijk, S.Afterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wilson, A. N.Forewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Zapatka, ManfredSprechersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
▾Series and work relationships

Is contained in

Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad
Great Short Works of Joseph Conrad by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness / Almayer's Folly / The Lagoon by Joseph Conrad
Youth / Heart of Darkness / Typhoon / The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad
Seven Great British Short Novels by Philip Rahv
Great Modern Short Stories by Grant Overton
(show 22 more)
Youth | Heart of Darkness | The End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness & Typhoon by Joseph Conrad
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2 {generic} by M. H. Abrams
Three Short Novels: Heart of Darkness, Youth, Typhoon by Joseph Conrad
The Norton Anthology of World Literature (Shorter Second Edition) (Vol. 2) by Sarah Lawall
The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume 2C: The Twentieth Century (2nd Edition) by David Damrosch
Heart of Darkness and The End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad
Modernism in Literature by Todd K. Bender
Tutti i racconti e i romanzi brevi by Joseph Conrad
Nine Short Novels by Richard M. Ludwig
Heart of Darkness & Selections from The Congo Diary by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness and Other Tales by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness and Other Stories (Great Authors) by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness: AND Youth by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness | An Outpost of Progress by Joseph Conrad
Three Great Works: Lord Jim; Heart of Darkness; Nostromo (Oxford Paperbacks) by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness; with The Congo Diary; and, Up-River Book by Joseph Conrad
The Oxford Library of Short Novels Volume II: Conan Doyle to Conrad by John Wain
The Oxford Library of Short Novels {complete} by John Wain (indirect)
Joseph Conrad: The Complete Novels [Nostromo, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, etc.] (Book House) by Joseph Conrad
Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

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▾Common Knowledge
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For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical title
Heart of Darkness
Original title
The Heart of Darkness
Alternative titles
Heart of Darkness
Original publication date
1899 (serialized in “'Blackwood’s Magazine”)
1902 (included in "Youth and Two Other Stories ∙ " William Blackwood & Sons ∙ Edinburgh and London)
1925 (Uniform Edition of collected works ∙ J. M. Dent & Sons ∙ Ltd. London)
People/Characters
Charles Marlow
Kurtz
The Accountant
The Manager
The Brickmaker
Important places
Belgian Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Africa
River Thames, England, UK
United Kingdom
Important events
Related movies
Heart of Darkness (1993 ∙ TV ∙ IMDb)
Apocalypse Now (1979 ∙ IMDb)
Awards and honors
Waterstones Books of the Century (1997, No 38)
BBC's Big Read (Best loved novel, 2003, No 158)
The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: The Board's List (067)
The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: The Reader's List (43)
Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (21)
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come to and wait for the turn of the tide.
Quotations
"The horror! The horror!"
"And this also," said Marlow suddenly, "has been one of the dark places of the earth."
"What you say is rather profound, and probably erroneous," he said, with a laugh.
I've seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire...these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed men - men, I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly.
And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Publisher series
Easton Press: The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written (32)
Everyman's Library New Series (174)
Penguin English Library (EL168)
Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century (1902)
Penguin Modern Classics (3566)
Original language
English
Canonical DDC/MDS
▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

▾Book descriptions
▾Library descriptions

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▾LibraryThing members' description
Book description
This is story of Marlow and his quest to find Mr Kurtz within the dense jungles of Africa. His journey challenges his values and life and reveals new sides of himself that only darkness could expose.
Haiku summary
King Leopold's fans
appreciate this tribute;
Mister Kurtz, he dead.
(thorold)
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Penguin Australia

4 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0143106589, 014356644X, 0241956803, 0141199784

Tantor Media

2 editions of this book were published by Tantor Media.

Editions: 1400100615, 1400108462

Urban Romantics

2 editions of this book were published by Urban Romantics.

Editions: 1909175978, 1909175986

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