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Heart of Darkness

Name: Heart of Darkness
Rating: 3.43 (554940 reviews)
Author: Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad January 1, 1899

3.43 554.9k Ratings

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Synopsis

Heart of Darkness, a novel by Joseph Conrad, was originally a three-part series in Blackwood’s Magazine in 1899. It is a story within a story, following a character named Charlie Marlow, who recounts his adventure to a group of men onboard an anchored ship. The story told is of his early life as a ferry boat captain. Although his job was to transport ivory downriver, Charlie develops an interest in investing an ivory procurement agent, Kurtz, who is employed by the government. Preceded by his reputation as a brilliant emissary of progress, Kurtz has now established himself as a god among the natives in “one of the darkest places on earth.” Marlow suspects something else of Kurtz: he has gone mad.

A reflection on corruptive European colonialism and a journey into the nightmare psyche of one of the corrupted, Heart of Darkness is considered one of the most influential works ever written.

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Heart of Darkness

Books similar to Heart of Darkness

The Great Gatsby

Things Fall Apart

The Grapes of Wrath

Of Mice and Men

Great Expectations

A Tale of Two Cities

The Pearl

The Catcher in the Rye

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