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Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
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Heart of Darkness (1902)

by Joseph Conrad

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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17,752267149 (3.58)2 / 1051
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Recently added byrena75, aecath, libron, xiaomarlo, private library, oldie1730, Feseven78, euqubud, sandra.pinkerton83
Legacy LibrariesGillian Rose
▾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. 102
    Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (SanctiSpiritus)
  4. 81
    The Quiet American by Graham Greene (browner56)
    browner56: Powerful, suspenseful fictional accounts of the intended and unintended consequences of colonial rule
  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
    Exterminate All the Brutes by Sven Lindqvist (Polaris-)
  8. 30
    The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary (ursula)
  9. 30
    Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company by Multatuli (MGovers)
    MGovers: Both books focus on the ugly sides of colonialism.
  10. 20
    The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa (gust)
  11. 20
    Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa by Jason Stearns (Anonymous user)
  12. 20
    The African Queen by C. S. Forester (Cecilturtle)
  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. 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.
  16. 10
    Headhunter by Timothy Findley (chrisharpe)
    chrisharpe: "Headhunter" is a clever and well written fantasy on the theme of Kurtz.
  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. 21
    The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally (PilgrimJess)
    PilgrimJess: This book was influenced by Heart of Darkness and looks at the uncomfortable truths about bringing 'civilisation' to another country.
  19. 10
    The Beach by Alex Garland (TomWaitsTables)
  20. 21
    The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard (amanda4242)

(see all 28 recommendations)

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English (235)  Spanish (7)  Italian (5)  Catalan (5)  Swedish (3)  German (3)  Dutch (2)  French (2)  Tagalog (1)  Danish (1)  Finnish (1)  Galician (1)  All languages (266)
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Showing 1-5 of 235 (next | show all)
Strange and excellent. Conrad's use of the language is masterful. Full of incredible symbolism, and a very powerful anti-colonial screed. ( )
  xiaomarlo | Apr 17, 2019 |
One of the finest novels of the twentieth century, "Heart of Darkness" is a moody masterpiece following a man's journey down the Congo in search of a Captain Kurtz. I saw the loose film adaptation "Apocalypse Now" before reading "Heart of Darkness" and feared seeing "Apocalypse Now" would detrimentally affect my reading experience. I need not have worried as the two are different enough to ensure the Congo's Kurtz was still full of surprises. ( )
  MiaCulpa | Mar 10, 2019 |
This book so horrified me when I read it in high school that I blocked most of it out of my memory for many many years, and even now, the ideas contained in this book bring fear to my heart -that within each of us hides a monster just waiting to come out, if we let it... ( )
  ShiraDest | Mar 6, 2019 |
There are gems here but ones that require close attention. The writing and language are of another age so one has to work at it. The writing goes to the heart of issues of colonialism. ( )
  yhgail | Feb 20, 2019 |
Excelente y perturbadora. Conrad es capaz de narrar un viaje sin regreso. ( )
  maxtrek | Jan 30, 2019 |
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Showing 1-5 of 235 (next | show all)
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▾Published reviews
▾Other authors

» Add other authors (100 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Conrad, Joseph—primary authorall editionsconfirmed
Branagh, KennethNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Butcher, TimIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kish, MattIllustratorsecondary 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
Zapatka, ManfredSprechersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
▾Work-to-work relationships

Is contained in

Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad

Great Short Works of Joseph Conrad by Joseph Conrad (indirect)

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 20 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

Joseph Conrad: The Complete Novels [Nostromo, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, etc.] (Book House) by Joseph Conrad

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▾Common Knowledge
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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)

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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)
▾Book descriptions

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▾Library descriptions

Although Polish by birth, Joseph Conrad (1857?1924) is regarded as one of the greatest writers in English, and Heart of Darkness, first published in 1902, is considered by many his "most famous, finest, and most enigmatic story." ? Encyclopaedia Britannica. The tale concerns the journey of the narrator (Marlow) up the Congo River on behalf of a Belgian trading company. Far upriver, he encounters the mysterious Kurtz, an ivory trader who exercises an almost godlike sway over the inhabitants of the region. Both repelled and fascinated by the man, Marlow is brought face to face with the corruption and despair that Conrad saw at the heart of human existence. In its combination of narrative and symbolic power, masterly character study and acute psychological penetration, Heart of Darkness ranks as a landmark of modern fiction. It is a book no serious student of literature can afford to miss.… (more)

» see all 52 descriptions

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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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An edition of this book was published by Recorded Books.

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