What a thick little book. I have to say when I first started reading this book back in my freshman year of high school, I hated this book and was quickly bored with it after ten pages. I put it down and gave up on it. Part of the reasn is because I read the short story in front of it and that WAS indeed mind-numbingly boring so I didn't expect anything different from Heart of Darkness.

Now five years have passed and I really enjoy this book. It's just as dense as I remember it, but I definitely appreciate the book more this time for its atmosphere of boiling insanity. I also have to admit that if it weren't for Apocalypse Now I probably wouldn't have given this book another chance.

This is a very rewarding book and isn't for everyone, but, hell, I loved it. I think it's just an acquired taste.

My only complaint with this book is that I don't think Conrad did too much of a good job of explaining, completely, why Marlow looed up at Kurtz like he did. I understand he was fascinated by his insanity and his eloquence with the English language, but I feel there sould have been more. We should have been fascinated by this enigmatic man as well, but I wasn't.

Oh, well, just one flaw in a very good book.

I'll be honest, I read this book 4 times and got something VERY different out of it each time (It's a very short read).

First time I was pretty young (maybe 14) and I loved the adventure and the characters, but obviously missed the theme of impending death and not being able to escape the worlds you create for yourself (not just Kurtz).

Then I saw Apocalypse now" later that year and it made me sad (AMAZING FILM! just not OG heart of darkness enough for me)

Times 2 and 3 were done in Amsterdam, under the influence of some extreme Thai mushrooms and White Widow, so the best I can say is that the language is so clear and concise that I was actually able to make it happen. I got a lot of "big life lessons and visions" out of those two reads, but again, the substances may have had a bit to do with that.

The most recent time was done under the influence of good strong coffee, so I was able to glean much more from the story than before. This was the time I realized it is one of the scariest books ever. Everyone is dying, either slowly or quickly, knowingly or not, willing or not. Marlow struggles down a mean, hungry river (very Styxian) to meet his doom. He knows what happened to the others who tried before him, so he never really entertains any hope, just the sense of impending death.
The book is like a steak that rots as you read it until all you're left at the end of the book is repulsive carrion that you must remind yourself was a tasty Sirloin before YOU messed it up by reading it. I'm not saying the book is anything like rotten meat in a qualitative sense, just that what you end up with at the end is terrifying; it barely resembles the reality in the story before setting out after Kurtz.
I love books that transform like this. If you haven't read it, do so right now... and skip the shrooms and motta, I suggest caffeine,

The words and how the story flowed was too difficult for me to understand, however, I was able to grab a general plot of this book. This book reveals the darkness of human nature during the age of imperialism. Charles Marlow who loved maps from a young age decided to go to Congo as he was the captain of the Company. When he reached there, he encounters the cruel treatment towards the Africans and he realizes the power of ivory. The Africans were forced to work until they looked inhuman, and the Europeans had a strong desire to obtain ivory no matter what happened. Through this book, I was able to learn about the horrifying practices in a more detailed way.

The book is beautifully written. What I was really surprised by was the humanity of narrators or main character especially Marlow. A key character in two of the stories. It is hard to describe how Marlow made me feel. In a time when in the Heart of Darkness the main character had no issues killing a white man or a black man and the idea of a black man being equal to a white would be considered unimaginable. Marlow seemed to address this with a humanity that I would have thought unimageable for the time. His writing was splendid in Youth I loved the way he always brought you back to the telling of the story with the phrase pass the bottle. r in Heart of Darkness how I heard the drums, and felt the sweltering heat of the jungle. In the first story An Outpost of Progress, I am yelling at the two to get there act together. I am looking forward to reading more by Joseph Conrad.

This book was not enjoyable. Someone posted that "unliterary" readers will not appreciate the book, and that is total garbage. Anyone who enjoys word structure, well crafted paragraphs, characterization can also not enjoy this book.

On the other hand, I did enjoy the modern film adaption...Apocalypse Now.

This is very interesting collection of three short stories all related to the certain parts of human life.

Youth

Title says it all - young Marlowe (also a lead character in Heart of Darkness) gets his first command as a result of disastrous event when coal transported by his ship catches fire and explodes. Whole story though just emanates the energy of the youth that sees nothing as an obstacle and is eager to prove itself. Conrad manages to capture the way of life on high seas, relations among the crew and everyday life of the seaman to the smallest detail.

Heart of Darkness

Marlowe, now older and wiser (middle age) decides to join the European company for tour in Africa, running a steamer carrying ivory from impenetrable jungle to the European companies collection station. This is rather wordy story and it takes a while to go through it. People Marlowe meets are all strange people who might be very proper back in civilization but in the wilderness they seem to have lost their compass. Driven by greed they tend to look at all around them (natives and other company men) as an obstacle. So when he finally meets mysterious Mr. Kurtz who placed himself as a ruler of several native tribes, great man of whom company has greatest expectations, he sees how far can man fall when not in control of his wits. Like most people at the time Kurtz came to Africa as a missionary to spread "light" among the natives. But in the process he slowly lost his way starting to treat his surroundings and natives as his own fiefdom, waging brutal wars and killing men, women and children sometimes out of whim. Soon his madness takes its toll and Kurtz slowly spirals into illness of body (mind being lost for a while now) and finally gets saved by Marlowe only to die at the very end of journey down the river.

I understand there is lots of controversy around this story but as far as I can see it Conrad very successfully presented two things.

First is utter horror and acts of colonial companies extracting natural wealth using natives as a workforce and treating them in horrible ways. The way greed controls the people in power (when is it ever enough?) eats through the core of very people working for the company. Even if they are not inherently bad under the influence and temptations of wealth (so much ivory) they become brutes and very much total opposite of what they think of themselves (remember this is period where developed world (Europe and Americas) treated all the exotic locals of Africa and Asia as dark places to which they need to bring the light).

Second is the very fact that in each of us we have a savage sitting. By savage I mean part of us that is ready to do heinous things, kill , maim, destroy. Civilization is maybe there to help us keep it under control but when in wild it is very clear how weak man is. When confronted with might and beauty of nature unprepared souls get overwhelmed and start their slow spiral into madness. For Kurtz, very capable orator, man capable of rallying other men for his cause, contact with natives, their very nature and fear he can exploit for his means, places him in the place of absolute power. More than enough to consume anyone. It is very short step from genius to madman but also from civilized to utmost barbaric.

The End of the Tether

Third story is very sad story of an ultimate sacrifice. What is devoted father (old age) ready to do for his child, his daughter. After losing his wife and losing his savings old captain decides to spend rest of his days making money to help his daughter that is in very bad financial state. Father will forgo his pride and opinions [especially about his son in law] because he knows hard times strike a man down from time to time and nobody can be blamed for it. He gathers strength to do his best to help his daughter. Even if it means working for a complete maniac of ship-owner and having a back-stabbing first officer.
Very touchy and ultimately very sad story with a happy ending.

All three stories impressed me much. They might be too wordy for modern times and pages might seem just so full of words that you have a feeling you will drown in them. But as a stories they are very humane and very down to earth and this is great part of their charm.

Recommended to all who like a good story.

A ratos su profundidad me resultaba inabarcable. Pero cuando entendía, entendía.

Giving three stars to such stunning prose is a blasted shame, and I've got to admit I hung my head a little after the deed was done. Conrad is indeed a sort of upgraded version of Dickens, who has the talent to make Nature one of the protagonists of his stories, allotting Her the reflecting role of a mirror who reveals the visceral sensations of the other characters. Indeed, Conrad's Nature is almost invariably alive in these three short stories; it has an inexorable and immense presence. It watches, it broods, it stalks, it ambushes, it smiles benignly. Such is the power of his writing.

Conrad's style of narration could be likened to a river: it flows seamlessly, yet changes constantly and almost imperceptibly. At one part of the land it's called "Me," and at another "Them." It's constant and reflective. At times you can catch the glimpse of a stellar, glimmering idea at the bottom of it, sometimes the pearls of wisdom are hidden by an opaque pall of mud and dirt. Pretty fluvial, eh?

Heart of Darkness demonstrates Conrad's abilities to the utmost. It's a gloomy, five-star novella, which (I think) shows how futile it is to believe in ideals in this dark, dark world of ours. To quote the story: "Droll thing life is - that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose." Yet people still continue to persist in such enterprises! Kurtz is the inspiring embodiment of an idea(l), who himself denounces all faith just before puffing the final gust of life out of himself. Marlow strives for him at first, but the nearer he gets to his destination, the more doubtful he grows. When he reaches the journey's end, he realises that, as profound as this idea seems, it's still a creation of some kind, not a real truth. "The horror" of futility seals his fate, along with the realisation that Kurtz has cheated on his Intended. Nothing is holy for Marlow anymore... yet he doesn't want to inflict pain on Kurtz's darling and cast her into the void of unbelief, thus the fib about the final words. It's beautiful to live in an illusion, and to be able to do so in the world of Darkness... Or perhaps that's just the product of my fuddled mind, upon which Joseph is most likely frowning deeply with his imposing, skeletal forehead.

Staggeringly beautiful and profound.

The first short story, "Youth," is a fairly anodyne piece of writing, but it works as a good prelude in order to emphasise the characters' devotion to the sea and the vocation of a sailor. It also sheds light to the ostensible stubbornness of old salts. Poor, tormented souls.

The final story, however, is something that could've emerged from a canine sit-upon on a rainy day. Here, the narrative focus runs amok. It refuses to stay put. First we get a lovely little background chat about a veteran captain, with intermittent (and rather inconsequential) descriptions of the scenery. Then suddenly, after a good start of about three chapters, the focus jumps to some confounded faineant of an engineer and the backstabbing crew of his. After reams of meandering chaff, if the reader didn't get it already, we're told what really afflicts the ol' Whalley. By this point, I stopped caring, and even the seemingly poignant denouement failed to move my stony heart. If the narration would've focused solely on the captain, and wouldn't have digressed to what, to me, seemed like a painstaking foray into the composition of travel brochures, this story could've elicited the soul-wrenching groan from me. But, as things stand, now it just scrabbled at my shirtfront with its seaweedy paws, a gesture which I found most objectionable. I was glad to get out of its reach.

Not a very convincing set of stories, then, if viewed wholesale as a complilation. But as separate stories, the first one proved to be very palatable, and the second one a tour de force. Perhaps another perusal might top the rating up. Ideally, that should be the case, for as I said before, Conrad is a master of prose (when he's had his concentrative cup of coffee, of course).

Insofar as the past two centuries go, Joseph Conrad's, "Heart of Darkness", is the best tale of realizing ones self - finding that self, and the surrounding world, through barbarism, exploitation, and violence. The end, or returning from it, no matter how reached, always alters ones psychology in a way that's distancing - the person loses their sense of placement in the common world. Here we read it in Marlow's journey and the tales and words of Kurtz, find it displayed in gruesome detail with Marlow and co.'s plunging into the darkness and finding in it the only environment that doesn't aid their mental ache or further more collapse in the meaning of their lives. The inference of this is more terrifying than any number of the grotesque sights Marlow sets his eyes on during his trip to Kurtz. I could be here all day and rave about, "Heart of Darkness" - I know I can read this novel whenever and the experience of it that I prize so highly will never dwindles down to mere enjoyment - it is and will, likely, always be a fulfilling experience of the bleakest sort, a telegraph from hell in which the sad, desolate, cruel nature of humankind is all too clear.

1.5

I read this for class and regret not just SparkNotes-ing it and pretending I'd read it

"La conquista de la tierra, que en general significa quitársela a aquellos que tienen una complexión diferente o narices ligeramente más chatas que nosotros, no es algo bonito cuando se indaga demasiado en ella."

Mientras esperan que la marea les permita zarpar, un grupo de marineros escucha a Marlow, un navegante experimentado con tendencia a contar anécdotas confusas y perturbadoras, relatar su expedición al Congo Belga en busca del extraviado señor Kurtz. El relato de Marlow, que parece adentrar a sus oyentes en el corazón del África profunda, los lleva en verdad a penetrar las tinieblas del alma humana, al exponer las atrocidades que cometen los europeos allí en nombre del progreso y la civilización.

En una obra fundamental de la literatura inglesa, y con una prosa exquisita aunque de a ratos quizás demasiado ornamentada, Conrad presenta su alegato contra la hipocresía que sostiene al imperialismo desde su origen, y que hace de Bruselas un "sepulcro blanqueado": una misión evangelizadora defendida a ultranza por los europeos desde la comodidad de sus hogares burgueses, que esconde el saqueo de recursos llevado a cabo por hombres brutales que dan rienda suelta a su sadismo al saberse a salvo de la mirada de sus compatriotas.

Cada parada que hace Marlow en su viaje parece un paso más que desciende hacia las profundidades del infierno, ya que encuentra hombres cada vez más enajenados e inescrupulosos que dejan a su paso un reguero de destrucción sin sentido. Abundan (y hasta empalagan) las referencias a las luces y las sombras, y ese juego es en verdad simbólico de la lucha que entablan la razón y el impulso en el alma de hombres como Kurtz. No me referiré aquí al final, pero es el broche perfecto en esa tensión que entabla Marlow entre el optimismo idiota del inocente y el cinismo pesimista de quien ha sobrevivido a una catábasis. Es una lectura ineludible para comprender el colonialismo en todas sus aristas.

The first half of this edition includes “Other Tales” which are three short stories. There was only one of the stories that kept my interest: The Secret Sharer. The second half of this edition is dedicated to Heart of Darkness. I had a difficult time getting into the story. One of the things that bothered me is that the story is narrated, not to the reader but to other characters in the book which means that it is read in dialogue. The issue I had was there was dialogue within dialogue which made it confusing at times. The other thing that bothered me was that very few of the characters actually had names which also made it a bit confusing at times. I didn’t find it particularly that interesting until the climax which happens late in the story.