Heart of Darkness'I asked myself what I was doing there, with a sensation of panic in my heart as though I had blundered into a place of cruel and absurd mysteries not fit for a human being to behold'. Charles Marlow's dark intuition here arrives at the culmination of his physical and psychological quest in search of the infamous ivory-trader Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's most famous short story, Heart of Darkness. Ambiguously drawn to the powerful 'voice' of this autocratic European who has become a self-proclaimed ruler in an African colony, Marlow is increasingly embroiled in Kurtz's life and death: he is finally forced into a radical questioning, not only of his own assumptions, but also of the civilized and imperial pretensions of Western Europe. Offering a freshly-researched text based on the writer's original documents, this edition presents a classic of early modernist fiction in a version that, for the first time, recovers Conrad's preferred wordings, punctuation and narrative structure. |
Contents
A Note on the Text | xli |
Chronology | lvi |
APPENDICES | 84 |
NOTES | 120 |
GLOSSARY OF NAUTICAL TERMS | 140 |
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Common terms and phrases
Africa appeared arrived asked bank began begins called Camp carried clear colonial Congo course criticism dead death don’t earth edition English Europe European example experience eyes face fact Falls feel feet followed Free French give hands head heard Heart of Darkness heavy hill human ivory Joseph Conrad journey keep kind Kurtz land later Letters light live looked lost Manager March Marlow’s meaning miles months mystery narrative nature never night once passed perhaps pilgrims present reach remained rest river round savage seemed seen ship silence speak Stanley station steamer story suddenly tale talk tell things thought took trade turn understand voice wilderness wood Youth