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Fiction Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University

Notes
Unit 31: Joseph Conrad—Heart of Darkness

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
31.1 Joseph Conrad—Heart of Darkness: Introduction to the Author and to the Text

31.1.1 Introduction to the Author
31.1.2 Introduction to the Text
31.2 Joseph Conrad—Heart of Darkness: Detailed Study of the Text
31.3 Joseph Conrad—Heart of Darkness: Themes
31.4 Summary
31.5 Keywords

31.6 Review Questions
31.7 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• Know the Biography of Joseph Conrad

• Know the introduction to the work “Heart of Darkness”
• Explain the detailed study of the text
• Discuss the themes of “Heart of Darkness”.

Introduction

Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. Before its 1902 publication, it appeared
as a three-part series (1899) in Blackwood’s Magazine. It is widely regarded as a significant
work of English literature and part of the Western canon.
The story centres on Charles Marlow, who narrates most of the book. He is an Englishman
who takes a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a river-boat captain in
Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the dark side of Belgian colonization while exploring the
three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters: the darkness of the Congo
wilderness, the darkness of the Belgians’ cruel treatment of the natives, and the unfathomable
darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. Although Conrad
does not give the name of the river, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location
of the large and important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium’s King Leopold II.
In the story, Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver. However, his more pressing
assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization, in a cover-up. Kurtz has
a reputation throughout the region.

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