What do you think of "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad?

Answer 1

I think it is an amazing book, a true classic, deep and psychological and everyone should read it once. Pax - C.

Answer 2

Heart of Darkness is a very interesting novel. It delves into a lot of the postcolonial issues that were beginning to appear during the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.

Marlowe is one of the greatest literary characters of all time. I personally prefer his characterization in Lord Jim, but he remains one of the great protagonists.

A lot of people find Conrad to be racist, including Chinua Achebe, and to a certain extent, they are correct--racism is inherent in the novel. However, many also overlook the fact that racism was part of Conrad (and therefore, Marlowe's) society, and the novel is mirroring British society and colonial attitudes at the time. While nothing can excuse racism in any form, for Conrad to have not portrayed the racism inherent in Heart of Darkness would have been an incorrect portrayal of his own society at the time, and students of Heart of Darkness can learn from the mistakes made by British colonials in their treatment of--well, everyone who wasn't a British colonial.

This "othering" aspect of postcolonialism has been a hot topic among literary scholars for many years, and one of the most popular and apparent examples is in Heart of Darkness. The division between "us" and "them" is repeated throughout literature of the 20th century.