Heart of Darkness

“The mind of man is capable of anything.”

Charles Marlow, an English seaman, narrates his journey
up the River Congo in search of an ivory trader named

Mr. Kurtz. As he sails into the heart of Africa, from the company’s outer station to the central and inner stations, he comes across scenes of brutality, torture, slavery and horror.
What happens when Marlow finally meets Kurtz?
A journey not only into the depths of the African jungles but also into the dark recesses of the human soul, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a critical exploration of the spine-chilling truths and hypocrisy of the European colonialism.
The novella has undergone several adaptations across radio, theatre, television and motion pictures. It continues to remain one of Conrad’s outstanding works.

About the Author

Born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in Berdychiv, Russian Empire, Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) was the only child of Ewa Bobrowska and the Polish poet Apollo Korzeniowski. In May 1862, when Conrad was four, they were exiled to Vologda in Northern Russia.
Conrad lost his mother in 1865 and was homeschooled by his father. Apollo introduced him to the works of William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo and Polish literature. After his death in May 1869, the eleven-year-old Conrad went to live with his uncle, Tadeusz Bobrowski.
Almayer’s Folly (1895) was Conrad’s first novel. In 1897, Joseph Conrad published his novella The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’. From 1898 to 1906, Conrad wrote for The Outlook, a weekly magazine.

Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness was first published in Blackwood’s Magazine in 1899 as a three-part serial story. Giving a critical insight into hypocrisy of European imperialism, it brings to light the absurdity of evil. It was published in book form in 1902 and has remained one of Conrad’s best works.

Among his other outstanding works are Lord Jim (1900); Nostromo (1904); The Secret Agent (1907); Under Western Eyes (1911); and Chance (1914).