Heart of Darkness a 5⭐️ ; Secret Sharer a 3⭐️

The intimacy/connection theme—of two individuals in reality unknown to each other—powerfully developed in both stories but in ”Heart of Darkness” with a much greater depth of color and shade, use of symbol and broadness of character development. So beautifully done.

“Heart of Darkness” : my 1st Conrad. There’s nothing surface about this writer. He’s a man who knows well solitude’s camp, the maps one’s left to navigate in ones own company, the darkness that threatens to steals ones path. And truths. Truths. Truths.

“...the wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with this great solitude—and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core...”

One must take ones time to read him and give thought to what he has to share. Perhaps one ends by taking measure of oneself.

“It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own , and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over.”

Conrad is another brilliant writer and social commentator. Though "Heart of Darkness" is the superior of these two short novels, they both delve deep into the Nature of Man (so to speak) and contain great truths on the subject. Like many great short-novels, Conrad packs quite a punch in very few pages.

"Secret Sharer" examines a sea-captain who hides a murderer who is a mirror image of himself, while "Heart of Darkness" examines a journey into the heart of the Belgian Congo in search of the mysterious "Kurtz." You really don't need to know a whole lot more up-front.....just go read the books. It won't take long and it is well worth it.

I liken many of the "truths" Conrad exposes in "Heart of Darkness" to what can be found in "Lord of the Flies" (which I personally think is one of the best books of all time). Basically, there is a very real darkness lurking inside all of us and Conrad is not afraid to tell it like it is. Though many elements of "Heart of Darkness" may come across as "shocking," the reality is that we are the darkness he describes - each and every one of us. Anybody who denies that fact is either ignorant, naive or both.

Personally, this book goes better w/ a thorough understanding of the Belgian Congo (specifically) and European Imperialism in Africa (in general). I highly recommend "King Leopold's Ghost." I think that this "backdrop" helps the reader to grasp exactly what Conrad was first experiencing and later writing about. Though the reader can appreciate "Kurtz" and the "Heart of Darkness" without this background, I felt it really added to the experience all-around.

I feel all the richer in my understanding of human nature by reading this book. "Heart of Darkness" is amazing and "Secret Sharer" is a nice bonus.

Highly recommended.

Going into this, I had a feeling it was going to be one of those experiences where I was going to think it was a pretty decent story but that afterwards someone with an advanced degree in literature would regale me with examples of all the deep symbolism and allegorical constructs that were embedded in the text, explaining to me how the book could be a much richer text if I only knew how to read it properly, forcing me to either a) read the book over again to see if I could actually spot some of this stuff or b) stick with books involving spaceships or elves, preferably both at the same time. But I figured, hey, I've read Giant Russian Novels(tm), and those are like twenty times the size of this book. How opaque could it be to me?

Turns out even a potential-English-major-who-wound-up-with-an-advanced-degree-in-science like myself could pretty much get the gist of it. The thing with Conrad in general, and "Heart of Darkness" specifically, is that there is so much thematic weight bearing down on you like the proverbial jungle that after a hundred years of analysis people are capable of reading into it pretty much anything they want to. Is a metaphorical journey in the very center for the human capacity for evil, or was Conrad simply predicting what going to a boy band concert would be like for most of us? I'm sure doctorates have been achieved with either thesis.

I've personally found that with all these "important" books, no matter the era or country of origin or even the intent, its best to approach them at first as how they were meant to be experienced: as books, because all the hullabaloo about symbolism isn't going to help you if the plot is a bit of a snoozer. With any book that people have been poring over for decades, chances are you aren't going to get all the nuances that the author built into it, it takes a bit of research and context to unpack what exactly the author is trying to say beyond conveying the plot. Heck, the fact that you're even reading it will cause your high school English teacher to shed a single tear of unbridled happiness.

With all that said, "Heart of Darkness" is clearly about a boat rid-

Ahem. If anyone has ever experienced "Heart of Darkness" outside of a high school or college reading assignment (and admit it, if you ever chose it from a list its because it was short) its probably through its cinematic cousin "Apocalypse Now", featuring Martin Sheen method acting a heart attack in the worst way and Marlon Brando heaping all the scenery on a plate so he can go for seconds and thirds. A lot of people who have seen the movie have gone to the book expecting it to be just like that. Too soon they find its not, since among other reasons it takes place in "Darkest" Africa and not in Vietnam, there's very little action and Kurtz has an even smaller role in the story, though its still pretty memorable. Broken down to its barest elements, the story basically is a tale of a guy who is fascinated by the stories he hears about the best darn ivory merchant in Africa, goes deep inside the jungle to meet him and eventually finds that circumstances have thrown everyone a bit off their nut. Then he goes back home.

So where's the draw? Its certainly not the world's most complicated plot and Conrad manages to nail it in about a hundred pages. Its also unfortunately a product of its time in parts, and in order to get through it you have to at least acknowledge that people weren't very enlightened back then and anyone remotely of African descent are probably not going to be thrilled with multiple depictions of the locals as basically moaning savages, and the interior detailed as a place where civilization checks its bags at the door and doesn't bother going any further (ignoring the actual civilizations that existed at that time). It safe to say that Conrad might go a bit overboard in making his point since while he gets the feel of Europeans essentially barging in and having their way with the place, he also shows an Africa that really isn't anything even anyone who was there at the time might recognize (even if a bunch of the readers probably imagined it was like this all the time).

So what does he get right, then, once you overlook the casual institutional racism (some of it you can try to explain as the prejudices of the narrator and some you're just not going to defend)? The feel, basically. With only a hundred pages to tell the story and get out, Conrad doesn't waste any time, and from the start has the narrator Marlow build an atmosphere of complete and utter claustrophobia, with a bunch of Europeans scrambling around at the edge of the opaque interior without the slightest clue what's going on, all the while glancing uneasily at the thick jungle that looms ahead of them. They're stuck in a place they don't understand at all and while they're certainly enjoying the sweet, sweet profit they're getting out of it, you can't quite shake the feel of oppressive dread that hangs over everything (to me it had the same feel as the Conan story "Beyond the Black River", where the jungle was constantly two seconds away from erupting and engulfing everything) as men come and go in their way stations, barely able to communicate from one place to another and relying on rumors and hearsay to pass as knowledge.

In this we watch as the infamous Kurtz grows in Marlow's eyes from random mention to eventual legend and where Conrad's skill lies is how he builds him up without ever showing him until near the very end, how different people keep describing him in glowing terms even when its clear that things on the interior are not going so well and its quite possible everyone has gone crazy. The whole journey down the river feels like both a gradual loosening and tightening, the bonds of civilization fraying while something else begins to constrict. By the time we find Kurtz its pretty much too late for anyone involved and all Marlow can do is pick up the pieces and try to explain it.

Once it gets going its a remarkably intense work and short enough that rereading it does actually bring out nuances you didn't notice the first time (although I do tend to read fast, so maybe I should just slow down) especially once Marlow reaches Kurtz's station and the gap between what he thinks of Kurtz and what's happening on the ground is getting further and further apart (though granted there are points where you keep expecting Marlow to start doodling his name and Kurtz's in hearts in the margins of his notebook). Those final scenes in the jungle are almost too short to have a real impact but reading them again the next day its clear that the feel of the jungle doesn't leave the book, Marlow simply carries it away with him. For something so straightforward there's an eerie power to it as Conrad creates a jungle based on the fears of a continent, mirroring an erosion of civilization that he doesn't seem to see as limited to the jungle. It may not resemble any jungle that ever existed in real life (maybe a good thing, considering how potentially offensive it is) but I will admit there is something weirdly primal about it, although someone better versed in Jungian archetypes may be better qualified to expound on that aspect. For everyone else, imagine those Burne Hogarth spiky "Tarzan" junglescapes, but even more foreboding, without the hope that friendly animals are going to come save you.

My Signet Classic copy also has Conrad's short story "The Secret Sharer", one of his better regarded tales. It probably should be titled "I Want to Be My Own Shadow" as on the surface its even more straightforward than "Heart of Darkness" was. A young sea captain on his first command pulls a guy on board that has escaped from a different ship, apparently for killing someone else, and for reasons of his own decides to hide the guy from everyone else on the ship, going to great lengths to make sure he's not found. At first glance this seems like a more po-faced version of all those William Hope Hodgson sea stories I read a few months back but Conrad's constant references to how similar the two look make you realize there's more metaphorically going on under the surface that he'd like you to know about. Unfortunately for him, the story lacks the atmosphere of its companion tale and while I'm sure there's someone out there who can argue that its really the better story, there's not much to make you want to go back to reading it, unlike "Heart of Darkness". However, it has a happier ending so if that's your criteria then by all means.

First off here is the joy of good writing. Conrad, a polylingual writer who became a master of English, used language and punctuation to help tell his stories. Then he added deep human understanding and somehow instilled suspense and a chill. As we sail with his neophyte captain and the stow-a-way murderer the seat edge threatens to give way; as we painfully creep up his African river, we check the shadows for encroachment. Conrad knows how to get into our heads.
Highly Recommended

Conrad is challenging, and it's fun to try to find the allegories and symbolisms.

Incredibly dense text, the novella is short but every sentence drips with irony and nuance. The narrative structure is often difficult to follow, but rereading allowed me to better understand it.

Forced to read for school, born to read classics of my own choice

I won't lie: when my AP English teacher started passing out copies of this little relic in class, I groaned internally. I had long heard rumors of how dense the language in this compact, 100-page novella could be.

The first reading assignment was torture- I couldn't get any hold on the setting, plot, or any of the characters- until we got to Marlow's narration. It still wasn't the easiest thing to read, but at least it was understandable.

Eventually, I started getting a little angry. This seemed like a story I might really enjoy- if only it wasn't such a freaking headache to get into. It's not like it was hard to understand- just tedious and unenjoyable, akin to putting a tin pot over your head and banging it with a ladle.

and that is why Heart of Darkness is only getting four stars from me- because a book with such good plot and themes should be written in a way where everyone can enjoy it. That is the epitome of 'good' writing- the ability to write beautifully and eloquently- in a way that most people can understand.

10/10

“Droll thing life is - that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself - that comes too late - a crop of unextinguishable regrets.”

The Horror! The Horror! Good book. Inaccessible and accessible at the same time. Kurtz gets described more than he gets developed, which makes for a pretty flimsy messiah. Marlow is quite the storyteller, though.

EDIT: Originally a 4, but a serious consideration to Achebe's critique of the latter story has moved the needle on my perception of that story considerably and the score of the book as a whole with it.

The Secret Sharer: Very good, very fun, very gay. A lot of actual suspense for a book written in such an old style, with an interesting psychological edge to its philosophical quandary that makes it incredibly lovely to read. That being said, I read it a month ago and I can only really tell you the bare bones of the plot and it kinda pales in comparison (no pun intended) to

Heart of Darkness: Beautiful, intense, a linguistic marvel. Imagery and theme are incredibly coherent and mystifying and place you in every scene with an immediacy that is unnerving. Paced really well and feels like it stretches out and contracts in all the right spaces, except for the end. The end feels a little overlong and possibly Kurtz is taken as such a symbol that too much explanation was a worry, and it makes the talk of him seem maudlin and unearned at points. Still, most of the story feels like a fog that surrounds you and holds you until you can tear yourself away.

Also: Racism! All over this. I haven't read Achebe's response to the story, which I will be doing immediately after writing this, but I can't imagine we'll be disagreeing on much. Considering of the intensity of anti-imperialist critique here, and even the cultural attitudes towards race at the time, the racism here is shocking not just because it is petty or ignorant, but because it seems to depersonalize the African populations to such a ghoulish extent as to make blackness an inherent symptom or signifier of the darkness of the rude world that Conrad otherwise so beautifully describes. Boo to all this! I don't like it! It makes the story a massive multifaceted luminous shining diamond with a flaw so glaring a loupe is rendered completely unnecessary. Bummer!

All this being admitted, it's still a beautifully told story with a strong message, as much that message is muddled by the aforementioned problem. It stays on the shelf. Read it, love it, but don't defend it.

This book didn't do anything for me. I clearly missed something, but I don't care enough to find out what.