Synopses & Reviews
A masterpiece of twentieth-century writing,
Heart of Darkness exposes the tenuous fabric that holds "civilization" together and the brutal horror at the center of European colonialism. Conrad's crowning achievement recounts Marlow's physical and psychological journey deep into the heart of the Belgian Congo in search of the mysterious trader Kurtz.
@JungleFever Heading down to Africa on a boat. Too hot! I get the creeping sense this job isn’t going to be as cushy as they made it sound.
The natives seem unhappy. Some are even violent! Why don’t they appreciate how much we’ve done for them? Ungrateful welfare leeches, I say!
From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less
Review
"This is the best one-volume selection of Conrad available. Michael Gorra's learned and acute introduction puts both Conrad, and Conrad criticism, in essential context."
-James Wood
Synopsis
Joseph Conrad's enduring portrait of the ugliness of colonialism in a deluxe edition with a gripping cover by
Hellboy artist Mike Mignola.
Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read Heart of Darkness is the thrilling tale of Marlow, a seaman and wanderer recounting his physical and psychological journey in search of the infamous ivory trader Kurtz. Traveling upriver into the heart of the African continent, he gradually becomes obsessed by this enigmatic, wraith-like figure. Marlow's discovery of how Kurtz has gained his position of power over the local people involves him in a radical questioning, not only of his own nature and values, but of those that underpin Western civilization itself.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Synopsis
'The mind of man is capable of anything - because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, rage - who can tell? - but truth - truth stripped of its cloak of time. Let the fool gape and shudder - the man knows, and can look on without a wink'
Marlow, a seaman, tells of a journey up the Congo. His goal is the troubled European and ivory trader Kurtz. Worshipped and feared by invaders as well as natives, Kurtz has become a godlike figure, his presence pervading the jungle like a thick, obscuring mist. As his boat labours further upstream, closer and closer to Kurtz's extraordinary and terrible domain, so Marlow finds his faith in himself and civilization crumbling. Conrad's Heart of Darkness has been considered the most important indictment of the evils of imperialism written to date.
Synopsis
A great novelist of the sea, a poet of the tropics, a critic of empire and analyst of globalization, a harbinger of the modern spy novel, an unparalleled observer of the moments in which people are stripped of their illusions-Joseph Conrad is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. This revised edition of
The Portable Conrad features the best known and most enduring of Conrad's works, including
The Secret Agent, Heart of Darkness, and
The Nigger of the "Narcissus," as well as shorter tales like
"Amy Forster" and
"The Secret Sharer," a selection of letters, and his observations on the sinking of the Titanic.
Synopsis
Penguin inaugurates a series of revised editions of Conrad's finest works, with new introductions In a corrupt London underworld of criminals, terrorists, and fanatics, Mr. Verloc is assigned to plant a bomb. The tragic repercussions for his family show how Conrad's ironic voice is concerned not with politics but with the terrible fates of ordinary people.
Synopsis
Joseph Conrad's enduring portrait of the ugliness of colonialism in a deluxe edition with a gripping cover by Hellboy artist Mike Mignola
Heart of Darkness is the thrilling tale of Marlow, a seaman and wanderer recounting his physical and psychological journey in search of the infamous ivory trader Kurtz. Traveling upriver into the heart of the African continent, he gradually becomes obsessed by this enigmatic, wraith-like figure. Marlow's discovery of how Kurtz has gained his position of power over the local people involves him in a radical questioning, not only of his own nature and values, but of those that underpin Western civilization itself.
Synopsis
Penguin inaugurates a series of revised editions of Conrad's finest works, with new introductions Conrad's great novel of guilt and redemption follows the first mate on board the Patna, a raw youth with dreams of heroism who, in an act of cowardice, abandons his ship. His unbearable guilt and its consequences are shaped by Conrad into a narrative of immeasurable richness.
Synopsis
A masterpiece of twentieth-century writing,
Heart of Darkness exposes the tenuous fabric that holds "civilization" together and the brutal horror at the center of European colonialism. Conrad's crowning achievement recounts Marlow's physical and psychological journey deep into the heart of the Belgian Congo in search of the mysterious trader Kurtz.
About the Author
Joseph Conrad (originally Józef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski) was born in the Ukraine in 1857 and grew up under Tsarist autocracy. His parents, ardent Polish patriots, died when he was a child, following their exile for anti-Russian activities, and he came under the protection of his tradition-conscious uncle, Thaddeus Bobrowski, who watched over him for the next twenty-five years. In 1874 Bobrowski conceded to his nephew's passionate desire to go to sea, and Conrad travelled to Marseilles, where he served in French merchant vessels before joining a British ship in 1878 as an apprentice. In 1886 he obtained British nationality and his Master's certificate in the British Merchant Service. Eight years later he left the sea to devote himself to writing, publishing his first novel, Almayer's Folly, in 1895. The following year he married Jessie George and eventually settled in Kent, where he produced within fifteen years such modern classics as Youth, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes. He continued to write until his death in 1924. Today Conrad is generally regarded as one of the greatest writers of fiction in Englishhis third language. He once described himself as being concerned 'with the ideal value of things, events and people'; in the Preface to The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' he defined his task as 'by the power of the written word ... before all, to make you see'.
Michael Gorra is a professor of English at Smith College. His books include The Bells in Their Silence: Travels Through Germany and After Empire: Scott, Naipaul, Rushdie.
Table of Contents
The Portable Conrad Acknowledgments
Introduction by Michael Gorra
Joseph Conrad: A Chronology
I. A Calm and a Storm
The Secret Sharer: An Episode from the Coast
Preface to The Nigger of the "Narcissus"
The Nigger of the "Narcissus": A Tale of the Sea
II. Three Stories
Karain: A Memory
Amy Foster
The Warrior's Soul
III. Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness
IV. The Secret Agent
Author's Note
The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale
V. Essays, Autobiography, and Letters
Autocracy and War
Some Reflections on the Loss of the Titanic
FROM The Mirror of the Sea, "Initiation"
FROM A Personal Record
Letters
To Marguerite Poradowska, 26 September 1890
To Carol Zagorski, 10 March 1896
To R. B. Cunninghame Graham, 20 December 1897
To Edward Garnett, 29 March 1898
To John Galsworthy, 12 March 1899
To R. B. Cunninghame Graham, 14 October 1899
To William Blackwood, 31 May 1902
To Roger Casement, 21 December 1903
To William Rothenstein, 3 September 1904
To J. B. Pinker, 30 July 1907
To J. B. Pinker, 16? July 1908
To Edward Garnett, 27 May 1912
To John Quinn, January 1917
To John Quinn, 6 February 1918
To Hugh Walpole, 10 February 1922
To C. K. Scott Moncrieff, 17 December 1922
Suggestions for Further Reading