Joseph Conrad ’s 1899 novella about venturing into the moral depths of compound Africa is among the most frequently analyzed literary works in college curriculum .
1. ENGLISH WAS THE AUTHOR’STHIRDLANGUAGE.
It ’s impressive enough that Conrad drop a line a book that has outride relevant for more than a one C . This achievement seems all the more impressive when considering that he wrote it in English , his third language . Born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in 1857 , Conrad was a aboriginal Polish verbaliser . French was his 2nd language . He did n’t even know any English — the nomenclature of his literary composition — until geezerhood 21 .
2.HEART OF DARKNESSBEGINS AND ENDS IN THE UK.
Though it recount Marlow ’s voyage through Belgian Congo in search of Kurtz and is forever linked to the African continent , Conrad ’s novella begins and ends in England . At the story ’s conclusion , the “ tranquil watercourse ” that “ seemed to run into the heart of an immense dark ” is none other than the River Thames .
3. THE PROTAGONIST MARLOWISCONRAD.
The well - traveled Marlow — who appears in other Conrad work , such asLord Jim — is based on his equally well - traveled creator . In 1890 , 32 - year - old Conrad sail the Congo River while serve as second - in - bidding on a Belgian trading fellowship steamboat . As a vocation mariner , Conrad explored not only the African continent but also hazard to places rank from Australia to India to South America .
4. LIKE KURTZ AND MARLOW, CONRAD GOT SICK ON HIS VOYAGE.
sickness claimed Kurtz , an ivory monger who has operate cryptically insane . It about claimed Marlow . And these two characters almost never exist , owing to their creator ’s health problem . Conrad issue forth down with dysentery and malaria in Belgian Congo , and afterwards had to recuperate in the German Hospital , London , before head to Geneva , Switzerland , to undergo hydropathy . Though he exist , Conradsufferedfrom poor wellness for many years afterwards .
5. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY ALLEGED KURTZES IN REAL LIFE.
The identicalness of the person on whom Conrad based the story ’s antagonist has wind up many a supposition . Among those evoke as the tangible Kurtz let in a Gallic factor who died on card Conrad ’s steamer , a Belgian colonial officeholder , and Welsh explorerHenry Morton Stanley .
6. COLONIZING WAS ALL THE RAGE WHENHEART OF DARKNESSAPPEARED.
Imperialism — now viewed as mistaken , tyrannous , and pitiless — was much in trend when Conrad ’s novella hit shelf . The " Scramble for Africa " had learn European powers stake their title on the bulk of the continent . Britain ’s Queen Victoria was even portray as the dependency ' " great whitened female parent . " AndwritinginThe New Reviewin 1897 , venturer Charles de Thierry ( who try and fail to set up his own settlement in New Zealand ) echoed the imperialistic ebullience of many with his declaration : “ Since the wise humans saw the wizard in the East , Christianity has found no nobler aspect . ”
7. CHINUA ACHEBE WAS NOT A FAN OF THE BOOK.
Even though Conrad was no champion of colonialism , Chinua Achebe — the Nigerien writer ofThings fall down Apartandother novel — delivered a 1975 lecture called “ An Image of Africa : Racism in Conrad’sHeart of Darkness ” that described Conrad as a “ arrant racialist ” and his ubiquitous unretentive classic as “ an noisome and miserable book . ” However , even Achebe credit Conrad for having “ condemned the evil of imperial development . ” And others have recognizedHeart of Darknessas an indictment of the inequity and barbarity of the colonial system .
8. THE BOOK WASN’T SUCH A BIG DEAL—AT FIRST.
In 1902 , three years after its initial serialization in a magazine , Heart of Darknessappeared in a volume with two other Conrad account . It received the least notice of the three . In fact , not even Conrad himself considered it a major work . And during his life , the story “ receivedno limited attention either from readers or from Conrad himself , ” spell Gene M. Moore in theintroductiontoJoseph Conrad’sHeart of Darkness : A Casebook . ButHeart of Darknessmanaged to ascend to huge extrusion in the 1950s , after the satellite had find “ the horror”—Kurtz ’s last words in the book — of WWII and the ramification of influential men who so thoroughly indulged their basest inherent aptitude .
9. T.S. ELIOT BORROWED AN IMPORTANT LINE.
ThoughHeart of Darknesswasn’t an quick sensation , it evidently was on the microwave radar of some in the literary community . The famous line announcing the opponent ’s demise , “ Mistah Kurtz — he stagnant , ” serves as the epigraph to the 1925 T.S. Eliot verse form “ The Hollow Men . ”
10. THE STORY INSPIREDAPOCALYPSE NOW.
Eighty class after Conrad ’s novella debuted , the Francis Ford Coppola filmApocalypse Nowhit the big screen . Though to a great extent influenced byHeart of Darkness , the movie ’s circumstance is not Belgian Congo , but the Vietnam War . And though the antagonist ( played by Marlon Brando ) is name Kurtz , this particular Kurtz is no off-white trader , but a U.S. military officer who has become mentally unhinged .
11.HEART OF DARKNESSHAS BEEN MADE INTO AN OPERA.
Tarik O’Regan’sHeart of Darkness , an opera house in one act , opened in 2011 . Premiering at London ’s Royal Opera House , it was reportedly the first operatic adjustment of Conrad ’s account and hard inspire byApocalypse Now .
12. THE BOOK ALSO SPARKED A VIDEO GAME.
In a development not even Conrad ’s imagination could have produced , his classic instigate a television game , Spec Ops : The line of business , which was free in 2012 .
